Burma Non-Compliant in Implementing Burma-UN Joint Action Plan on the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers

On June 27, 2012, after nearly five years of negotiation, the Burmese government signed a joint action plan with the UN to end the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in the Tatmadaw Kyi (the Burmese army) and Border Guard Forces (BGFs). The Burmese government has failed to meet a range of commitments under the action plan and its actions amount to non-compliance. The Burmese military has released only 66 children since the action plan was signed, a pitifully low figure given that the number of children within the ranks of the Tatmadaw Kyi is estimated to be around 5,000, not including all those who were recruited as children but have since turned 18 […]

Briefing for the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict Regarding the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma (Myanmar) and Implementation of the Joint Action Plan

Human Rights Watch has monitored the human rights situation in Burma (Myanmar) for 25 years, including violations against children affected by armed conflict. We have conducted two in-depth investigations of recruitment and use of child soldiers by both government forces and non-state armed groups, publishing our findings in My Gun was as Tall as Me: Child Soldiers in Burma in 2002 […]

Burma: Failing to Demobilize Child Soldiers

Burma has failed to make progress in ending its use of child soldiers nearly one year after signing an agreement with the United Nations (UN) to do so, Human Rights Watch said in a new paper released today. In June 2012, Burma and the UN signed a Joint Action Plan in which the Burmese government and military committed to ending all recruitment […]

UNICEF Welcomes the Release of 24 Children from the Tatmadaw, Calls for Acceleration of Discharges

The Tatmadaw officially discharged 24 children in a ceremony in Yangon on 15 February, Friday, attended by senior officials of the Tatmadaw, the Representative of UNICEF as co-chair of a UN Country Task Force on children and armed conflict, senior officials […]

Chance for Change: Ending the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Myanmar

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 […]

Louder Than Words: An Agenda for Action to End State Use of Child Soldiers

The report “Louder than words: An agenda for action to end state use of child soldiers” is published to mark the tenth anniversary year of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. It examines the record of states in protecting children from use in hostilities by their own forces and by state-allied armed groups. It finds that, while governments’ commitment to ending child soldier use is high, the gap between commitment and practice remains wide. Research for the report shows that child soldiers have been used in armed conflicts by 20 states since 2010, and that children are at risk of military use in many more […]

Statement of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission on the Plan of Action for Prevention Against Recruitment of the Under-Aged Children for Military Service

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission welcomes the signing of the Plan of Action for Prevention against Recruitment of the Under-Aged Children for Military Service between the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United Nations on 27 June 2012 in Nay Pyi Taw […]

Coercion, Cruelty and Collateral Damage

An assessment of grave violations of children’s rights in conflict zones of southern Burma  

This report is titled “Coercion, Cruelty and Collateral Damage: An assessment of grave violations of children’s rights in conflict zones of southern Burma”, and it is released by the Woman and Child Rights Project (WCRP), which was founded in 2000 by members of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) to monitor and protect the rights of women and children in southern Burma. The 24-page report reveals that grave violations of children’s rights such as recruitment of child soldiers, killing and maiming, rape and sexual abuse, and forced labor continue to be committed by the Burmese military, despite the creation, by the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1612 on Children and Armed Conflict passed in 2005 […]

New Report Highlights Government’s Failure to Protect Children in Southern Burma

Children in southern Burma continue to suffer from grave human rights violations at the hands of Burma Army soldiers, reveals a new report from the Woman and Child Rights Project (WCRP) released today. The report provides data from cases over the last 6 years, illustrating that the Burmese government has failed to live up to its international obligations to protect children in situations of armed conflict […]

Post-election Burma: Impunity still reigns, women and children more vulnerable to crimes

Since the 7 November elections, Burma’s regime has continued to perpetrate crimes against humanity and war crimes with total impunity. Reports of serious international crimes have increased significantly in line with the escalation of the ongoing Tatmadaw offensives in Kachin, Shan, and Karen States […]