Selling & Buying Child Soldiers for 20$ in Burma
Nov 1st, 2007
Selling & Buying Child Soldiers for 20$ in Burma
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The Human Rights Watch Released a new Report which condemned Burma as a country with largest number of Child Soldiers.
Human Rights Watch interviewed former soldiers from Burma Army; out more than 9 out of ten former soldiers confirmed that up to one third of Burmese soldiers are under age children.
The report stated that even before the recent crackdown, many young adults rejected military service because of gruelling conditions, low pay and mistreatment by superior officers; and after deploying its soldiers against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, the government is finding it even harder to find willing volunteers.
The report highlighted the plight of a boy soldier who was recruited at age 11; he told Human Rights Watch that he failed his recruitment physical because he was only 1.3 metres tall and weighed only 31kg, but that his recruiter bribed the medical officer to ensure his recruitment regardless.
The report quoted some former child soldiers as saying they and others had been detained in cells, handcuffed, beaten and sold by one recruiter or battalion to another.
Once in the ranks, the report said, child soldiers are subject to mistreatment by officers and are sometimes forced to participate in the human rights abuses that have been widely documented among the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. These include battlefield atrocities, the burning of villages, forcible recruitment of porters and sexual abuse of women.
Immediately upon the completion of their training, recruits are assigned to a particular battalion and sent to its base headquarters. Most of the youngest recruits are assigned to ordinary units, and as the newest soldiers they have to do the hardest, dirtiest jobs. In remote camps, some NCOs entertain themselves by getting drunk and beating up on the smallest and youngest of their soldiers.
Punishment for failure to obey orders or other infractions is meted out regardless of a soldier’s age. A minor infraction of discipline (such as Hla Thein’s failure to obtain alcohol for his drunken NCO) would generally be punished with a heavy beating by the NCO or a spell in the camp lockup.
Many soldiers eventually find life in the army unbearable. For some it is the constant abuse and exploitation by their commanders. For others, it is witnessing the brutal treatment of villagers who remind them of their own families, or simply missing their own homes and parents.
Though many want to flee, they feel trapped. A common perception among Burma army soldiers is that if a deserter is recaptured in an area where there is no armed conflict he is sent to prison for a term of several years, but if recaptured in a combat zone he may be summarily executed. They also fear that if they flee the army their families will be put under surveillance, and may be interrogated and otherwise harassed.
Some soldiers, however, are beyond the point of running away. Their officers may have crushed their self-image beyond repair, they may have lost all hope in the future, or their fear for themselves or their families should they run away may be too great. The reasons can never completely be known, but these soldiers choose to kill themselves.