HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Publications CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW January 1997, Vol. 9, No. 1 (C) SUMMARY | RECOMMENDATIONS | TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY Burma acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. Since then, however, there has been little progress toward 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 December 1996 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. This report examines the context within which children and their parents must struggle to exercise their rights and looks in detail at the legal provisions which deny them even the most basic rights and freedoms. It also reports on the current situation of children in Burma and the daily practices used by the military and other government agents which violate international law. These include abuses of international humanitarian law in ethnic minority areas, including the use of children as porters for the army and the forcible relocation of tens of thousands of civilians; the recruitment of children under the age of sixteen into the armed forces, often forcibly; arbitrary arrest and detention, often without charge or trial; the routine use of children as unpaid laborers on government construction projects; the arrest of high school students for writing or distributing leaflets, or for simply calling out slogans, under censorship laws which also severely limit the publication of children’s books and magazines; and the use of forced labor. Frequently children used as porters die from beatings, a lack of medical care and exhaustion. Boys as young as thirteen are forcibly recruited into the army and see military action by the age of fourteen and fifteen. Even younger boys are “adopted” by the army and institutionalized as military recruits by the time they reach the age of fourteen. In some cases, where children are adopted under Buddhist customary law, they work in slave-like conditions as domestic servants or in other businesses. In some cases girls are trafficked into Thailand, through border checkpoints administered by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC, the military government), where they become bonded laborers working in slave-like conditions. If these girls are returned to Burma by the Thai immigration authorities, they face arrest under Burma’s immigration laws for having left the country illegally. Given the lack of due process and corruption within the judiciary, they do not receive a fair trial. Until April 1992 children who were arrested for having exercised their right to freedom of association and expression were tried under summary justice in military tribunals. Today some of those children remain in adult jails, where conditions are often appalling. Those sentenced to prison with hard labor are sent to prison labor camps across the country where death rates are extremely high. The report concludes that the government has shown little political will to implement the terms of the CRC, suggesting that its accession was not so much an indication of its desire to protect the rights of children as an empty gesture designed to improve its image abroad. Nevertheless, Human Rights Watch welcomes the efforts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to engage the government in constructive dialogue regarding implementation and urges the international community to support the committee’s work. This report is based on research that Human Rights Watch/Asia has conducted since 1990. Some of the information comes from sources inside the country and from U.N. agencies and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but most is based on first-hand observations and interviews with Burmese refugees in Thailand and Bangladesh. To protect these people, we have not included names and other details that could identify the interviewees. RECOMMENDATIONS Human Rights Watch recommends that the State Law and Order Restoration Council:  Take steps to
ensure independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. Laws which are incompatible with
international norms should be repealed or revised, including the 1982 Citizenship Act; Unlawful
Association Act (1908, amended 1957), Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962 and
the 1989 law amending it; the 1985 Video Law; the Wireless and Telegraphy Act of 1985 and
the 1996 amendment; the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act; SLORC Order 2/88; and the 1996
Law to Protect the Stable, Peaceful and Systematic Transfer of State Responsibility and the
Successful Implementation of National Convention Tasks Free from Disruption and
Opposition.Ensure that
the 1993 Child Law is revised to make it and all other laws compatible with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child.Permit and
encourage the formation of independent nongovernmental organizations that wish to work with
children and their parents. Such organizations should also be permitted to receive training from
international NGOs, either in Burma or abroad.Enable full
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by permitting international
agencies, including human rights organizations, access to children throughout Burma on a
regular basis to monitor progress. In accordance with Article 42 of the convention, the SLORC
must also “make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by
appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.” Immediately take steps to ensure that all children who have been proven guilty of a punishable offense are detained in juvenile centers and to improve conditions in all places of detention where children
are held. The International Committee of the Red Cross and other appropriate international
bodies should be allowed regular access to these places.Allow all
children and youths sentenced by military tribunals before 1992 who remain in jail to appeal
their sentences in juvenile courts. Those sentenced solely for their peaceful political protests or
for exercising their right to freedom of expression should be immediately released. All children
held in adult jails or prison labor camps should be transferred immediately to suitable juvenile
accommodation.Educate the
armed forces and give strict instructions on the treatment of civilians, especially children, during
military campaigns. In particular, the use of civilians, particularly of children, as forced porters
for the military must cease immediately. Those members of the armed forces who violate the
provisions of the Geneva Conventions must be prosecuted and punished. Demobilize
all children under the age of sixteen who have been recruited into the army. No children under
the age of sixteen should be permitted to join the military, even where they are non-combatants
or where recruitment is disguised as education. The practice of forced recruitment, particularly of
children under the age of sixteen, which is a violation of Burma’s domestic laws, must
cease immediately.Take steps to
ensure Burma’s adoption laws are brought into line with international standards as
established in the convention, so that children can be protected from abuse and exploitation by
their guardians.Immediately
cease the practice of forcing children and their parents to work for no pay.Immediately
take steps to prevent the trafficking of girls and women into prostitution in Thailand and
elsewhere. The SLORC should negotiate with Thailand to establish a system for monitoring the
trafficking in girls, which mainly takes place at official cross-border checkpoints, and investigate
and prosecute the traffickers to the fullest extent of the law.Burmese girls
who return or are returned after having been forced or otherwise lured into prostitution abroad
should not be detained on their return under immigration or other laws. The government should
take steps to ensure that they are fully rehabilitated and reintegrated when they return and
conduct educational programs to discourage parents and children from being involved with
trafficking agents.TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS II. INTRODUCTION III. THE LEGAL CONTEXT IV. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION V. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CONVENTION The Principle of Non-Discrimination Discrimination on the Basis of Citizenship and Between Classes of Citizens Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities Discrimination Against Religious Minorities VI. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS Freedom from Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Freedom of Expression Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly Unlawful and Arbitrary Interference with a Child's Home VII. FAMILY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ALTERNATIVE CARE Children in Detention Adoption VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES Children in Emergency Situations Children in Conflict with the Law Children in Situations of Exploitation IX. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Human Rights Watch January 1997 Vol. 9, No. 1 (C) To order the full text of this report click HERE. For more Human Rights Watch reports on Burma click HERE. To return to the list of 1996 publications click HERE. Or, to return to the index of Human Rights Watch reports click HERE. 
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