'A
Gun as Tall as Me'
By Jo Becker
The Asian Wall
Street Journal
27 January,
2004
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
forces is so widespread that the United Nations secretary-general recently
placed Burma on an international list of violators that flout international
laws prohibiting the recruitment and use of children as soldiers. As
a result, today Burma will come under U.N. Security Council scrutiny
for the first time, and the Council will debate what steps to take against
such violators.
A 2002 investigation
by Human Rights Watch found that as many as 70,000 children under the
age of eighteen may be serving in Burma's national armed forces. Another
6,000-7,000 serve in Burma's myriad armed ethnic opposition groups.
Army recruiters apprehend boys as young as 11 at train stations, markets
and other places, and use threats and coercion to force them into the
army.
One boy was recruited at age 13 while attending a festival with friends.
He told Human Rights Watch that army recruiters threatened him and his
friends with jail if they refused to join. He said, "We were all
students so we showed our student cards, but they tore them up. Then
he [a corporal] threatened us and showed us his gun. We were afraid,
so we agreed. We didn't dare try to run away." The boys are given
no opportunity to contact their families, and are sent to camps where
they undergo weapons training, are routinely beaten, and brutally punished
if they try to escape. Boys as young as 12 are sent into combat against
ethnic opposition groups.
Child soldiers are forced to commit human-rights abuses against civilians,
including rounding up villagers for forced labor, burning villages,
and carrying out executions. One 14-year-old boy described witnessing
his unit massacre a group of 15 women and children during operations
in Shan State. He said that the soldiers blindfolded the women, "then
six of the corporals loaded their guns and shot them. They fired on
auto. The women had no time to shout. I felt very bad because there
were all these people in front of me, and they killed them all. After
the mothers were killed they killed the babies. They swung them by their
legs and smashed them against a rock."
Many child soldiers eventually find life in the army unbearable. Despite
fears that they will be killed or imprisoned if caught, they try to
flee. But even those who succeed have few options. Afraid to return
home, many end up working illegally in neighboring countries, or join
opposition groups to fight against their former captors.
Children are also present in Burma's armed opposition groups, although
child recruitment has declined in recent years as many opposition groups
have shrunk in size and resources. Meanwhile, the number of children
in government forces has grown. Since 1988, Burma has doubled the size
of its army, and recruiters have found children to be most easily coerced
or intimidated into joining.
A year ago, the Security Council asked the secretary-general for a progress
report on governments and groups known to recruit and use child soldiers.
It indicated its willingness to engage in dialogue with such parties
to develop action plans to end child-soldier use. The Council also stated
its intention to consider additional steps -- which could include sanctions
-- in cases where there is no progress. In other countries where child-soldier
use is also widespread, programs have been put in place to demobilize
child soldiers and help them reintegrate into their communities. But
in Burma, no such program exists, and the secretary-general has reported
that child recruitment continues unabated. The government flatly denies
any recruitment of children into its forces.
In the past, Burma and its political allies have persuaded the Security
Council that Burma's armed conflict is an internal matter that should
not concern the Council. Now the Council has begun to reject such arguments
in the case of egregious violations against children in conflict. The
secretary-general has recommended a range of targeted sanctions against
parties that persist in recruiting and using child soldiers. These include
travel restrictions on the leaders responsible for the practice, bans
on military assistance and the export or supply of small arms, and restrictions
on the flow of financial resources to those who continue to engage in
this horrifying practice.
Burma should take concrete steps to end child recruitment and demobilize
the children from its forces. Until this happens, other governments,
including Burma's Asian allies, who have the most leverage with the
Burmese government, should make clear that they will withhold military
and other support. Forcing children to fight and carry out atrocities
should not be tolerated.
--- Ms. Becker is advocacy director for the Children's Rights Division
of Human Rights Watch and the author of "My Gun Was as Tall as
Me: Child Soldiers in Burma" (Human Rights Watch, 2002). The report
can be found at: http://hrw.org/reports/2002/burma/