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Home > Main Library > The UN System and Burma/Myanmar > UN Human Rights entities working on Burma (Myanmar) > United Nations human rights treaties to which Myanmar is a party > Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) > Burma/Myanmar and the CRC
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Burma/Myanmar and the CRC

  • NGO submissions to the CRC on Burma/Myanmar

    Websites/Multiple Documents

    Title: List of NGO submissions on Burma/Myanmar
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
    Format/size: html, pdf
    Date of entry/update: 16 January 2012


    Individual Documents

    Title: CRC 1997: "When Children's Rights are Jeopardized, so is the Future of the Nation." - The Children's Rights situation in Burma
    Date of publication: January 1996
    Description/subject: "This paper is an attempt to investigate how Burma is treating its children. This has been done through collating already existigg material on the situation of children in Burma. No 'nev.' interviews or recordings have been done. The material consists of different reports, papers and books (see bibliography). Because of limited time and language skills this paper is just an attempt to show the differences between the Child Right's Coovention and reality, between what is said by the State Law and Restoration Council (Slorc) and whatthoy are actually doing..."
    Author/creator: Sara Brunnkvist
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: "Burma Issues" via Norwegian Burma Council
    Format/size: pdf (1.3MB)
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 1997: Burma: Children's Rights and the Rule of Law
    Date of publication: January 1997
    Description/subject: Submitted as an Alternative Report to the CRC. Burma acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. Since then, however, there has been little progress towards the implementation of the convention, and the underlying problems which impede implementation have not changed. These include a total lack of the rule of law and accountability of the government, as well as draconian restrictions on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly which prevent local reporting and monitoring of the human rights situation of children. Events of October and December1996 in Burma, which saw hundreds of high school and university students take to the streets to demand the protection of their rights, especially the right to form student unions, highlight the urgent need for reform. Over three hundred students and youths were arrested during the December demonstrations, at least fifty of whom remain unaccounted for. . .
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
    Format/size: html
    Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


    Title: CRC 1997: COMMENTS ON THE INITIAL REPORT OF BURMA (MYANMAR) TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
    Date of publication: July 1996
    Description/subject: Submitted to the Members of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child by Ethan Taubes, consultant to the International League for Human Rights 432 Park Avenue South New York, New York, 10016, U.S.A July 1996....Executive Summary: "Myanmar's initial report demonstrates a serious lack of understanding for the principles animating the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Through its chronic omission of virtually all relevant information, it describes a country in which children's rights are afforded special protection under national law .With its primary emphasis on reciting enacted legislation, and with little relevant commentary or factual documentation to fill the gaps, the report avoids any substantive discussion of what measures Myan.mar is taking to protect children's rights and enforce existing laws. SLORC attempts to mask its noncompliance with the Committee's reporting guidelinesl by using the subtitle "Implementation" in each section of its report. However, although the term "implementation" is continually waved like a talismanic wand at the reader, the sections usually refer to statutory provisions without providing any material on actual implementation measures the government is taking or, at least, planning to pursue. Implementation of the Convention does not"end simply with mechanical incorporation of the CRC provisions into national law .Legislation is meaningless unless it is accompanied by concrete administrative codes and guidelines for government agencies to follow and apply .Legislation must be bolstered by specific policy decisions and by political will to implement the principles of the Convention.2 Article 44(2) of the CRC requires States parties to include in their reports ". ..sufficient information to provide the Committee with a comprehensive understanding of the implementation of the Convention in the country concerned," The Myanmar report fails to satisfy this basic requirement. As a result, it will be all but impossible for the Committee to conduct discussions "to analyze progress achieved and factors and difficulties encountered in the implementation of the Convention," as is the responsibility of the Committee under its guidelines,3 The Committee should require that Myanmar submit another report within six months, because the current report is not in compliance with the reporting guidelines established by the Committee and fails to provide the information necessary for the Committee to conduct its discussions. For this purpose, the Committee should: (1) emphasize, and elaborate on, the reporting guidelines previously established in the CRC's Overview on Reporting Procedures, and (2) require that Myanmar be more forthcoming in its reporting, especially in its discussion of implementation measures, and demand that the SLORC not avoid difficult issues about protecting the rights of the Bumiese child."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: International League for Human Rights
    Format/size: pdf (893K)
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 1997: The Situation of Children in Burma
    Date of publication: 01 May 1996
    Description/subject: "[This report was prepared as a submission to the UN Committee which is reviewing SLORC’s observance of the Convention on Rights of the Child, which SLORC ratified in 1991. Under the terms of the Convention, SLORC was required to submit a report to the Committee in 1993, but did not do so until September 1995. Their case comes before the Committee in Oct. 1996 or Jan. 1997. This report was submitted together with a 140-page Annex of excerpts from KHRG reports relating to children. It is reproduced here for general use.] This summary is intended for consideration by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. It has been prepared partly in response to the report filed by the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Burma’s ruling military junta. It does not contain a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of SLORC’s report, but instead attempts to summarize some of the worst problems facing Burma’s children today and point out some of the most glaring fallacies in the SLORC report. All of the observations and quotations included here are taken from our 4 years of living among and interviewing villagers, refugees and the internally displaced. In Burma the Tatmadaw (Army) exercises absolute power of life and death over every civilian, including children. Soldiers act with complete impunity, particularly in rural areas, and are not answerable to any laws which exist on paper in Rangoon. Children are often shot on sight in free-fire zones, tortured or executed as "suspected rebels", used for forced labour, forcibly conscripted into the Army and otherwise subject to direct abuse. They also suffer from the destruction of the village environment and the economy under SLORC policies, which are leading to widespread malnutrition and the death of children, the lack of educational opportunities, and other factors which rob them of a childhood..."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG Articles and Papers)
    Format/size: html, pdf (115.54 K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.khrg.org/khrg96/596child.html
    Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


    Title: CRC 2004: BURMA (MYANMAR): Right to Education Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers -
    Date of publication: October 2003
    Description/subject: Submission by Human Rights Watch to the Committee ion the Rights of the Child... SUMMARY: "Many children in Burma (Myanmar) are denied their right to education under article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Many are out of school because their families cannot afford school fees. Large numbers of children, particularly in ethnic minority areas, are also denied access to education, as armed conflict has resulted in the closure or destruction of many schools. Large numbers of children in these areas have been forcibly displaced by the Burma army, with little or no access to education. In violation of article 38 of the Convention, forced recruitment of children into Burma’s national army is systematic and widespread. Children as young as eleven are forcibly recruited from public places, including marketplaces, bus, ferry, and rail stations, and the street. During training, these children are subject to routine and often brutal beatings and systematic humiliation. Once deployed, they often engage in combat against ethnic armed opposition groups, and are forced to participate in human rights abuses against civilians. They are frequently beaten and abused by their commanders and cheated of their wages. They are refused contact with their families and face severe reprisals if they try to escape. In violation of article 39, the government makes no programs or assistance available for the recovery and social reintegration of children who have been recruited or used as child soldiers."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
    Format/size: pdf (75K)
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2004: BURMA'S CHILD IN EDUCATION
    Date of publication: August 2003
    Description/subject: Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child...Conclusion: "Though Burma became a state party of CRC and promulgated a Child Law, the situation of children in education is not progressed. Their right to education is abused due to the lack of government obligation to child welfare. The poverty, political instability and internal wars are largely impacted to the education life of children in Burma. Many children are dropouts from school because of family's financial situation and poverty, while many children in minority areas were abused the right to education in consequence of internal wars and military operation in these areas."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Foreign Affairs Committee All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABSFU)
    Format/size: pdf (85K)
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2004: Child Soldiers : CRC Country Briefs : Myanmar
    Date of publication: 17 February 2004
    Description/subject: "...Myanmar is estimated to have one of the largest numbers of child soldiers of any country in the world, with the overwhelming majority serving in the national army, the Tatmadaw.1 Although the minimum age for conscripts is 18, Human Rights Watch has estimated that children may account for 35 to 45 per cent of new recruits into the national army, or 70,000 or more of Myanmar’s estimated 350,000 soldiers. The government has not ratified the OP-CRC-CAC. Child soldiers, including those under the age of 15, are also present in armed opposition groups..."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (re-named Child Soldiers International)
    Format/size: pdf (48K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=4008&flag=legal
    http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.36/myanmar_CSCS_ngo_report.pdf
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2004: ISSUES TO BE RAISED CONCERNING THE SITUATION OF ROHINGYA CHILDREN IN MYANMAR (BURMA)
    Date of publication: November 2003
    Description/subject: SUBMISSION TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD For the Examination of the 2nd periodic State Party Report -MYANMAR..... "...The Muslim population of Rakhine State, known as Rohingya2 and closely related to the Chittagonian people of Southern Bangladesh, is being discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity and religion. They have been excluded from the nationbuilding process in Myanmar and the military regime has implemented policies of exclusion and discrimination against this group aimed at encouraging them to leave the country. These systematic policies have maintained underdevelopment and have been the driving force behind two mass refugee exoduses to Bangladesh, in 1978 and again in 1991/92. The combination of human right violations the Rohingya face -- from the denial of legal status to restriction of movement and economic constraints -- creates food insecurity and makes life in Northern Rakhine State untenable for many. Rohingya children, in particular, are innocent victims suffering from the debilitating consequences of these government policies, which dramatically affect their physical and mental development, and will have long-lasting effects for the future of the Rohingya community..."
    Author/creator: Chris Lewa
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Forum Asia
    Format/size: pdf (151K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/resources/find.asp?country=35&categoryID=Any6
    http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.36/myanmar_ForumAsia_ngo_report.pdf
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: Attacks on education and health facilities and related personnel: Trends and recent incidents from eastern Burma (submission to the CRC)
    Date of publication: 21 September 2011
    Description/subject: "The UN Security Council (UNSC) has repeatedly recognised the importance of protecting health and education facilities and related personnel from attack, with the passage of resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1998 (2011). Unfortunately, in the context of eastern Burma, UN-led monitoring and reporting pursuant to these resolutions has to date gathered only minimal information regarding such attacks. This briefer is thus designed to contribute information on this question, in the hope that it prompts more systematic international monitoring. After a short introduction, Section I of this briefer details KHRG research methodology; Section II analyses general trends in armed conflict and related violations during the reporting period and Section III analyses 16 particularly illustrative incidents that entailed attacks on schools, clinics and related personnel or children. These incidents were selected from a database detailing 59 recent attacks monitored by KHRG that did or could have placed educational or medical facilities and related personnel at risk of attack. Appendix 1 presents legal analysis to support monitoring attacks in eastern Burma..."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
    Format/size: pdf (169K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=26524&flag=legal
    http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/CRC2012-Myanmar-NGO-KHRG.pdf
    Date of entry/update: 16 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: Briefing for the CRC on corporal punishment in Myanmar
    Date of publication: June 2011
    Description/subject: "This report provides supplementary information on the 3rd and 4th report of Myanmar on the implementation of the CRC. The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children submits a briefing to each Pre-sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The briefings summarize the legal status of corporal punishment in each of the States to be examined, together with any research evidence of prevalence of corporal punishment. The briefing covers corporal punishment in all settings - the home, alternative care, schools and penal systems."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
    Format/size: pdf (134K)
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: ISSUES TO BE RAISED CONCERNING THE SITUATION OF STATELESS ROHINGYA CHILDREN IN MYANMAR (BURMA)
    Date of publication: 19 January 2012
    Description/subject: For the Examination of the combined 3rd and 4th periodic State Party Reports (CRC/C/MMR/3-4) -MYANMAR - Updated in January 2012....."...The Muslim population of Northern Rakhine State, known as Rohingya2, constitutes an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority group in Myanmar. Their number is estimated at 735,000 or about 91% of the total population of that area3. They are ethnically related to the Chittagonian Bengalis just across the border in Bangladesh. The Rohingya are discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity and religion, and are subject to systematic state policies of exclusion, restrictions and arbitrary treatment imposed on them by successive governments over the last few decades. These policies were the root causes of two mass refugee exoduses to Bangladesh, in 1978 and again in 1991/92. The outflow has not stopped and today Rohingyas continue to flee from Myanmar. In addition to 29,000 registered refugees housed in two refugee camps, Bangladesh currently hosts 200,000 or more unregistered Rohingya refugees living among local communities. Tens of thousands have also migrated to Malaysia and the Middle-East, including thousands of boat people. Rohingya children, in particular, bear the full brunt of the devastating impact of these policies, which gravely impair their physical and mental development as children and will affect the long-term future of their community..."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: The Arakan Project
    Format/size: pdf (712K)
    Date of entry/update: 16 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: Myanmar: Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of the examination of Myanmar’s report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child
    Date of publication: May 2011
    Description/subject: The government claims that the Tatmadaw Kyi is an all-volunteer force and that the minimum age for recruitment is 18. However, low salaries and extremely poor working conditions have combined to create disincentives for voluntary recruitment into the army. The Tatmadaw Kyi military officers and informal recruiting agents continue to use intimidation, coercion, and physical violence to gain new recruits, a sizeable number of which are underage. There are no reliable figures on the number of underage soldiers in the Myanmar army. The Coalition‘s information indicates that patterns of underage recruitment by the Tatmadaw Kyi remain unchanged from those reported previously by UN and NGO sources, including forced recruitment directly by military officers and informal recruiting agents. A system of incentives to reward recruiters still exists and the use of tricks, bribery, threats and force are widely reported. On 4 November 2010, the government gazetted a new military law, the 2010 People‘s Military Service Law, which contains provisions for eligible citizens to be called up for two years military service (or three years‘ for those with technical skills). It is widely perceived that this law will not contribute to preventing child recruitment, unless adequate safeguards are implemented to regulate and professionalise the conscription process.
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (Child Soldiers International)
    Format/size: pdf (733K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=25369&flag=legal
    http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/CRC2012-Myanmar-NGO-CSI.pdf
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: Suggestions for disability-relevant questions to be included in the list of issues for Pre-sessional Working Group, CRC 58th Session
    Date of publication: 01 February 2011
    Description/subject: "Suggestions for disability-relevant questions to be included in the list of issues for pre-sessional working group CRC 58th session. IDA submissions to the CRC Committee highlight the rights of children with disabilities and aim to promote and mainstream the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into the Committee’s work. "
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: International Disability Alliance (IDA)
    Format/size: pdf (218K)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/resources/find.asp?country=35&categoryID=Any6
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012


    Title: CRC 2012: The plight of children under military rule in Burma - CRC Shadow Report, Burma
    Date of publication: 29 April 2011
    Description/subject: Executive Summary: The Child Rights Forum of Burma (CRFB) is submitting the following report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child for its review of Burma. Children in Burma face numerous challenges to their survival and development. For the majority of children access to basic rights such as health care, food, education, protection from abuse and exploitation are almost non-existent. CRFB wishes to bring to the Committee’s attention information regarding the following children’s rights violations by the State Party, all of which impede their chances of development and survival: • the denial of health care and an adequate standard of living; • the denial of free and accessible education, and discrimination in access to education; • pervasive and widespread child labour and forced labour, including portering in the army; • a failure to protect children from sexual exploitation and trafficking; • a failure to accord special protection to children affected by armed conflict, including from ongoing violations of international humanitarian law by the armed forces; • the recruitment and participation of children in armed conflict; • the denial of rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly; • arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, and denial of the rights to a fair trial."
    Language: English
    Source/publisher: Child Rights Forum of Burma
    Format/size: pdf (1.6MB - OBL version; 2.4MB - original)
    Alternate URLs: http://www.crin.org/docs/Myanmar_CRFB_CRC%20Report.pdf
    http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=25397&flag=legal
    Date of entry/update: 17 January 2012