LTTE hands over fourteen students to their parents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 January 2003, 17:49 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Saturday handed over fourteen students who voluntarily came to join the LTTE to their parents in the presence of several representatives of the international humanitarian agencies in the peninsula. The handing over event took place Saturday at the district head office of the LTTE located at Potpathi Road, Kokuvil in Jaffna, a non-governmental agency source said.

Among the students handed over to their parents 12 were girls and the rest boys, sources said. "The LTTE is very firm in not recruiting persons under eighteen years of age. Hence we hand over these students who come to join our movement to their parents," said Ms Kayalvilzhi, head of the LTTE women's wing in Jaffna district addressing a gathering after the handing over.

Ms Anne Sender, a member of the Sri Lanka monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna, Mr.Celine Lacoffrette, Jaffna head of the Children Affected by Armed Conflict Unit of the UNICEF, field officers of the UNHCR Messrs Johanna McVeigh and Jae Pork and Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, Regional Co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka were present at the event, sources said.