Shan State Army Signs Agreement Agaisnt Using Child Soldiers

Burma rebels vow to stop using child soldiers – Shan insurgents get foreign aid in return for halting use of children in country with highest number of underage conscripts

Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 7 July 2009 16.14 BST

One of Burma’s main rebel groups has pledged to stop using child soldiers in return for outside aid in an effort to enhance its international credibility.

Leaders of the Shan State army (SSA), one of several ethnic insurgent groups battling the country’s military junta, have signed a memorandum of understanding with Abolish Slavery and International Operations Centre for Children (IOCC), two western non-governmental organisations, to prevent minors serving in its forces.

Burma has the highest number of child soldiers in the world – about 70,000. A Human Rights Watch report in 2002 found widespread forced recruitment of boys as young as 11. Subsequent reports say the number of child soldiers in Burma is largely unchanged despite international condemnation.

International law prohibits the recruitment of children under 15 and the use of child soldiers has been recognised as a war crime under the statute for the international criminal court.

In Burma, the national army is the biggest culprit. Flouting the country’s own laws that prohibit any recruitment of under 18s, the army apprehends boys at public places such as markets and bus stations, using threats and violence to force them to join. Once trained, children as young as 12 have been sent to fight against ethnic insurgent groups.

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