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II. RECOMMENDATIONS

To the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)

· Immediately end all recruitment of children under the age of eighteen, and demobilize children under the age of eighteen from the armed forces.

· Develop reliable systems to verify the age of individuals recruited into the armed forces, and ensure that all such recruits are at least eighteen years of age.

· Implement comprehensive birth registration and ensure that all children have proof of age.

· Develop and impose effective and appropriate sanctions against individuals found to be recruiting children under eighteen into the armed forces.

· Eliminate all incentives, including monetary compensation, promotions, or military discharge for soldiers who recruit children.

· Seek international cooperation with relevant agencies in order to verify recruitment practices.

· Ensure that children who run away from the armed forces are not treated as deserters or subject to punishment.

· Cooperate with international nongovernmental organizations and UNICEF to reunify former child soldiers with their families, and facilitate their rehabilitation and social reintegration, including appropriate educational and vocational opportunities.

· Sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, and deposit a binding declaration establishing a minimum age of voluntary recruitment of at least eighteen.

· Sign and ratify the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (International Labour Organization Convention No. 182), which defines the forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labor.

· Sign and ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, which includes the recruitment or use of children under the age of fifteen in its definition of war crimes.

· Conduct public education campaigns to inform children and parents of the rights of children, including their right not to be recruited into armed forces or groups.

· In cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNICEF, and nongovernmental organizations, conduct trainings in international humanitarian law and the rights of children for all soldiers, including officers and recruiters.

· Ensure that all children receive free and compulsory quality education. Waive school fees and other associated costs of education, including costs for books and uniforms, or develop fee assistance programs developed for children whose families are unable to afford them.

· Establish an independent office to accept and investigate reports of missing children in order to facilitate the reunification of such children with their families.

As short-term interim measures until all children have been demobilized from the Burma army:

· Ensure that children in the armed forces receive regular leave and are allowed to communicate regularly with their families.

· Immediately end all physical abuse of child soldiers.

Regarding the Ye Nyunt

· Immediately end all forced recruitment into the Ye Nyunt training camps operated by the army, and relocate Ye Nyunt facilities outside of army camps.

· Place the Ye Nyunt camps under the control of the Ministry of Education.

· Ensure that any educational programs for children run by the armed forces do not involve military or weapons training and meet internationally accepted standards of education. Ensure that participation in such programs is voluntary, with the informed consent of the child's parents or guardian.

· Ensure that all children enrolled in educational programs run by the armed forces have regular contact, including visits, with their families.

· Ensure that orphans and abandoned children have access to mainstream (non-military) schools, and receive adequate care.

· Ensure that educational opportunities offered to orphans, displaced, or other children are not conditioned on military service either during or after completion.

To all Opposition Groups

· Immediately end all recruitment of children under the age of eighteen and demobilize children under age eighteen from the armed forces.

· Develop and enforce clear policies, if they do not already exist, to prohibit the recruitment of children under the age of eighteen. Ensure that such policies are widely communicated to members of the armed forces and to civilians within the group's area of influence.

· Develop reliable systems to verify the age of individuals recruited into the armed group, and ensure that all such recruits are at least eighteen years of age.

· Develop and impose systematic sanctions against individuals found to be recruiting children under eighteen.

· Ensure that children under the age of eighteen who desert SPDC forces or are captured are not recruited as soldiers into opposition forces.

· Seek international cooperation with relevant agencies in order to verify recruitment practices.

· Conduct public education campaigns to inform children and parents within the group's area of influence of the rights of children, including their right not to be recruited into armed forces or groups.

· In cooperation with the ICRC, UNICEF, and nongovernmental organizations, conduct trainings in international humanitarian law and the rights of children for all soldiers, including officers and recruiters.

· Wherever possible, establish educational programs and vocational training, and encourage children and their families to utilize such opportunities.

· Ensure that educational opportunities offered to orphans, displaced, or other children are not conditioned on military service either during or after completion.



To the governments of Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, India, and China

· Notify UNHCR and relevant nongovernmental organizations when children who have deserted SPDC forces or individuals who may have been child soldiers are taken into custody, to allow access and a determination of their status.

· Ensure that such children and individuals receive special protection.

To the government of Thailand

· Rescind the agreement of the Joint Border Cooperation Committee which specifies that deserters from SPDC forces found on Thai soil will be handed over to Burmese authorities.

To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

· In refugee status determinations, take into account the special circumstances of children recruited before the age of eighteen (even in cases where the applicant is now over the age of eighteen), including the possibility of extrajudicial execution if they are returned to Burma.

· Fully apply the UNHCR Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in dealing with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum and the UNHCR Guidelines on Protection and Care of Refugee Children, especially those sections relating to procedures and criteria for refugee status determination for unaccompanied minors.

· Amend the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status to provide guidance on considering the claims of unaccompanied children, and in particular former child soldiers, that is consistent with other UNHCR policies and guidelines and which fully takes into account the fact that the recruitment of children under the age of eighteen is internationally considered to be a human rights violation.

· Investigate cases of deserters, including child deserters, being detained for possible deportation by authorities in Thailand and in Burma's other neighboring countries.

To UNICEF

· Advocate that the SPDC immediately cease all recruitment of child soldiers and demobilize those already in the armed forces; in conjunction with this, work with the SPDC to establish programs to demobilize children from the armed forces.

· Establish programs to facilitate the rehabilitation and social reintegration of former child soldiers, including appropriate educational and vocational opportunities.

· Help to reunify former child soldiers with their families.

To the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children

and Armed Conflict

· Conduct a field visit to Burma to discuss the recruitment and use of child soldiers and steps to end such practices with the SPDC, leaders in the Burmese armed forces, armed opposition groups, and nongovernmental organizations.

To Nongovernmental Organizations

· Support vocational and educational programs, particularly along border areas, including accelerated educational programs for displaced children, child soldiers, and others who missed out on a primary education or whose education has been interrupted.

· Provide counseling and other assistance to help rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers.

· Encourage opposition groups and the SPDC not to recruit children under the age of eighteen.

To member states of the United Nations

· Strongly condemn the recruitment and use of children as soldiers by the SPDC and other armed groups.

· Use diplomatic and other appropriate means to press the SPDC to end all recruitment of children into its armed forces and to demobilize all children currently in its ranks.

To the Security Council

· Request that the U.N. secretary-general provide specific information about the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in Burma as part of his report to the Security Council on the situation of children affected by armed conflict, and that he include appropriate recommendations for Security Council action.

To the International Labour Organization

· Instruct the new ILO liaison officer posted in Rangoon to research and report on the SPDC's forced recruitment of children (considered one of the worst forms of child labor), and to take appropriate action to encourage an end to this practice.

To the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar

· As he indicated in his 2002 report to the Commission on Human Rights, research and report on the recruitment and use of child soldiers by the Burma army and other armed groups, and include his findings on this subject whenever presenting information to the General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights.

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