[1][2][3][4] Human Rights Watch criticized that threats and intimidation were used by the LTTE to force Tamil families in Sri Lanka to furnish children for military duty.
When families reject, their children are sometimes kidnapped at night from their homes or forced recruited while walking to school.
Parents who refuse to allow their children to be recruited suffer retaliation by the Tamil Tigers, which may include violence or detention.
[7][8] The LTTE routinely visited Tamil homes to inform parents that they must provide a child for the "movement."
Hence, many cases of child recruitment went unreported due to increased insecurity and additional pressures by LTTE not to report.
However many managed to run away under fire from the LTTE and according to the UNICEF a total of 594 children aged between 12 and 18 years surrendered to armed forces during the end of the war.
[14][15][16] Since the defection of the LTTE Eastern Commander Colonel Karuna to the Government of Sri Lanka in 2004, the TMVP known as the Karuna Group (A Tamil paramilitary group which supports the Sri Lankan government), has been held responsible for the abduction of children according to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch.
[19] Civilians have also complained that the TMVP is continuing to abduct children, including some in their early teens, for use as soldiers.
The UN further noted that children have been abducted in places like Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Sri Lanka.