Colombo: A Human Rights organisation in Sri Lanka has accused Tamil Tiger rebels of recruiting child soldiers despite ongoing peace talks and pledges given to international envoys.

The independent University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) said in a report on March 19 that the guerrillas had conscripted thousands of children since 2001, most of them from the embattled Eastern Batticaloa district.

The report said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had reneged on promises made to UN and other organisations.

The latest pledge was made to Carol Bellamy, head of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), who met Tiger leaders in their Northern headquarters in January to urge them to discontinue using child soldiers.

"UTHR is particularly concerned about the LTTE's duplicity regarding its continued recruitment of child soldiers," the report said. "Even as the talks with UNICEF were taking place, the LTTE was conscripting children and threatening parents to be silent."

The Rights group voiced its concern as government and Tiger negotiators sat down for their sixth round of peace talks to end LTTE's demand of an independent state for the island's minority Tamils. The talks are being held in Japan.

Both sides are observing a Scandinavian-monitored ceasefire that has been in place since February 2002.

The LTTE has come under severe criticism for abducting children to swell their fighting ranks and had agreed during the negotiations to stop recruitment and get involved in the rehabilitation of the child soldiers.

PTI