The Skeptic الشكاك

452 Children Sold to Be Soldiers

Human Rights Watch released a detailed, 135-page report on the use of child soldiers in Burma today. Full report here. Washington Post coverage here. Testimonies excerpted in the press release here:

“They filled the forms and asked my age, and when I said 16, I was slapped and he said, ‘You are 18. Answer 18.’ He asked me again and I said, ‘But that’s my true age.’ The sergeant asked, ‘Then why did you enlist in the army?’ I said, ‘Against my will. I was captured.’ He said, ‘Okay, keep your mouth shut then,’ and he filled in the form. I just wanted to go back home and I told them, but they refused. I said, ‘Then please just let me make one phone call,’ but they refused that too.”
—Maung Zaw Oo, describing the second time he was forced into the army, in 2005

“The officers are corrupt and the battalions have to get recruits, so there’s a business. The battalions bribe the recruiting officers to get recruits for them. These are mostly underage recruits, but the recruiting officers fill out the forms for them and say they’re 18.”
—Than Myint Oo, forcibly recruited twice as a child

“I can’t remember how old I was the first time in fighting. About 13. That time we walked into a Karenni ambush, and four of our soldiers died. I was afraid because I was very young so I tried to run back, but [the] captain shouted, ‘Don’t run back! If you run back I’ll shoot you myself!’”
—Aung Zaw, describing his first exposure to combat

“Some really want to join, but others are conscripted. Each village tract has to send 10 people each time. … People have to take turns sending a recruit, so some parents send boys under 18. They need to fulfill this obligation. If they don’t fulfill it, the DKBA can make lots of trouble for them. They don’t accept crazy or sick people, but if you’re normal you have to go whether you’re under 18 or over 18. They don’t care how old you are.”
—Junior officer with the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)

“It is necessary for us to always refute the accusations [about the forcible recruitment of child soldiers] systematically … [and] always project before the international community the correct efforts being made by the committee and refute baseless accusations.”
—Adjutant General Thein Sein, in his concluding speech to the Committee for the Prevention of Military Recruitment of Underage Children, 2005

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