Burma
For over 20 years, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), a military regime, had ruled Burma. On March 30, 2011, the SPDC was dissolved and replaced by a new government led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party, also backed by the military. Since coming to power, it has led several reforms throughout the country, yet only time will tell how much progress will be made towards the ending of human rights abuses.
The many ethnic political groups of the country have been continuously recruiting thousands of child soldiers while fighting the longest ongoing war in the world. These political groups include the Tatmadaw Kyi (the government army), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the Karen National Union-Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council, the Karenni Army (KA), the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), and the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Although recruiting soldiers under the age of 18 is not allowed, all of these above-mentioned groups have violated the law and have recruited child soldiers through various means.
Children are used in combat and also serve as guards, porters, spies, servants, and so forth. They may be used as forced labor to build roads and work in kitchens or farms.
Former child soldier fears returning home to Burma
For many former child soldiers the reintegration part of DDR (disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration) can be the most traumatic. They are often no longer accepted by their communities and their families, and are sometimes feared or even reviled. According to psychologist Michael Wessells, a professor at Columbia University and author of the book Child Soldiers: [...]
Read More...Burma: Thirteen-year old child forced to fight
According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, on September 21, a 13 year old boy was forced at knife-point to join the national army. A week after the kidnapping, the boy’s mother located her son at a military recruitment base in Utyinthaya but was unable to rescue him, a military officer citing official procedure. There [...]
Read More...UN making little progress in Burma aiding child soldiers
According to a recent interview on Radio Free Asia with Jo Becker, known child soldier expert at Human Rights Watch, Burma has shown little improvement in their use and recruitment of child soldiers. According to Becker, U.N. Security Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict has had difficulty locating and aiding child soldiers in [...]
Read More...Child soldier issue makes the New York Times
Yesterday, an article in the New York Times highlighted the new report on child soldiers by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – in section A of the paper (page 18). A quote: The number of conflicts in which children are used as soldiers has dropped sharply in the past four years, [...]
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