Sri Lanka, having grappled with a virulent form of terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE, is fully cognizant of the despicable reality that once clouded the lives of the young girls and women in the North and East of the country. You would recall that Sri Lanka had to intervene in this august Council's deliberations under Resolutions 1539 and 1612 on Children and Armed Conflict, to focus attention on the abhorrent practice of child recruitment for combat by the LTTE terrorists, and the deployment of young women as suicide bombers.