Burma Recruits Child Soliders - Violating International Law

There are “grave violations” toward Burmese children such as recruiting them for military service, says a recent report issued by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

International law forbids children from being recruited as soldiers. Evidence shows that the Burmese army falsifies documents even if children are underage.

Today, the UN Security Council’s working group on children and armed conflict will meet to discuss these “grave violations” as cited in the new report.

In an age where you would think governments have a moral sense of duty, it is difficult to hear that the Burma government is committing such human rights abuses. These children, clearly underage, are being used to serve as soldiers and to fight against ethnic armed opposition groups. They are even being used for human rights abuses toward civilians.

This is not the first time that the UN has detected human rights abuses by the Burma government. Since 2002, the UN has cited five times that Burma has violated international law by recruiting children as soldiers. How many more violations can the UN take?

It’s time to step up to the task and stop Burma from all its human rights abuses. Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) should push for UN sanctions on Burma. To this day, Burma buys military weapons by other countries such as Russia and China. The UN ought to ban arms sales to Burma. Not only are these human rights abuses “grave,” but they are terrible to mankind. The UN should take action immediately, and not wait for another round of violations to occur.

-Denise

International Human Rights