Children and armed conflict
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
Child Soldiers International, formerly Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers...Search for Myanmar -
the structured search at the left has more options than the one at the bottom. Also try pasting Myanmar site:child-soldiers.org into a Google search box
Source/publisher:
Child Soldiers International
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Reports (text and video), international standards.... "Children in Myanmar have been widely used in armed conflict by both state armed forces and non-state armed groups. Despite a minimum age of 18 for military recruitment, over the years many hundreds of boys have been recruited, often forcibly into the national army (Tatmadaw Kyi) and deployed to areas where state forces have been fighting armed opposition groups. Border guard forces, composed of former members of armed opposition groups and formally under the command of the Myanmar military, also have under-18s in their ranks.
In June 2012, after protracted negotiations with the UN, the Myanmar government signed up to an action plan under which it has committed to release all under-18s present from Tatmadaw Kyi and border guard forces.
Child recruitment and use by armed opposition groups is also reported. These include: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA), Karenni National Progressive Party/Karenni Army (KNPP/KA), Shan State Army South (SSA-S), United Wa State Army (UWSA). The KNU/KNLA and KNPP/KA have sought to conclude action plans on child soldiers with the UN, but the UN has been prevented from doing so by the Government of Myanmar.
"Our current work in Myanmar aims to:
Identify legal, policy and practical measures needed to end child recruitment and use by Tatmadaw Kyi and border guard forces, and to advocate for full and effective implementation of the action plan.
Seek tangible progress on armed opposition groups? compliance with international standards on child soldiers..."
Source/publisher:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict, Children
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Description:
Click on Myanmar in the drop-down Countries list, or use the Alternate URL
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-05
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Press Releases, UN reports and actions and other documents and updates from 2003 on children and armed conflict in Myanmar...includes links to Security Council material
Source/publisher:
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2013-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
MYANMAR’S MILITARY USING SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY TO MAINTAIN POWER
Myanmar’s (Burma) military – the Tatmadaw – is planning to install surveillance camera systems with facial recognition capabilities in cities across all of the country’s seven states and seven regions, according to an 11 July report by Reuters. The military claims the projects will help maintain security and foster civil peace. However, recent reporting indicates that the military will increasingly rely upon surveillance technology in an attempt to strengthen its hold on power and oppose resistance efforts. This poses heightened safety risks for activists and resistance groups, including by making it easier for the military to track their movements.
Prior to the February 2021 military coup, some surveillance camera systems were already installed or planned in several major cities, including Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw. Local authorities have initiated new camera surveillance projects in at least five cities around Myanmar, including Mawlamyine, the country’s fourth-largest city; Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State; and Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. Local firms are sourcing the cameras and other related technology from Chinese companies – Dahua, Huawei and Hikvision – that are tied to the surveillance of the ethnic Uyghur population in China.
The surveillance cameras are part of a wider effort to monitor the activities of populations in Myanmar. Last month four UN experts condemned the military’s attempts to establish a “digital dictatorship” in Myanmar with tactics like sweeping internet blackouts, digital censorship and surveillance. According to the experts, telecommunications providers have been pressured to activate surveillance technology and hand over user data to police and military officials.
Since August 2021 at least 31 townships in seven states and regions across Myanmar have reportedly experienced internet shutdowns, and an additional 23 have faced severely slowed internet speeds. The internet shutdowns have targeted areas where the military faces strong resistance from opposition groups. The UN experts said, “online access to information is a matter of life and death for many people in Myanmar, including those seeking safety from indiscriminate attacks by the military.” Notably, the imposition of internet blackouts in Sagaing Region coincided with the escalation of a military offensive characterized by arson and airstrike campaigns against civilian areas.
The UN experts also noted that “internet restrictions are being used by the junta as a cloak to hide its ongoing atrocities.” The barriers to internet access and lack of connectivity in many parts of the country are hindering the collection of evidence of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by human rights monitors and journalists.
The military in Myanmar must respect the population’s right to privacy. Member states should support civil society efforts to combat censorship and surveillance and impose sanctions to restrict the sale or supply of dual-use surveillance technology..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-07-13
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Children and armed conflict, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) is pleased to announce the release of its latest field report, Southeast Burma Field Report: Intensification of armed conflict, air and ground attacks, and widespread human rights violations, July to December 2021.
The reporting period was marked by increased armed conflict and attacks, which spread to locations in KHRG’s operational area that had reported little to no fighting or shelling during the initial five months following the February 1st 2021 military coup.
A surge of armed conflict and attacks, including airstrikes, took place in the Lay Kay Kaw area of Dooplaya District in December 2021 after State Administration Council (SAC) and Border Guard Force (BGF) troops entered the area and conducted raids and arrests while searching for Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) participants and People’s Defence Force (PDF) members. Over 10,000 people were displaced in just over a week. Possibilities for seeking refuge in Thailand remain extremely limited. Most displaced villagers were either pushed back by Thai authorities or forced to set up temporary encampments along the river.
Mu Traw (Hpapun) District had been the target of major offensives, including airstrikes, during the first five months of the coup. Although there were no further airstrikes in Mu Traw District from July to December 2021, most parts of the district continued to experience heavy conflict and military activities, with some areas experiencing fighting and shelling on a near daily basis. Many villagers continue to face displacement, while those who have remained in their villages have endured repeated threats by SAC soldiers, including battalion commanders, who seek to punish civilians for the activities of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).
The reporting period was also marked by an increase in human rights violations, including forced labour, the use of human shields, torture, killings, theft and looting, and the planting of landmines.
Incidents of forced labour, including the use of civilians as human shields, have become more widespread and systematic because tied to the movement of SAC and BGF troops through KNU-controlled areas while rotating troops or bringing food rations, supplies and ammunition to more remote army camps. In many cases, these acts were combined with other rights violations like beatings or torture, the deprivation of food and water, and various threats, including threat to life.
Theft and looting, particularly of food items, crops and livestock, also became more systematic as the presence of SAC soldiers in rural areas, including KNU territory, spread. Theft and looting often took place after villagers were forced to flee their homes, and in some cases included the destruction of property.
As the SAC continued to target anyone seen as opposing the military regime, it undertook violence, including torture and beatings, against civilians while searching for people whom they suspected of having an affiliation with the PDF and CDM. There has also been an increase in intentional killings of civilians by SAC security forces.
The situation of rural villagers in Karen State has grown more critical, with many villagers now facing severe food insecurity and health issues, including the spread of COVID-19, with little access to external support.
KHRG hopes that this field report will allow national and international stakeholders to gain a better understanding the impact of SAC atrocities in Southeast Burma. It includes a number of recommendations on how national and international stakeholders can develop more inclusive support schemes that ensure the protection and well-being of rural villagers.
Recommendations
Neighbouring states must allow for the legal provision of cross-border humanitarian aid through non-state actors and local service providers. The UN, donors and other international actors must support and increase the legitimacy of the CSOs, CBOs and ethnic health and aid providers operating on the ground because they have the most direct and best access to affected populations and understand their needs. A comprehensive global arms embargo against the Burma military must be imposed. Military “No Fly Zones” need to be established and enforced; and sanctions must be placed on supplying aviation fuel to the Burma military. Civilian safe zones need to be created, whether in Burma or across the border, and the protection of civilian safe zones must be internationally guaranteed. UN agencies in Burma must take a clear and strong position in responding to the situation on the ground, and to use all possible resources to limit the human rights abuses and violations undertaken by the SAC..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group
Date of publication:
2022-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Children and armed conflict, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
98.49 KB 135.67 KB
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Description:
"...This thesis seeks to explain the prevalence of child soldiering in contemporary Burma. The development of various cultural and structural aspects of Burmese society allows the practice to function as part of the military strategy of the Tatmadaw and ethnic minority armies. In Chapter One, I argued for the importance of three historic features of the Burmese context that enable the practice of child soldiering. First, the gradual conflation of nationalism and warfare in the Burmese independent movements during the 1930s and 1940s had a significant impact on the future structure of the Burmese government. The colonial period saw a reliance on military intervention to establish control and order and the emergence of guerrilla conflict as a way to engage with the government, which became models for later governance and agitation. The precedent for the many non-state ethnic armies in contemporary Burma is seen in the militarisation of the nationalist movement and the prevalence of ethnically-affiliated tats under colonial rule. Second, historic ethnic tensions are also of critical importance for understanding the practice of child soldiering in modern Burma. The poly-ethnic fabric of pre-colonial Burmese society was upset by the British administration, which politicised ethnicity by introducing concrete definitions of difference and distinct geographical separation of ethnic groups..."
Date of publication:
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Format :
PDF
Size:
2.63 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
"At least 19 children were wounded when a primary school was hit by shelling in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a lawmaker and a military spokesman said on Thursday.
Clashes between government troops and ethnic insurgents have intensified in Rakhine, from where tens of thousands of people have been displaced since clashes began in December 2018, bringing new chaos to the region from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in 2017.
The Arakan Army, which recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority, has been fighting for greater autonomy for the western region from the central government.
Artillery fire hit the school in Khamwe Chaung village in Buthidaung township on Thursday morning, Tun Aung Thein, a local member of parliament, told Reuters by telephone. He said he did not know who was responsible.
“According to the health department, 19 students are injured and one is seriously injured,” the lawmaker said.
A military spokesman put the number of wounded at 20, and blamed the insurgents for the attack..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-13
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Children and armed conflict, Children, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
more
Description:
"An eleven-year-old Christian boy is now spending his days studying and playing football in a safe environment, rather than running into the jungle to hide from soldiers and gunfire, a local Barnabas Fund partner in Myanmar told us in August.
“Shein” is just one of 39 Christian children that a Barnabas-supported ministry has helped to escape from war zones or transfer from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the conflict-ravaged south-east Asian country in 2019.
The children are now living in a safe village that has a school where they can study and churches where they can worship. They are making new friends and sharing their testimonies at local churches, said the Barnabas project partner.
In Shein’s home village there is no school or hospital and in the last month he was there, he was forced to flee three times into the jungle to hide from the Myanmar Army that has turned mainly Christian areas into war zones..."
Source/publisher:
"barnabasfund" (England)
Date of publication:
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict, Christianity
Language:
more
Description:
"On March 28, 2018, a Yangon court sentenced a former child soldier, Aung Ko Htway, to two years in prison with hard labor for giving an interview to the media outlet Radio Free Asia in July 2017 about his abduction into the Myanmar Army at age 14, and subsequent harsh training experience. Abducted by a Myanmar[1] Army officer in 2005 from Yangon central railway station, Aung Ko Htway was sold at a military market in Mingaladon Township, enlisted in the military, and sent to a military training camp. In contrast to Aung Ko Htway?s sentencing, the military officer who abducted him has not been punished. As a joint statement by 154 civil society organizations in Myanmar calling for Aung Ko Htway?s release pointed out, it is his recruitment and inhumane treatment that is a crime, not his exercise of free speech in speaking out.
Children in Myanmar continue to suffer from conflict-related violence and abuses, including systematic forced recruitment into the Myanmar Army and some ethnic armed organizations, arrest by the Myanmar Army on suspicion of association with unlawful organizations, and injury or death from landmines and shelling of civilian areas including churches and schools. Despite the seriousness of their needs, child victims are not given any support or rehabilitation by the Government, and the few who speak out are targeted with legal reprisals. At an early age, many children learn that the Myanmar Government cannot or will not protect them from the Myanmar Army, which continues to abuse children and other civilians with impunity. The judicial system is no more a source of protection or for enforcement of Myanmar?s legal obligations, as it continues to side with the Myanmar Army and Myanmar Government in cases against those who dare to speak out or seek justice..."
Source/publisher:
Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2018-04-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
more
Description:
"Kyar Yin Shell is a 26-year-old young man from Kengtung, the ?dark and dirty? capital city of eastern Salween in the Shan State. While Kengtung has not seen civil war for over two decades, development is non-existent and electricity scarce. Kyar Yin Shell is Lahu, a little known ethnic group that lives scattered around the mountains of Burma, China, Laos, and Thailand. As most Lahu people, Kyar Yin Shell grew up in a village, but unlike many others he was lucky enough to go to school. As a teenager, hard-working Kyar Yin Shell had great hopes for his future until it all seems to end one day; wrong medical treatment left Kyar Yin Shell paralyzed. Kyar Yin Shell lost all hope for his future and like so many others in the Shan State, he became addicted to drugs. During those dark times, Kyar Yin Shell could never have known that he would not only survive and learn to live with his disability, but work actively for his people and travel overseas to represent his country. Kyar Yin Shell?s story shows how much life can surprise you. If you take the chance."...See the Alternate link for part 2.
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-07-30
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Lahu (cultural, political), Children and armed conflict, Shan State, Armed conflict in Shan State - general articles, Education in Burma/Myanmar - general, Education in Shan State (general)
Language:
English
more
Description:
"John Bosco is like any 23-year-old who dreams of good education and a career, and who likes to read, use the internet, and play football. Unlike many young people, however, John?s life is confined within the fences of Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Thailand. John is ethnic Karenni and comes from a big family in a rural village with no access to electricity or water. Although John grew up under militarization and afraid of ?the sounds of guns shooting and bombs exploding,” his main priority was education. John?s family wanted him to have a better life and a future, and they sent him to the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in 2009. He hasn?t been able to see his family since. In the camp, John says that restrictions on movement and travel are increasing hand in hand with decreasing aid. Like so many others, John is now trapped in one of the most isolated refugee camps in Thailand, which remains out of the electricity grid and is surrounded by landmines. John still considers himself lucky; he doesn?t have to worry about repatriation as much as the many others who have no family in Burma and no place to go."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Armed conflict in Karenni State, Children and armed conflict, Education in Kayah (Karenni) State, Education in refugee camps in Thailand
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Aung Than is 26 years old, enthusiastic and positive young Arakanese man from the Chin State, whose determination of acquiring an education has kept him going through difficult and challenging times in his life. When Aung Than was only six years old, he and his family had to leave everything behind and flee to India, due to the brutal Burmese military oppression in his village. Although his biggest wish had always been to gain good education, it somehow always seemed to be out of reach, and moving away from him. Fleeing from Burma to India, and India to Bangladesh, Aung Than grabbed onto every study opportunity, attending school in Mizoram language in India, as well as being taught by Buddhist monks, Muslims, and an American teacher in Bangladesh. After years of hard work and fleeting study opportunities, Aung Than had a chance to complete his studies on the Thailand-Burma border, where he eventually co-founded AHREM (Arakan Human Rights and Environmental Movement), aiming to teach young Arakanese about environmental issues and human rights. Always keen to give back to his people, Aung Than now dreams of running an orphanage where he can help children whose dreams seem out of reach, just as his were one day."...See the Alternate link for part 2.
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rakhine (Arakanese) - cultural, political, Education in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Discrimination against the Rakhine, Children and armed conflict, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - NGO sources
Language:
English
more
Description:
Summary: "The widespread recruitment and use of children by state armed forces and armed groups in Myanmar has been documented by the UN and human rights organisations for over a decade. Armed conflict between the state and numerous armed ethnic groups has provided the violent backdrop against which child recruitment and other grave violations of human rights have occurred. Children have been drawn into participation in all sides of the armed conflicts not just as a result of militarisation of societies but by socioeconomic compulsions. The pressure to maintain and strengthen troop numbers in the armed forces and armed groups has been a key driver in ongoing underage recruitment.
Political reforms and the signing of ceasefire agreements with various ethnic armed groups have led to some progress in the security and human rights situation in recent years. These changes, together with an increased level of engagement between Myanmar and the international community, have created an unprecedented opportunity to properly resolve longstanding problems of underage recruitment and use. Research conducted by Child Soldiers International demonstrates the need for the Government of Myanmar to adopt further and more effective measures if it is to fulfil its stated commitment towards the eradication of child recruitment and use. While regulations and military instructions have been adopted as a part of the Myanmar government?s 2012 Joint Action Plan (JAP) with the UN for the prevention of the recruitment and use of children and their discharge and rehabilitation, the Myanmar military needs to urgently implement measures - including oversight mechanisms - to ensure that children are not recruited and used and that all those unlawfully recruited are promptly discharged.
International pressure and assistance can play a significant role in assisting the Myanmar government and the military to address child soldier recruitment and use. Prevention of the recruitment and use of children should be a core principle of international assistance provided to Myanmar, including technical assistance being offered to professionalise the armed forces."
Source/publisher:
Child Soldiers International
Date of publication:
2015-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-04-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
689.24 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Summary: "The widespread recruitment and use of children by state armed forces and armed groups in Myanmar has been documented by the UN and human rights organisations for over a decade. Armed conflict between the state and numerous armed ethnic groups has provided the violent backdrop against which child recruitment and other grave violations of human rights have occurred. Children have been drawn into participation in all sides of the armed conflicts not just as a result of militarisation of societies but by socioeconomic compulsions. The pressure to maintain and strengthen troop numbers in the armed forces and armed groups has been a key driver in ongoing underage recruitment. Political reforms and the signing of ceasefire agreements with various ethnic armed groups have led to some progress in the security and human rights situation in recent years. These changes, together with an increased level of engagement between Myanmar and the international community, have created an unprecedented opportunity to properly resolve longstanding problems of underage recruitment and use. Research conducted by Child Soldiers International demonstrates the need for the Government of Myanmar to adopt further and more effective measures if it is to fulfil its stated commitment towards the eradication of child recruitment and use. While regulations and military instructions have been adopted as a part of the Myanmar government?s 2012 Joint Action Plan (JAP) with the UN for the prevention of the recruitment and use of children and their discharge and rehabilitation, the Myanmar military needs to urgently implement measures - including oversight mechanisms - to ensure that children are not recruited and used and that all those unlawfully recruited are promptly discharged. International pressure and assistance can play a significant role in assisting the Myanmar government and the military to address child soldier recruitment and use. Prevention of the recruitment and use of children should be a core principle of international assistance provided to Myanmar, including technical assistance being offered to professionalise the armed forces."
Source/publisher:
Child Soldiers International
Date of publication:
2015-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-04-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
649.68 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"From 17-31 October 2014, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict conducted a field mission to Myanmar. In partnership with UNICEF, Watchlist trained staff of UN agencies, as well as international and national NGOs, on the UN-led 1612 Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM). The mission took place amidst ongoing negotiations between the 1612 Country Taskforce on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR), and the Government of Myanmar, on a work plan on the implementation of the June 2012 Action Plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by the Myanmar Armed Forces, also known as the Tatmadaw, including the Border Guard Forces (BGF)..."
Source/publisher:
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2014-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Extract on Myanmar from:
Children and armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General , 15 May 2014.
General Assembly document (A/68/878), Security Council document (S/2014/339)
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2014-05-15
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
75.25 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Nearly a decade since international engagement on the issue first began and despite the signing of a Joint Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children between the Myanmar government and the UN in June 2012, children continue to be present in the ranks of the Tatmadaw Kyi (Myanmar army) and the Border Guard Forces, as well as armed opposition groups.
Nearly a decade since international engagement on the issue first began and despite the signing of a Joint Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children between the Myanmar government and the UN in June 2012, children continue to be present in the ranks of the Tatmadaw Kyi (Myanmar army) and the Border Guard Forces (BGFs), as well as armed opposition groups. Some children have been released from the Tatmadaw Kyi but no programs are currently in place to verify the presence of children in the BGFs which function under the command of Tatmadaw Kyi.
Research conducted by Child Soldiers International shows that a persistent emphasis on increasing troop numbers - accompanied by corruption, weak oversight and impunity - has historically led to high rates of child recruitment in the Tatmadaw Kyi. An absence of effective, national monitoring mechanisms coupled with significant legal and practical obstacles to hold military personnel criminally accountable for underage recruitment are other factors which contribute to the practice. A system of an incentive-based quota system in the Myanmar military continues to drive the demand for fresh recruits and contributes to underage recruitment which is often coerced
In this briefing, Child Soldiers International makes recommendations to the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, which, after nearly four years, is considering the issue of child soldiers in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Child Soldiers International
Date of publication:
2013-05-15
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
234.71 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict recommends that delegations participating in the 2013
Security Council debate on children and armed conflict urge the Security Council to commit to the
following actions to strengthen implementation of the Children and Armed Conflict agenda..."
Source/publisher:
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2013-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Myanmar:
The information below is based on the Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council (A/66/782-S/2012/261) issued on 26 April 2012...
"The number of complaints of underage recruitment, including children under 15 years of age, continued to rise, from 194 in 2010 to 243 in 2011, reflecting an increased awareness of the age of recruitment by the Tatmadaw, and the existence of reliable vetting mechanisms, including the International Labour Organization forced labour complaints mechanism and community-based structures for complaints about underage recruitment. The Committee for the Prevention of Recruitment of Underage Children in Myanmar received more complaints than in previous years as a result of its extensive public awareness campaign. The vast majority of complaints in 2011 reflected recruitment in Yangon, Ayeyarwaddy and Mandalay regions.
Children continued to be recruited by the Tatmadaw. The majority of underage recruits interviewed after release stated that their recruiter had not asked their age, or had falsified age documentation for presentation at the recruitment centre. Reports continued to indicate that, in addition to children who were formally recruited into the Tatmadaw, children were also used by the Tatmadaw for forced labour, including as porters. In Kachin State, there were verified reports in late 2011 of children being used by the Tatmadaw alongside adults as porters on the front line..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2012-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
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Description:
"New York, 20 May 2013 – Myanmar is making progress towards the realization of its commitment to end the recruitment and use of children in its armed forces.
?The signature of an action plan in June 2012 was a major breakthrough and I commend the Government of Myanmar for taking important steps to better protect children,? said Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
The action plan signed by Myanmar with the United Nations set a timetable for the release and reintegration of children associated with the Tatmadaw, the country?s national army armed forces. The Government also committed to put in place measures preventing future recruitment of underage soldiers.
In a report providing information on grave violations against children in Myanmar between April 2009 and January 2013, the Secretary-General noted that children continued to be recruited in the Tatmadaw, but that following the signature of the action plan, the number of new cases of recruitment has decreased..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2013-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report shows that despite nearly a decade of international engagement and the June 2012 signing of a Joint Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children between the Myanmar government and the UN, children continue to be recruited and used as soldiers by the Tatmadaw Kyi (Myanmar army) and the Border Guard Forces (BGFs) in the country.
Some releases of children have taken place from the Tatmadaw Kyi but as yet no programs are in place to verify the presence of children in BGFs. Children are also formally and informally associated with the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA) and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), two armed groups on which research has been conducted for this report.
The report recommends that international assistance provided to Myanmar needs to mainstream the prevention of recruitment of children and their use in hostilities by ensuring that recruitment procedures used by the Myanmar army and the BGF are strengthened and effective age verification measures introduced. The report urges the Myanmar Peace Centre (set up by the government with the support of the international community) to ensure that protection of children is made an integral part of on-going negotiations with armed groups. Independent access by the UN and other agencies is vital to ensure the verification and release of children from the ranks of the groups."
Source/publisher:
Child Soldiers International
Date of publication:
2013-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2013-01-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
935.69 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during December 2011 in Bu Tho Township, Papun District by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The community member interviewed a 40-year-old Buddhist monk, Saw T---, who is a former member of the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Border Guard, who described activities pertaining to Border Guard Battalion #1013 based at K?Hsaw Wah, Papun District. Saw T--- described human rights abuses including the forced conscription of child soldiers, or the forcing to hire someone in their place, costing 1,500,000 Kyat (US $1833.74). This report also describes the use of landmines by the Border Guard, and how villagers are forced to carry them while acting as porters. Also mentioned, is the on-going theft of villagers money and livestock by the Border Guard, as well as the forced labour of villagers in order to build army camps and the transportation of materials to the camps; the stealing of villagers? livestock after failing to provide villagers to serve as forced labour, is also mentioned. Saw T--- provides information on the day-to-day life of a soldier in the Border Guard, describing how villagers are forcibly conscripted into the ranks of the Border Guard, do not receive treatment when they are sick, are not allowed to visit their families, nor allowed to resign voluntarily. Saw T--- described how, on one occasion a deserter?s elderly father was forced to fill his position until the soldier returned. Saw T--- also mentions the hierarchical payment structure, the use of drugs within the border guard and the training, which he underwent before joining the Border Guard. Concerns are also raised by Saw T--- to the community member who wrote this report, about his own safety and his fear of returning to his home in Papun, as he feels he will be killed, having become a deserter himself as of October 2nd 2011."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2012-07-16
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Border Guard Forces (all states), Non-ILO Reports on Forced Recruitment in Burma, Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
330.43 KB
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Description:
"Teenagers continue to serve in both the state military and armed groups, despite new approach by country?s leaders...Myat Win, a 19-year-old former child soldier, says he was forcibly conscripted into the Myanmar military, taken off a street by a pair of policemen at the tender age of 15 and sent to an army traning centre under deceitful promises, and without the knowledge of his family.
According to numerous reports by human rights organisations, many other children of Myanmar have shared Myat Win?s fate, while many more may have lost either their futures or their lives upon being forcibly conscripted into the state armed forces. Additionally, an unknown number of child soldiers continue to serve in non-state armed groups, thereby perpetuating the vicious cycle of violence.
IN VIDEO
Watch Myanmar?s former child soldiers tell their own stories
Those underage combatants who manage to escape the clutches of their army commanders often cross through the porous border to Thailand. They seek refuge in "safe houses", faced with little choice between being caught by Thai authorities and sent back to succumb to the will of their troop leaders, or living in secrecy without an identity or recourse..."
Preethi Nallu
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2012-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Under-age combatants - especially those who escaped after being forced to serve in the state armed forces - are currently unable to return home due to a combination of ostracism, the risk of being caught by authorities and a lack of legal protection under domestic laws. At the same time, they are reportedly afforded neither refugee nor asylum seeker status in Thailand because of their "combatant" backgrounds. In the absence of clear international and domestic mechanisms, many former child soldiers remain pariahs, awaiting a better future while confined to safe houses without a legitimate status or legal identity.
These former child soldiers claim they were forcibly conscripted by the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). The testimonies were collected in late 2011. Since then, significant changes have reportedly taken place, in terms of the attitude of the new administration, unprecedented levels of cooperation with UN agencies in initiating comprehensive plans to "dismantle" under-age recruitment, and the returning home of current child soldiers. Meanwhile, comprehensive peace talks between 11 different ethnic groups and the government have yielded tangible results, albeit without a full resolution of conflict issues.
To further complicate legislation, according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, "state parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities". The optional protocol to the convention calls for all parties to conflict to take "all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces".
Neither convention calls for absolute measures to end conflict, instead resorting to the term "feasible". Also, children who are between 15 and 18 years old are not fully protected, even if under-aged..."
Preethi Nallu, Kim Jolliffe
Source/publisher:
Preethi Nallu and Kim Jolliffe
Date of publication:
2012-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Burmese audio, English subtitles
more
Description:
Three child soldiers and a former Myanmar Army battalion commander describe the treatment of under-age fighters....Hiding with or joining the rebels, fleeing to Thailand or remaining on the run, the fates of Myanmar?s former child soldiers differ greatly, though trauma and suffering haunt them all.
Under-age combatants - especially those who escaped after being forced to serve in the state armed forces - are currently unable to return home due to a combination of ostracism, the risk of being caught by authorities and a lack of legal protection under domestic laws. At the same time, they are reportedly afforded neither refugee nor asylum seeker status in Thailand because of their "combatant" backgrounds. In the absence of clear international and domestic mechanisms, many former child soldiers remain pariahs, awaiting a better future while confined to safe houses without a legitimate status or legal identity.
These former child soldiers claim they were forcibly conscripted by the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). The testimonies were collected in late 2011. Since then, significant changes have reportedly taken place, in terms of the attitude of the new administration, unprecedented levels of cooperation with UN agencies in initiating comprehensive plans to "dismantle" under-age recruitment, and the returning home of current child soldiers. Meanwhile, comprehensive peace talks between 11 different ethnic groups and the government have yielded tangible results, albeit without a full resolution of conflict issues..."
Preethi Nallu, Kim Jolliffe
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2012-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ (audio); English (text and sub-titles)
more
Description:
"...Children continued to be recruited by the Tatmadaw. The majority of underage
recruits interviewed after release stated that their recruiter had not asked their age,
or had falsified age documentation for presentation at the recruitment centre.
Reports continued to indicate that, in addition to children who were formally
recruited into the Tatmadaw, children were also used by the Tatmadaw for forced
labour, including as porters. In Kachin State, there were verified reports in late 2011
of children being used by the Tatmadaw alongside adults as porters on the front line.
69. Reports of recruitment and use of children by non-State actors in Myanmar
also continued to be received. In 2010, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA) split into two factions, with the majority joining the Tatmadaw as a border
guard force, and the remainder allying itself with the Karen National Union/Karen
National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA). In 2011, with respect to both the DKBA
border guard force and the separatist DKBA troops, reports were received of forced
recruitment of children, unless payment in lieu of recruitment was received. The
country task forces on monitoring and reporting was able to verify this practice in
Kayin State, Ta Nay Cha and Thandaunggyi townships, in April and August 2011.
Reports of increased recruitment by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were
also received in the second half of 2011, as tensions mounted in Kachin and
northern Shan State. The country task force also received allegations of children
joining KIA purportedly to avoid being used by the Tatmadaw as porters on the front
line. The country task force also confirmed one report of a 15-year-old boy recruited
by the Kachin Defense Army (KDA) in northern Shan State..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations (A/66/782–S/2012/261)
Date of publication:
2012-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2012-07-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
75.75 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Over the past year, forced recruitment by the DKBA has seen a marked increase as the group has intensified attacks on the KNU/KNLA while also preparing to become a "Border Guard Force" under at least partial command by the SPDC army. Struggling to find sufficient numbers of volunteer soldiers, the DKBA has been ordering villages to provide recruits or pay large sums to hire substitutes. Villagers have also been arrested and forced to enlist, or pay to avoid conscription. The following report includes testimony from two teenage boys, aged 17 and 19, who were detained while working on a farm near their village in Pa?an District, forcibly recruited into the DKBA and taken to a military training camp in Shwe Gko Gkoh, southeastern Pa?an District. On July 20th 2009, just one month after they were initially seized, the boys deserted. Three days later they were interviewed by KHRG.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2009-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2012-02-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English, Burmese
more
Description:
"Research by the Women and Child Rights Project (WCRP) has demonstrated that grave violations of children?s rights continue to occur in southern Burma despite the creation, by the United Nations, of the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) pursuant to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1612 on Children and Armed Conflict passed in 2005.
The Burmese government has failed to meet the time-bound action plan under Resolution 1612, demonstrated by the fact that WCRP researchers found numerous accounts of ?grave violations? under United Nations Security Council?s Resolution 1612 on children and armed conflict. These violations, committed by Burmese soldiers against children in southern Burma, include recruitment of child soldiers, killing and maiming, rape and sexual abuse, and forced labor. Though the Burmese government agreed to the implementation of a monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM), pursuant to Resolution 1612, to report on instances of these grave violations, WCRP has found that abuses have continued unabated since 2005.
The data detailed below provide evidence of widespread and systematic abuses, the vast majority of which were committed by soldiers from the Tatmadaw, the Burmese military. These confirmed cases of grave violations, taken from just 15 villages in two townships, committed over a period of 5 years, suggest that the Burmese government has failed to live up to its obligations under international law to protect children during situations of armed conflict. Limitations imposed by the Burmese government on the UN country team has made it difficult for them to receive, or verify, accounts of grave violations, in turn preventing the MRM from making a noticeable impact on the continued widespread abuse of children in southern Burma. WCRP?s data strongly suggests that the real numbers of abuses against children is vastly greater than officially recognized.
Additionally, despite the fact that WCRP?s primary research covered only the period from 2005 through November 2010, recent updated reports suggest that all of the violations documented by WCRP have continued to occur over the course of the past year. Despite the political changes that may be underway in Naypyidaw, children in areas where armed conflict is ongoing continue to suffer grave violations. Thus, the international community must take further action to ensure that the MRM can effectively protect the rights of Burma?s children and realize the objective put forth in Resolution 1612, an end to the grave violations of children?s rights..."
Source/publisher:
Woman and Child Rights Project (WCRP)
Date of publication:
2012-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2012-01-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, Childrens's rights in Mon State - reports of violations, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Women and Child Rights Project, home page, articles and reports, HURFOM and other human rights material about the Mon
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.1 MB
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Description:
"...This news bulletin provides the transcripts of eight interviews conducted with six soldiers and two porters who recently fled after being conscripted by the DKBA. These interviews confirm widespread reports that the DKBA has been forcibly recruiting villagers as it attempts to increase troop strength as part of a transformation into a government Border Guard Force in advance of the 2010 elections. The interviews also offer further confirmation that the DKBA continues to use children as soldiers and porters in front-line conflict areas. Three of the victims interviewed by KHRG are teenage boys; the youngest was just 13 when he was forced to join the DKBA..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2009-B11)
Date of publication:
2009-11-13
Date of entry/update:
2009-11-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Children and armed conflict, Atrocity demining, Non-ILO Reports on Forced Recruitment in Burma
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Since 1988 because of the Burmese peoples' unwillingness to engage in military actions against its own people and their desire for democracy The Burmese Military government has widely used a policy of forcible recruitment into its army.
In order to achieve its purposes The Burmese Military Government also committed itself to recruiting under age children to employ as Child Soldiers.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the military government of Burma, The State Peace and Development Committee (The SPDC) has always denied and still continues to deny the recruitment of under age soldiers into their army. It retorts that these accusations are the deceptions and lies of western nations and border based Human Rights organizations.
In 2003 The Human Rights Watch Report disclosed that there were approximately 70,000 under age soldiers in The Burmese Army. The world now was aware of and recognized the extent of the problem of the forcible recruitment of children and their deployment in military actions by The Burmese Army. Following The Report The United Nations forced the military government of Burma into agreeing to cooperate on the issue and on January 5th 2005 The UN organized A Committee for The Protection of The Recruitment of Child Soldiers.
The Committee was namely formed but has been totally ineffective in its actions and the widespread recruitment and deployment of Child Soldiers in military operations still continues today unabated, as this report and the children who have fled The SPDC's Army and arrived at organizations along Burma's borders clearly shows.
The UN Commissioner of Children of Children Affairs in Armed Conflicts was sent as a delegate to reach agreement between The UN and The SPDC on the issue but in order to meet The SPDC's need for an annual increase in the size of its army children are being forcibly recruited by any means available. It is a child human trafficking market based upon hunger, fear and the greed for money.
For a period of nine(9) months from January to September 2008 our news agency YOMA 3 thoroughly investigated and reported on the forcible recruitment of children and their deployment in military actions by The Burmese Army.
The main intention of this report is to provide conclusive evidence to The UN and Human Rights Groups on the continual widespread recruitment of Child Soldiers in Burma and their deployment in military operations. It reveals the methods that are used to The SPDC to carry it out. By again highlighting it as an issue it is hoped it will be totally eradicated. Furthermore it hopes the world community and The UN will bring to account, prosecute and appropriately punish The SPDC and those responsible for their hineous crimes agaist children and humanity."
Source/publisher:
Yoma3 News Service
Date of publication:
2009-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2009-07-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English, Burmese
Format :
pdf
Size:
4.6 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
Summary:
"The present report, which has been prepared pursuant to Security Council
resolution 1612 (2005), covers the period from 1 October 2007 to 31 March 2009
and is the second report on children and armed conflict in Myanmar to be presented
to the Security Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.
The report provides information on the grave violations against children in
Myanmar and identifies State and non-State parties to the conflict responsible for
such violations. It highlights the fact that United Nations agencies and its partners in
Myanmar remain constrained by the absence of an agreed action plan and access and
security impediments which present a challenge for effective monitoring and
reporting efforts, and for the provision of a comprehensive account of grave
violations being perpetrated by a range of armed forces and groups in Myanmar.
The report notes various levels of contact and some progress in establishing
child protection dialogue between the United Nations Resident Coordinator, the
United Nations country team, the country task force and the Government, as well as
some ceasefire groups. It also recognizes several important ongoing initiatives by the
Government of Myanmar to address the issue of underage recruitment into military
service since my first report and pursuant to Security Council Working Group
conclusions, including actions to discharge underage children, and training and
awareness-raising activities for military personnel on international and national law
on the prevention of recruitment of children.
The report stresses the need for the Governments concerned to facilitate
dialogue between the United Nations and the Karen National Union and Karenni
National Progressive Party for the purposes of signing an action plan in accordance
with Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004) and 1612 (2005), following their
initial deeds of commitment.
Finally, the report contains a series of recommendations aimed at securing
strengthened action for the protection of children in Myanmar."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Security Council (S/2009/278)
Date of publication:
2009-06-01
Date of entry/update:
2009-06-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
107.32 KB
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Description:
"In the midst of Myanmar?s enduring political and
socioeconomic turmoil, thousands of children also
experience the devastating consequences of protracted
armed conflict in parts of the country. For decades
Myanmar Armed Forces and associated armed groups
have engaged in low-level armed conflict with opposing
non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in parts of Kayin (Karen),
Kayah (Karenni), Shan, Mon and Chin States. Even in
so-called ceasefire areas,? some NSAGs have retained their
arms and in some cases acting as proxy forces of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), wreaking havoc
on children and their communities.
The high occurrence and brutality of reported human and
child rights violations makes it impossible to deny that
Myanmar Armed Forces and NSAGs commit grave violations
against children in Myanmar?s armed conflict. The
SPDC must no longer deny these children access to
sufficient and lifesaving humanitarian assistance. Finally,
the UN Security Council and the international community
must not deny the urgency of protecting children from
violence, maltreatment and abuse in Myanmar?s ongoing
armed conflict..."
Source/publisher:
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2009-05-00
Date of entry/update:
2009-05-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.65 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
"...Yan Aung?s childhood ended prematurely. When he was 11 years old he was abducted by two
soldiers and forced to join the Tatmadaw, Burma?s armed forces. Although he had no interest
in serving in the army, he had to sign a prepared statement af"rming that he had voluntarily
enlisted and that he was 18 years old at the time.
The year Yan Aung should have completed the fourth grade, he attended basic training at
the Pinlaung military training facility. He went on to serve as a private with Light Infantry Battalion
No. 135 under the supervision of Captain Aung Aung. At the age of 13 he was sent to
Kaingtaung in Southern Shan State to train as a corporal. Shortly after, Yan Aung was sent to
Mawchee Township in Karenni State where, under the direction of Major Aung Naing Soe, he
took part in an attack against the Karenni Army (KA), the armed faction of the Karenni National
Peoples Party (KNPP). During the battle Yan Aung?s friend and fellow child soldier, a 15 yearold
boy by the name of Tin Re, was shot and killed right in front of him.
After "ve consecutive stints on the frontlines of Burma?s civil war, Yan Aung managed to
escape to Thailand. However, along with abandoning military life he also left behind his family
and friends. Now he is a refugee, living along the Thai-Burma border. He is 17 years old...."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB)
Date of publication:
2008-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2009-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Summary:
"The present report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of
resolution 1612 (2005). It is presented to the Security Council and its Working Group
on Children and Armed Conflict as the first country report pursuant to paragraphs 2,
3 and 10 of that resolution. The report, which covers the period from July 2005 to
September 2007, provides information on the current situation regarding the
recruitment and use of children and other grave violations being committed against
children affected by armed conflict in the Union of Myanmar. While the monitoring
and reporting structures as outlined in the mechanism endorsed by the Security
Council in its resolution in 1612 (2005) are in place, the modalities of an effective
mechanism, including security guarantees, access to affected areas and freedom of
movement of monitors without Government escort, are lacking. This first report
therefore sets forth the general scope of the situation based on the information
available to the United Nations country task force on monitoring and reporting at the
present time.
Although there has been progress in terms of dialogue with the Government of
Myanmar and two non-State actors, the report notes that State and non-State actors
continue to be implicated in grave child rights violations. The Government of
Myanmar has made a commitment at the highest level that no child under the age of
18 will be recruited. The Government has set up a high-level Committee for the
Prevention of Military Recruitment of Underage Children and a working group for
monitoring and reporting on the same issue. Further, there are Government policies
and directives prohibiting underage recruitment. To date, the Government has not
acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict (2000). Two non-State actors (the Karen
National Union and the Karenni National Progressive Party) have signed Deeds of
Commitment to cease the recruitment and use of children, to declare their adherence
to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and have
committed themselves to appropriate follow-up action. The Government has committed to bringing its current action plan on the
prevention of the recruitment of children into its armed forces, the Tatmadaw Kyi,
into line with international standards and to facilitate action plans with the United
Wa State Army and other non-State actors. The Government of Myanmar has also
recognized the need for the United Nations country task force in Myanmar to engage
the Karen National Union and Karenni National Progressive Party in the
development of action plans and monitor their compliance in accordance with
Security Council resolution 1612 (2005). A principal difficulty with regard to
monitoring grave violations of children?s rights remains the lack of access to some
locations of concern. Access to conflict-affected areas is severely restricted by the
Government, a situation that impacts greatly on monitoring and possible responses to
child rights violations."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Security Council
Date of publication:
2007-11-16
Date of entry/update:
2007-11-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict, Children
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
90.8 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
I Summary:
The Government of Burma?s Armed Forces: The Tatmadaw;
Government Failure to Address Child Recruitment;
Non-state Armed Groups;
The Local and International Response...
II Recommendations 14
To the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) 14
To All Non-state Armed Groups 17
To the Governments of Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, India, and China 18
To the Government of Thailand 18
To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 18
To UNICEF 19
To the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and
Armed Conflict 20
To Member States of the United Nations 20
To the UN Security Council 21
To the International Labour Organization 21
To the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human
Rights in Myanmar 21
III Methodology22
IV Background24
V The Tatmadaw: The State Military 29
The Tatmadaw?s Staffing Crisis29
Recruitment 32
Key Factors in Child Recruitment33
Children as Commodities: The Recruit Market 41
Recruitment of the Very Young 43
The Su Saun Yay Recruit Holding Camps45
Training 50
Deployment and Active Duty 56
Combat 60
Abuses against Civilians62
Desertion, Imprisonment, and Re-recruitment 63
The Future of Tatmadaw Child Recruitment68
The Government of Burma?s Response to the Recruitment and Use of Child
Soldiers 68
The Committee for the Prevention of Military Recruitment of Underage
Children 71
Demobilization73
Reintegration76
Measures for Raising Awareness77
Enforcement of Recruitment Laws and Regulations 81
Government Cooperation with International Agencies 84
VI Child Soldiers in Non-State Armed Groups 94
United Wa State Army 97
Karenni Army 98
Karen National Liberation Army 102
Shan State Army ? South 105
Kachin Independence Army 107
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army 109
Kachin Defense Army 111
Mon National Liberation Army 112
Karenni Nationalities People?s Liberation Front 113
Shan Nationalities People?s Liberation Army 115
Rebellion Resistance Force116
KNU-KNLA Peace Council117
VII The International Response120
The United Nations Security Council 120
United Nations Country Team 122
UNICEF 123
ILO 124
Neighboring country and cross-border initiatives 125
VIII Legal Standards 129
Child Recruitment as a War Crime 130
International Standards on Demobilization, Reintegration, and
Rehabilitation 131
Acknowledgements 132
Appendices 133
Appendix A: SPDC Plan of Action regarding child soldiers 133
Appendix B: Human Rights Watch letter to the UN Mission of Myanmar,
August 22, 2007 137
Appendix C: Reply from the UN Mission of Myanmar, September 12, 2007 139
Appendix D: KNPP Deed of Commitment regarding child soldiers 142
Appendix E: KNLA Deed of Commitment regarding child soldiers 146
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2007-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2007-10-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, Children
Language:
English
more
Description:
Executive Summary:
"Child involvement in armed conflict is a disturbing trend of modern times.
Nowhere is this trend more evident and extreme than in Burma, where children
are aggressively recruited and forced to join the military.
?While going to school, I was taken against my will by an unnamed
person. I was brought to Danyingone New Recruitment Center and then
to the 9th Basic Military Training School. I attended the training and
passed. I was brought to Hpa-An Township, Karen State, to serve in the
Signal Battalion.”
Former child soldier, recruited into the SPDC armed forces
in 2004 at age thirteen
The government of Burma, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), has been expanding its armed forces—the ?Tatmadaw”—at an alarming
rate; and this expansion is sustained by the recruitment of children. In 1988 there
were approximately 200,000 men serving in the Tatmadaw, in 2004 estimates
were nearly 380,000 troops, and it is reported that the SPDC wants to increase
that number to 500,000.
This report examines the ongoing recruitment and use of child soldiers in
Burma. Most children interviewed for this report were forcibly recruited into army
ranks; they were coerced and deceived. Other child recruits cited economic
hardships and social pressures as their reasons for joining, the very conditions
that make them easy targets for SPDC recruiters.
Recruiters also use intimidation tactics to convince children to join the
armed forces. ?Join the military or go to jail,” were the ?options” that many children
were offered. This fear-inducing strategy is effective, almost guaranteeing that the
child will ?choose” to join the military.
Once recruited, children are detained at local army posts, police stations
or recruiting offices. They are instructed on how to fill out registration forms;
including lying about their age, as officially children under the age of 18 years are
not permitted to join the army. However authorities at all levels circumvent this
rule by forcing every recruit to say they are at least 18 years old.
?I was brought to the recruitment center, where they [military personnel]
immediately started cutting my hair and filling out forms for me. I was
only requested to give a thumb print. They asked me how old I was
and I told them that I was 14. They told me to say 18. Then I was
given a medical examination. At first the doctor wouldn?t let me join
the army because I didn?t have any pubic hair. But, the corporal who
recruited me bribed the doctor.”
Former child soldier, recruited into the SPDC armed
forces in 2003 at the age of fourteen
According to interviewees, children are then sent to complete military
training programs and subsequently sent to the frontlines to fight ?enemy” rebel
groups or serve as porters, cooks, or servants for higher ranking officers. If sent
to the frontlines they rarely know who they are fighting or why.
Children report that conditions in the detention centers and training camps
are horrible; the barracks are overcrowded and they are bullied by older recruits.
Moreover, children are routinely beaten if they make mistakes during training.
These conditions cause child soldiers to suffer from mental, emotional,
and physical exhaustion. Children, still in varying stages of development, are
unable to accommodate the stress generated by military activities. As reported
by many of the interviewees, child soldiers often cry themselves to sleep in quiet
humiliation, scared any show of weakness could invite additional reproach from
fellow soldiers and officers.
As soldiers, children are forced to perpetrate violence and commit human
rights violations. They take part in destroying villages suspected of supporting
ethnic insurgent movements; they also participate in extrajudicial killings. Children
are not prepared for the physical, emotional or psychological experience of war.
Therefore some run away from the army, some attempt suicide, while most attempt
to rationalize their experiences, which distorts their fundamental sentiments of
right and wrong.
The SPDC has promised action and in an effort to quell the recruitment
and use of child soldiers, has created the Committee for the Prevention of Military
Recruitment of Under-age Children.? However, rather than spending its
time aggressively fighting against the recruitment and use of child soldiers, the
committee focuses on contesting allegations from the UN and international and
national human rights groups about the use of child soldiers in the country.
The SPDC must stop recruiting and using children in the military. The
government?s official policies, which prohibit children from entering the military,
must be implemented and those who violate such policies should be punished.
The SPDC must play a central role in disarming, demobilizing, and rehabilitating
(DDR) former child soldiers and invite assistance from international and local
organizations willing to help with DDR programs.
The SPDC promises change; but despite promises, evidence continues
to point to SPDC?s continued recruitment, training, and deployment of child soldiers."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB)
Date of publication:
2006-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-10-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Burmese
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Description:
Life in Burma"Volunteer" Army...
"In a letter to the United Nations dated May 8, 2002, the Burmese military government stated unequivocally that all its soldiers serve the country without coercion. "The Myanmar [Burma] Tatmadaw [armed forces] is an all volunteer army. There are no conscripts, and the recruitment into Myanmar armed forces is entirely voluntary."
"Like so many of the government?s claims??especially the unequivocal ones??the statement to the UN bears little resemblance to the truth.
Thant Zin, a 17-year-old former soldier, has first-hand experience of the Tatmadaw?s voluntary conscription policies. During a trip to see his brother in Taungoo, a small city in central Burma, Thant Zin was approached by soldiers at the train station, told that he would now be a soldier in his country?s army and threatened with physical violence when he refused..."
Yeni
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No3
Date of publication:
2006-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-05-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The SPDC claims that there are no child soldiers in its army and has appointed a Committee to spread this story, while independent outside reports reveal the Burma Army as having more child soldiers than any other army or country in the world. Boys as young as 11 are deliberately targeted by recruiters who trick or beat them into joining, record their ages as 18, and buy and sell them like cattle. They are treated brutally in training, and in the field they are forced to loot villages to survive. This report lets a 15 year old deserter tell his own story, which reveals that the past five years have not brought any improvement in the SPDC?s record on recruitment or treatment of child soldiers."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2006-F2)
Date of publication:
2006-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2006-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
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Description:
Submission by the Burma UN Service Office-New York & the Human Rights Documentation Unit
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
To
The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
For
The preparation of the Secretary-General?s third report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict, on the implementation of resolutions 1261 (1999), 1314 (2000), and 1379 (2001)... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"Who would want to be a child in Burma? Four decades of military rule, mismanagement and armed conflict have resulted in widespread poverty, poor health care, low educational standards and widespread and systematic human rights abuses.
The government spends 40% of the national budget on the military, while spending on healthcare and education is one of the lowest in the world at under 1% (US$0.60 and US$0.28 per capita respectively). The World Health Organization?s 2000 report graded Burma 190th overall in health system of 191 countries surveyed. According to UNICEF, of the 1.3 million children born every year, more than 92,500 will die before they reach their first birthday and another 138,000 children will die before the age of five. The main causes of death are malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, acute respiratory infections, and diarrheal diseases. More than 1 in 3 children under 5 will be malnourished.
These health problems are exacerbated by the on-going armed conflict, which disproportionately affects ethnic groups. Children from ethnic groups have extremely limited access to health care and immunization as UN agencies do not have access to these areas. Nor do they have access to internally displaced persons (IDPs) - of which a large proportion are children. Military violence coupled with displacement, forced relocations and resulting food insecurity are the main causes of malnutrition and other related illnesses. These children are also most at risk of serious human rights violations including sexual assault and trafficking.
According to UNAIDS, HIV prevalence in 2000 crossed the 1.0% threshold, making Burma one of only three countries in Asia to have an HIV epidemic considered to be generalized? throughout the population. An estimated 14,000 children have HIV and another 43,000 are AIDS orphans. Data from antenatal clinics record HIV prevalence of 2.8-5.3% among the youngest group (15-24 years old) of pregnant women. The HIV prevalence in military recruits has shown an increase (0.82% among those 15-19 years).
Low educational attainment is a serious social, economic and political problem. Only three out of four children enter primary school and of those only two out of five complete the full five years. That is, only 30% of Burmese children get proper primary school education let alone secondary and tertiary education. Female students are disproportionately affected by high dropout rates as fewer than one third of all girls who enroll make it through primary school. As a result, thousands of children are forced to drop out, interrupt or receive substandard education. The ongoing armed conflict has resulted in: the lack of an educational infrastructure; teachers; physical dangers due to lack of security; transience due to forced relocation; and Burmanization policies which force the closure of non-Burman schools in ethnic areas or discriminate against ethnic students.
Government displacement programs have taken place at least since the late 1960s have aimed at securing areas, cutting links between civilians and armed groups and reducing the impact of armed groups. Relocation orders by government authorities either specify where the villagers should relocate to - relocation sites? - or simply state that villagers should leave the area. To prevent villagers from remaining or returning, villages are burnt down and designated free fire zones?.
Independent monitoring or assistance to IDPs has not been authorized by the Burmese government. Estimates of the total number of IDPs in Burma range between one and two million. Most asylum seekers arriving in Thailand lived for some time as IDPs. An estimated 400,000 Burmese asylum seekers and refugees are currently living in neighboring countries.
The U.S. State Department?s second annual Trafficking in Persons? report released on 5 June 2002 lists Burma as a country of origin for women and girls trafficked to Thailand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Pakistan and Japan for sexual exploitation, domestic and factory work. Thailand is believed to be the primary destination with an estimated 40,000 Burmese women and children, most of them from ethnic groups, working as sex workers. A new trend shows that trafficked girls are increasingly virgins who are in demand due to the belief that young girls are less likely to the HIV positive. In practice, young girls are sold as virgins several times until the amount for which they can be sold steadily decreases. When girls are no longer profitable because of pregnancy or disease they are often turned out on the street.
Child labor has become increasingly prevalent and visible. Approximately one quarter of children in the age group 10-14 are engaged in paid work and there is a growing number of street children in concentrated urban areas. Street children and orphans are particularly vulnerable to forced recruitment into the armed forces. Burma is believed to be one of the world?s single largest users of child soldiers with up to 50,000 children serving in both government armed forces and armed opposition groups.
Burmese law does not specifically prohibit child labor and children are forced to labor on infrastructure development projects and income generating projects for the military, especially in ethnic areas. Children are also forced to serve as porters in combat areas, and frequently suffer beatings, rape and other mistreatment. Porters are used as human minesweepers and human shields during military operations and children are no exception. The number of landmine casualties, although unknown, is now believed to surpass even that of Cambodia. There is more chance of fatality if a child steps on a mine.
This report evidences that the present government of Burma is not adhering to Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict."
Source/publisher:
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
Date of publication:
2002-08-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-02-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
Format :
htm doc
Size:
250.61 KB 200 KB
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Description:
"A child soldier, recruited into the Burma Army at age 11, tells his gruesome story.
Sixteen-year old Maung Myo (not his real name), a deserter from the Burma Army, said he wants to go back home and be reunited with his mother. If he tries he risks being arrested and court-martialed by the military..."
Shah Paung
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 7
Date of publication:
2004-07-00
Date of entry/update:
2004-11-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
Johnny und Luther Htoo sind vielleicht die berühmtesten Kindersoldaten der Welt. Die beiden 14-jährigen, Zigarre qualmenden Zwillinge waren die Anführer der sogenannten Armee Gottes, die im Januar 2000 ein Hospital in Thai land stürmte und dabei Hunderte Personen als Geiseln nahm. Aber während diese Aktion Schlagzeilen in aller Welt machte, schenkte man dem zugrunde liegenden Problem der Kindersoldaten in Burma nur wenig Aufmerksamkeit.
Child Soldiers, God's Army, Child soldiers in the Tatmadaw, in the rebellion armies
Tom Kramer, Deutsch von Markus Gerboth
Source/publisher:
Südostasien Jg. 18, Nr.3 - Asienhaus
Date of publication:
2002-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
Deutsch, German
more
Description:
"This report looks at the armies of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta ruling Burma and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a Karen group allied with the SPDC, through the eyes of their own soldiers who have fled: the recruitment, the training, life in the battalions, relations with villagers and other groups, and their views on Burma?s present and future situation. What we find, particularly in the SPDC?s Tatmadaw? (Army), is conscription and coercion of children, systematic physical and psychological abuse by the officers, endemic corruption, and the rank and file of an entire Army forced into a system of brutality toward civilians. According to Tatmadaw deserters, one third or more of SPDC soldiers are children, morale among the rank and file is almost nonexistent, and half or more of the Army would desert if they thought they could survive the attempt. The Tatmadaw has expanded rapidly since repression of the democracy movement and the creation of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC, former name of the SPDC) in 1988. The Armed Forces as a whole have expanded from an estimated strength of 180,000 to over 400,000, making it the second-largest military in Southeast Asia after Vietnam. Military camps and soldiers are now common all over Burma, especially in the non-Burman ethnic states and divisions. With this increased military presence has come a rise in the scale of abuses and corruption committed by the Army. To achieve this military expansion, children as young as nine or ten are taken into the Army, trained and sent to frontline battalions. Of the six SPDC deserters interviewed for this report, five were under the age of 17 when they joined the Tatmadaw..."
The SPDC and DKBA Armies through the Eyes of their Soldiers.Symbolically released on the SPDC?s ?Armed Forces Day?, this report uses the testimony of former SPDC soldiers to document the deteriorating situation in the ever-expanding Army: the conscription and coercion of 13-17 year old children who now make up as much as 30% of the rank and file, the corruption of the officers and their brutal treatment of their own soldiers, the systematic abuse and exploitation of the civilian population, and the crumbling morale, desertions and suicides. Also looks at the declining relevance of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) as the command structure weakens and units are left to pursue black market businesses to support themselves.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2001-01)
Date of publication:
2001-03-27
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, General/Strategic
Language:
English
more
Description:
A coalition of social activists is scheduled to meet in Nepal next week to discuss ways to enact a global ban on the use of children as soldiers. The activists say the use of children in armed conflicts is widespread in Asia. As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from Bangkok, they also say it is not just rebel opposition groups that indulge in the practice.
Gary Thomas, Bangkok
Source/publisher:
Voice of America
Date of publication:
2000-05-10
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, General/Strategic
Language:
English
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Title: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers - Global Report 2001 : ASIA-THE PACIFIC - MYANMAR
Description:
"Myanmar is estimated to have one of the largest numbers of child soldiers of any country in the world, with up to 50,000 children serving in both government armed forces and armed opposition groups. The ILO has condemned the forced recruitment of children in Myanmar and has taken measures to address the government?s use of forced labour. The activities of God?s Army, a breakaway Karen group led by young twins, focused world attention on the use of child soldiers by ethnic armed groups. Armed groups in the Shan State have declared they will not recruit children below 18.
Fighting continues in many parts of Myanmar with armed opposition groups pitted against the military government or State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) � some ethnic based, others political exiles. The Karen movement remains the strongest, although weakened in recent years.[2] A number of opposition forces in Myanmar have accepted cease-fires with the government. These have had the effect of fragmenting opposition groups even further, with some factions continuing to control their territory under arms, breakaway forces continuing their fight against the government, and internecine fighting between different armed groups. Tens of thousands of villagers in contested zones have been forcibly relocated or internally displaced within the region..."
Source/publisher:
Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers
Date of publication:
2002-05-12
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
War against children in Burma. Additional keywords: forced relocation, forced labour, child soldiers.
Zahlen und Fakten zu Burma mit Bezug zu Kindern, einschließlich Kinderarbeit, Zwangsrekrutierung, Prostitution, Links zu weiteren Themen der Kinderarbeit. Studie "No childhood at all" zum Runterladen.
Source/publisher:
terre des hommes
Date of publication:
1997-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children and armed conflict
Language:
Deutsch, German
more
Description:
"Burma is believed to have more child soldiers than any other country in the world. The overwhelming majority of Burma's child soldiers are found in Burma's national army, the Tatmadaw Kyi, which forcibly recruits children as young as eleven. These children are subject to beatings and systematic humiliation during training. Once deployed, they must engage in combat, participate in human rights abuses against civilians, and are frequently beaten and abused by their commanders and cheated of their wages. Refused contact with their families and facing severe reprisals if they try to escape, these children endure a harsh and isolated existence.
Children are also present in Burma's myriad opposition groups, although in far smaller numbers. Some children join opposition groups to avenge past abuses by Burmese forces against members of their families or community, while others are forcibly conscripted. Many participate in armed conflict, sometimes with little or no training, and after years of being a soldier are unable to envision a future for themselves apart from military service. Burma's military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), claims that all of its soldiers are volunteers, and that the minimum recruitment age is eighteen.4 However, testimonies of former soldiers interviewed for this report suggest that the vast majority of new recruits are forcibly conscripted, and that 35 to 45 percent may be children. Although there is no way to establish precise figures, data taken from the observations of former child soldiers who have served in diverse parts of Burma suggests that 70,000 or more of the Burma army's estimated 350,000 soldiers may be children..."
Kevin Heppner
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2002-10-16
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Army, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...The phenomenon of child soldiers in Burma can only be understood within the context of
militarization of the society as a whole. War in Burma has affected every segment of society,
its fallout having severest repercussions for the most disadvantaged groups. The political
instability engendered by civil war has left the country in economic crisis and has isolated
rural conflict areas from receiving badly-needed development assistance. NGO activities
have been severely curtailed, mitigating most attempts to correct the situation.
Consequently, many children in Burma are living in grinding poverty, uneducated and in
poor health, with under-age labour one of their few choices to make ends meet. The everpresent
reality of armed conflict is also deeply embedded in the consciousness of all Burma's
peoples. With 36% of all Burma's inhabitants under the age of l5,1 most of the country's
population have grown up under the shadow of civil war. The rapid expansion of the armed
forces since 1988 has both forced and encouraged recruitment of minors into the ranks. Army
entrance is sometimes perceived by children, especially orphans, as offering a protective
haven from hunger and abuse. Many children therefore see joining the armed forces of any of
the warring parties as their only means of survival. Unfortunately, research suggests that
they are likely to find it just the opposite. While Burma has acceded to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, as yet there is little indication that its provisions are being followed in
good faith, or that recruitment of children into the Tatmadaw has decreased..."
Source/publisher:
Images Asia, Thailand
Date of publication:
1997-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, General/Strategic, Children
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
513.29 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Recruitment • Roles And Duties • Treatment and experiences. They are about 13 or 15 years old, wear army uniforms and carry war weapons. By all other measures they are still children, but it is not war games they play. Burmese history is full of stories of different kings at war with each other and the modern period since 1948 -- when the British surrendered their colonial rule -- has been little different. Almost from the day the British lowered the Union Jack, Burma has been home to a continuous civil war described by some observers as one of the most complicated conflicts in the world.
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 5. No. 6
Date of publication:
1997-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Army
Language:
English
more