BRIEF: Myanmar Army Recruiting Children

Photo at AP

Myanmar - To cover gaps left by a lack of adult recruits, military recruiters and civilian brokers are beating or threatening children with arrest, in addition to promising cash rewards, to make them enlist.  Human Rights Watch reports that children as young as 10 are forcibly being recruited into Myanmar's army. 

The report, "Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma," says there are thousands of children in the military.  Furthermore, recruiting officers are said to falsify enlistment documents to register children as being 18, the legal minimum age for recruitment.

The recruits are trained for approximately 18 weeks.  They are then sent into combat immediately or forced to take part in activities like burning villages.  Jo Becker, a children's rights advocate for Human Rights Watch said Myanmar is "literally buying and selling children to fill the ranks."

The ruling junta says it has formed a committee to address this issue, even though Myanmar has previously said it is working towards preventing military recruitment of children.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg - Myanmar Forcibly Recruits Children Into Army, Rights Group Says - 31 October 2007

Reuters - Child soldiers bought and sold in Myanmar - 31 October 2007

AP - Group: Myanmar Targets Kids for Military - 31 October 2007