Human Rights Groups Call for Action to Free Largest Number of Child Soldiers in the World

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22nd, 2004

US Campaign for Burma

1612 K St., NW, Washington, DC 20006 (202) 223-0300

(Washington, DC) The United States Campaign for Burma today called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Burma after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's recommendation that the UN Security Council consider sanctions on parties that recruit and exploit child soldiers, which includes the

military regime ruling the Southeast Asian country of Burma.

Although little-noticed, the move opens the regime to the possibility of

Security Council sanctions for the first time in history. In his report,

Annan presented a comprehensive list of parties to conflict that continue to

recruit and exploit children as soldiers, which included Burma's regime.

Piercing the perception that the recruitment of child soldiers is an African

problem, a 2002 investigation by New York-based Human Rights Watch found that Burma's regime has recruited as many as 70,000 child soldiers under the age of 18, far more than any other country in the world.

Annan urged the Council to lead the way in taking measures capable of

pressuring governments to end the use of child soldiers. His

recommendations for action include the imposing of travel restrictions on

leaders, their exclusion from any governance structures, a ban on the export

of small arms and military assistance, and restriction of the flow of

financial resources to the country. Annan also recommended prosecuting

persons responsible for crimes against children at the International

Criminal Court (ICC).

"Now is the time for the Security Council to take concrete action by

imposing sanctions on Burma's regime," said Aung Din, a former Burmese

political prisoner and policy director at the US Campaign for Burma.

"Before another child dies, the Security Council needs to act."

Scores of child soldiers have fled the Burmese regime's army to the

Thailand-Burma border and recounted stories of torture and murder. They

tell how they and others were secretly kidnapped off the streets of Burma's

cities and villages, endured torture and beatings during rigorous training,

and then forced to commit heinous human rights abuses against innocent

civilians. Children as young as eleven years old report being forced to

view and participate in rapes, torture, and executions.

The regime responded angrily to the Secretary General's report and claimed

the UN was motivated by "political" concerns, while at the same time

announcing the formation of a committee to prevent the recruitment of child

soldiers. The powerful leader of Burma's military regime, Senior General

Than Shwe, is presumably responsible for recruiting child soldiers.

In July of 2002, the United States raised Burma at the Security Council

after the military regime failed in an assassination attempt on 1991 Nobel

Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, during which scores of her

supporters were brutally beaten to death with medal rods and bamboo clubs.

Suu Kyi has called for international sanctions to be placed on Burma. ##