"...A large segment of Burma?s population is made up of children, with 42% under the age of 18 years. While according to traditional culture children are valued and cherished in Burma, the ruling military dictatorship does not regard children?s development and welfare as a priority. As Burma became a signatory party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 15 August 1991, they are bound to uphold its mandates. The CRC affirms that every child has the right to protection, the right to life, and the right to survival and development. The CRC also specifically refers to the protection of children in armed conflict and mandates that no child under 15 should take part in hostilities; that children should not be separated from their parents except for their own well-being; that States should protect children from harm and neglect; and that all children should be entitled to the rights enshrined in the convention, without discrimination The SPDC, (then SLORC) established a new Child Law on 14 July 1993, in order to "implement the rights of the child recognized in the Convention." The child law states, "The State recognized that every child has the right to survival, development, protection and care, and to achieve active participation in the community." (Chapter 5, paragraph 8) However there is striking evidence that the SPDC continually flouts both the CRC and their own Child Law. Almost half of the state budget is allocated to the army, despite the fact that the country is not exposed to any external threats, leaving very little for the vital education and health care systems. Decades of military mismanagement of the economy has resulted in a catastrophic economic situation and is forcing the vast majority of parents to rely on the contribution of their children working in order to feed their families. The worst forms of child labor ? whether in the army, the construction industry, domestic work, the mines or elsewhere ? are present throughout Burma. Children are by no means exempt from the forced labor imposed on hundreds of thousands of the Burmese population by the Tatmadaw or armed forces. Moreover, the SPDC continues unabated to forcibly recruit children into the army, some as young as eleven years old. Boys are not the only ones exposed to abuse by the military as young girls are frequently forced to serve as porters and sexual slaves for army troops. Ethnic minority children are often more vulnerable to abuse due to the fact that the on-going civil war is often fought in ethnic minority areas. In addition to contending with the discrepancy between access to social services available to the military and civilian populations, ethnic minorities face the more direct consequences of internal conflict. Children living in ethnic minority areas, like other members of their communities, continued to be subjected to physical injury, torture, rape, murder, forced labor, and forced relocation. Children in these areas were also forced to witness atrocities carried out against their family and community members; to endure separation from their families and communities; and to suffer from extremely limited access to health care, education, housing, and food. There can be no improvement in the situation for the children of Burma without a radical change in the government and progress towards democracy..."