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Child soldiers in Myanmar's front line
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The southeast Asian country of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has 50,000 child soldiers working for both government and opposition armies, according to a report released Tuesday by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. "In Burma the situation is unique because the desire for more independence from the government goes along with armed ethnic groups struggling to identify themselves in various locations," Judit Arenas, spokesperson for the coalition, told CNN. Myanmar won independence from Britain in 1948 and has been ruled by the military in various forms since 1962.
In 1988 the military crushed a pro-democracy uprising and in 1990 refused to recognize elections that gave the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), a landslide victory. The political stalemate has continued for more than a decade. NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has lived under house arrest on and off for several years, and the military often detains opposition members. While Myanmar's army has a mandatory recruitment age of 18 years old, many young children are being enlisted to fight in battles raging across the country. 'Forced recruitment' commonWhile some children are recruited voluntarily for Myanmar's armed forces, others, especially orphans and street children, are vulnerable to what is called "forced recruitment." Under this scheme, local authorities in Myanmar are required to provide the government with a certain quota of recruits, the report says, and are fined if they fail. "Children are scared so easily, they are very obedient, and they are very good for this type of guerrilla warfare as they are small, very agile on feet, and can get into places grown-up soldiers can't." The ILO Commission has reported that children act as human shields and minesweepers. They also carry ammunition and fight on the front lines. Reportedly, some of the children are abused by the soldiers. Children are also used as soldiers outside the army, for opposition groups such as the Mong Tai Army and the Karen National Union (KNU). The "God's Army", a breakaway Karen group formerly led by two 12-year-old twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo, focused world attention on the plight of child soldiers fighting for ethnic armed groups when they took over 700 hostages in a Thailand hospital in 2000. The guerrilla group is believed to recruit many children, although the twins surrendered themselves and returned to live with their parents. U.N. seeks ban on child soldiersMyanmar's record comes despite the U.N. General Assembly adopting a protocol in May 2000 calling on governments to prevent anyone under 18 from taking part in combat. But the UN says while 79 countries have signed the protocol, only six have ratified, or approved, it. The child soldier report comes one day after U.S.-based Human Rights Watch condemned Myanmar for still using forced labor, despite an official ban on the practice imposed eight months ago. The group has urged foreign companies to stop investing in the country until the practice is stopped -- and independent monitors can verify that. The U.S. State Department in February criticized Myanmar for harshly repressing its citizens by denying them the most basic social and political freedoms. But Myanmar on Tuesday criticized the Human Right Watch report, saying its "constant negative attitude, irresponsible actions and unrealistic expectations are in fact hampering and depriving the people of Myanmar of their rights to development and prosperity." Myanmar's military has presided over a steadily weakening economy, as international investment has plunged and economic sanctions appear to have hurt the government and people alike.
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