Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka asked the United Nations to freeze funds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to punish the group for continuing to use child soldiers in its fight for a separate homeland in the South Asian island nation.

``Only targeted measures would deter the LTTE from continuing to perpetrate grave violations against children,'' Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's UN ambassador, said in a statement published on the government's Web site yesterday. Only punitive measures will ``compel them to renounce terrorism, lay down arms and take part in the political process.''

The LTTE has about 240 people under 18 years of age in its ranks, the group's Peace Secretariat said this month, citing the database of the Child Protection Authority in Kilinochchi, the northern town where it has its headquarters. That figure has remained static for more than four months, it said.

Sri Lanka's government has stepped up military offensives since the Tamil Tigers were driven back to bases in the country's north after losing control of the Eastern Province in July. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent an envoy to the island this week to report on how its assistance is affected by fighting that intensified after the government ended its 2002 cease-fire with the LTTE in January.

The Security Council should demand that the LTTE release all child combatants within its ranks, Kariyawasam said in a Feb. 21 statement to the Working Group of the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict. The government made the statement public on its Web site.

Travel Restrictions

Travel restrictions should be imposed on LTTE members and measures taken to prevent the group receiving weapons, ammunition, technical advice or training assistance, Kariyawasam said. The LTTE is a repeated violator of its pledge made almost a decade ago to cease recruiting child soldiers, he added.

The LTTE's attempts to clear the remaining child soldiers from its ranks have been delayed because the military's offensives are preventing the UN Children's Fund from acting, the Peace Secretariat said.

Tamil civilians in villages along the frontline in the north ``are paying dearly for the constant shelling by the Sri Lankan military,'' the LTTE said last week.

The Security Council should impose sanctions on all armed groups using children in their forces, including the Karuna faction that split from the Tamil Tigers in 2004 and works with Sri Lankan forces, Human Rights Watch said last week.

Human Rights

``The LTTE and the Karuna group continue to use children to fight their battles in clear violation of international law and Security Council resolutions,'' Jo Becker, the children's rights advocate with Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. ``The Security Council should punish their brazen violations with concrete actions.''

Sri Lanka's government has established a committee to investigate violations by security forces and paramilitary groups, Kariyawasam told the UN last week. Law enforcement agencies are taking steps to prevent armed groups having access to schools to recruit children, he added.

The eviction of the LTTE from the Eastern Province has reduced child abduction cases in the region, he said.

The army's campaign in the east turned the region into a ``land of refugees'' for Tamils under ethnic-Sinhalese military rule, LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran said last November.

The insurgency in Sri Lanka has led to the deaths of more than 70,000 people in the past 25 years. The LTTE is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 25, 2008 20:49 EST