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In Myanmar the Underground Trade in Boy Soldiers Continues

I have spent more than a decade documenting the use of child soldiers in Myanmar, and have interviewed boys who were only 11 when they were forced to join the army. Initially, Myanmar's government flatly denied any use of children by its army, despite…
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U.S. Must Enforce Ban on Child Soldiers

The State Department’s new list of governments using child soldiers is out. Seven countries are named this year. The list is not that surprising: It includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma and South Sudan, which have deployed child soldiers for…
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Child soldiers and the China factor

Myin Win was 11 years old when he was first recruited into Burma's national army. He was picked up by soldiers while selling vegetables at a railway station and sent to a military training camp. He weighed only 70 pounds, or about 32 kilograms, and said…
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Child soldiers a problem in Myanmar

In a small Myanmarese army border outpost in Shan State, a sign in English and Myanmarese points into Thailand's thriving tourist town of Doi Ang Khan: "We Are Able." It's probably not much comfort to the soldiers walking around barefoot, enclosed by…
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The Plight of Child Soldiers in Burma

An Interview with Jo Becker

Jo Becker is the advocacy director in the Children’s Rights Division of New York-based Human Rights Watch Question: How many child soldiers are there in the Burmese army?    Answer: We really are not sure. Many of the soldiers we interviewed said that…
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Suffer the little soldiers

By the time he was 16, Maung Zaw Oo had been forcibly recruited into Burma's national army not once, but twice. First recruited at 14, he escaped, only to be recruited again the following year. The corporal who delivered him to a recruitment centre…
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Children as Weapons of War

Over the last five years, the global campaign to stop the use of child soldiers has garnered an impressive series of successes, including new international legal standards, action by the UN Security Council and regional bodies, and pledges from various…
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'A Gun as Tall as Me'

Child Soldiers in Burma

Burma has more child soldiers than any other country in the world. They account for approximately one-fourth of the 300,000 children currently believed to be participating in armed conflicts around the globe. Forced recruitment of children by government…
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Children at War

In late 1999, a pair of chain-smoking twin boys called Luther and Johnny Htoo captured headlines as the leaders of the God's Army, an armed opposition group in Burma. Media stories about the boys and their reported mystical powers reinforced a common…

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