Open letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from ex-LTTE child soldier

Following is an open letter by Murugan Thambaiya, an ex-LTTE child soldier from the Mullaitivu District of Sri Lanka to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria.

I decided to write this letter for several reasons. My heart and conscience cannot keep silence any longer. The main point is the false propaganda carried out by various individuals and groups undermining the truth. If possible, please read this letter. I do not ask of you to accept that all these facts as true. But you have to be honest and ask yourself if the facts here are in fact true. 

If you are honest with yourself, your mind will begin to talk to you about the pain we have suffered. It is a greater honour for humanity to know the truth and remain silent than for a person to deceive the world with lies.

History has shown that the United Nations was founded to end world conflicts and to give respect to human life. Truth is the basic step necessary to give respect to human life. Truth is not something that can be determined by each other’s desires and hidden motives. The truth is the reality of the land where people like us lived and the harsh reality that people like us had to face. 

I was the third child born into our family. Our father (Appa) was a labourer. Mother (Amma) was a housemaid and did her best to direct us to education. As I have heard, my mother and father had to face various forms of discrimination from the society. The most vigorous social curse is the caste system which has systematically manipulated our lives even today. Members of my extended family have told me that my mother was from a higher caste but my father was not. Due to this caste division my father was not even allowed to go to some relatives’ houses. He was not even allowed to enter their homes to drink water and was only allowed to drink from a coconut grove in the yard. They did not allow him to enter the Hindu temple in the village. Not only did I see this harassment, but my siblings often thought that there was no difference between us and animals. In most cases, pet dogs in Tamil homes of higher caste had more respect and dignity than we humans were born with.

My brothers and I had to stop going to school halfway through. It’s not because of a family problem. One night a group of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres came and threatened my parents and abducted me and all my siblings. I was 10 years old then. Appa and Amma touched the feet of those who came to take us. Bowed down and pleaded with them not to take their kids. One of them pushed my mother aside but Appa prevented her from falling. The three of us were taken to the Mullaitivu jungle and parted in the same night. I never knew that was the last time I would see my parents and siblings. 

I received military training under someone called Kannan. He trained me to how to use an AK 47 assault rifle. After about three months of training, a cyanide capsule was hung around my neck. A cyanide capsule was hung around my neck so I could commit suicide if I was captured by the enemy. After the training we suffered day and night in the middle of this thick forest to survive. 

Like me, thousands more faced that bitter reality without any aims or dreams of life. I lost my parents and siblings forever. I missed the best time of my life to get an education. I was permanently paralysed when the war ended in 2009. Who is responsible for this? Who is responsible for the fate of thousands of other children like me who were forced to survive in this nightmare? I have not heard anyone talk about it; nor have international acclaimed human rights defenders produced any report about it. 

Why aren’t the reports you publish year after year mentioning the awful experiences we have as child soldiers and my parents being harassed by casteists? It is not clear to me what human rights you are carrying out by concealing these facts and giving priority to falsehoods. 

I urge you to activate your human rights record about the cynics who killed our childhood, the cynics who oppressed my parents and siblings. Would you write reports about cynicism of those killers and their funders? Allow me to request you and your staff not to engage in shameful political misconduct by pretending not knowing the truth. At least for now let us breathe freely and live our lives.