BURMA: Children affected by armed conflict
19 November 2008 1:19 am
The Human Rights Education Institute of Burma has released a report entitled "Forgotten Future: Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Burma". The report explores the six grave categories of violations against children outlined by the UN Secretary General.
Introduction to the report is stated below:
The top generals in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) insist that Burma is a safe place for children, where all young people are “regarded as precious gems.”
But many children in Burma, particularly those affected by armed conflict, do not have access to education, healthcare, or other child protection services. They are exploited for their labor and sexually abused.
They are Burma’s forgotten future.
In contrast with most other war-ravaged regions around the world, where civilian abuses are perpetrated primarily by non-state armed groups (NSAGs), the overwhelming majority of Burma’s human rights abuses occur under the hand of its ruling junta.
Soldiers from Burma’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, rape, torture, kill, abduct, and burn down entire villages – either under the pretense of punishing dissidents or in pursuit of the SPDC’s border-races development agenda.
The UN Secretary General has taken action to address these alleged violations; his annual reports on children and armed conflict have consistently listed Burma as a country where children are used and recruited by armed forces and groups. As a result, in 2005 Burma was officially placed on the agenda of the UN Security Council and a task force was established, with the approval of the SPDC, to investigate six grave categories of violations.
Reflecting on the task force’s work, the Secretary General submitted his first report to the Security Council on the situation of children affected by armed conflict in Burma in November 2007. Consistent with international priorities, HREIB’s report explores the six grave categories of violations against children outlined by the UN Secretary General.