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“The list of shame” part of the United Nation’s annual report on children in armed conflict was published last week.
The only state actor listed for a horrendous number of the five types of violations against children in armed conflict is the Myanmar junta. Other non-state actors in the country are also on the list.
To be exact, 2,138 grave violations against children have been documented and verified by the UN. Over a thousand are pending verification.
The Myanmar junta is recruiting and using child soldiers, killing and maiming children, committing sexual violence against children, attacking schools and hospitals, and abducting children.
Since the coup in 2021, the Myanmar military’s recruitment and use of child soldiers has surged. A significant number of children have been recruited since the junta enacted a conscription law in February 2024.
Although excluded under the law, children have been increasingly swept up in conscription drives as the junta has faced growing losses of troops and territory in their ongoing conflict with anti-junta and ethnic armed groups.
The abusive conscription tactics vary: the junta’s methods include abducting young men and boys or detaining family members of missing conscripts as hostages.
Two recent military defectors told HRW that children have been recruited in growing numbers due to rising pressure from senior leaders to meet conscription quotas. A 17-year-old boy told local media that he was abducted late at night and issued a fake ID card saying he was 19.
Recruiting methods by the Myanmar military have disproportionately targeted the urban poor, displaced people, people without documentation, and ethnic and religious minorities, including Rohingya Muslims.
Since the coup, the military has recruited children across all 14 states and regions, compared with only 4 previously. Junta forces have also abducted and tortured children for alleged association with opposition forces.
Myanmar should end this shameful practice and cooperate with UN officials to release all child recruits.
