The Plight of Child Soldiers in Burma

Jo Becker is the advocacy director in the Children’s Rights Division of New York-based Human Rights Watch
 

Jo Becker

Answer: We really are not sure. Many of the soldiers we interviewed said that their training units had large numbers of children, over 30 percent. In battalions, the numbers vary greatly, with some having less than 5 percent. Given that the practice is illegal and not something the SPDC keeps numbers on, it would be almost impossible to calculate how many soldiers there are less than 18 years of age. We are sure however that this is a very large problem, with hardly any official measures being taken to end it.

Q: Do you have any evidence that child soldiers were used against civilians and monks during the recent crackdown on peaceful protests in Burma?

A: We have seen some pictures and interviewed eyewitnesses who say they saw young soldiers who could have been 18 years or younger participate in the crackdown. However, child soldiers are deployed in ethnic areas where they are often forced to participate in human rights violations against civilians.

Q: The Burmese army is very large, some say more than 400,000. Why do they keep recruiting underage children?

A: The army continues to expand, but also suffers very high desertion rates. Because the army is not well respected in Burmese society anymore, rates of voluntary recruitment are very low.  As a result, forced recruitment is widely practiced. Military recruiters have found that targeting vulnerable children is an easy way to meet their recruitment quotas.

Q: How are child soldiers recruited into the Burmese army?

A: It is not an official policy, and the Burmese defence services have very clear regulations prohibiting the recruitment of children under 18. They just don’t enforce the regulations. Children are recruited by other soldiers and recruiters who often lurk around public places; train stations, truck stations, outside video halls and movie cinemas. They are picked up walking home at night, or in raids on tea shops and public gatherings. The recruiters often approach young men and ask them for their ID and arrest or detain them on spurious charges, in many cases in collusion with corrupt police officers. They are then given the option of going to prison on these trumped up charges or joining the army.

Recruiters routinely receive money and sacks of rice for delivering children to recruitment centers. These incentives perpetuate the practice, particularly when there are no effective sanctions against recruiters who violate regulations by recruiting children.

Q: What is life like for child soldiers in the Burmese military?

A: Conditions are desperate. Children are often used to perform heavy labor to benefit their commanding officers. If they complain or can’t carry out their assignments, they are often beaten. Conditions in conflict areas are also deplorable. The food and shelter is very bad, and many soldiers often steal food and other supplies from villagers. They also face the danger from attacks by anti-government insurgents, landmines and diseases like malaria and TB. Another factor is that for children under 18, they have no access to schooling.

Q: What human rights abuses, if any, do child soldiers in Burma commit?

A: We know that child soldiers are involved in combat operations, and that they operate in ethnic conflict areas. There, as Human Rights Watch and many other groups have documented, human rights violations are perpetrated with impunity by the Burmese army, and child soldiers are involved. Former child soldiers have told us that they either observed or participated in burning of villages, forced displacement, the use of civilians for forced labor and even massacres.

Q: What about non-state armed groups such as the United Wa State Army and KNU? Don’t they also use child soldiers?

A: There are more than 30 non-state armed groups in Burma. In this category is the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) which we believe to have considerable numbers of child soldiers.