Burma is a country in trouble. The economy isn’t good, the government is new, and it is under sanctions by many countries for human rights violations. To add to all that, many of the countries soldiers are children.
Although Burma is a country trying desperately to clean up its act, problems remain. Child Soldiers International, a non-profit United Kingdom organization, is reporting that both military and civilian “brokers” search for children on the streets. When they find ones that can have their papers forged to show they are 18, they make these vulnerable children soldiers. How do you leave the army? You can earn your walking papers by finding three to five replacements, even if it is more vulnerable teens.
One such child soldier was San Win Htut. He was recruited by a sergeant in 2010. Having few other options for work, Htut went with the sergeant, who said he could leave the army after five years. When not doing sentry duty, the young soldiers had to work hard on farms. Htut was lucky – he managed to run away after a few years in the army.
But, let’s be somewhat fair to Burma – it is not the only country using children for warfare. The U.N. estimates that thousands of children are forced to join the Taliban as well as armies in Somalia and Mali. I saw a surreal image of a child in Monrovia, Libya wearing red flip flops and wielding what looked like some type of automatic rifle while wearing a pink, fuzzy bear backpack.
The good news, if there can be any, is sanctions are starting to make governments more aware of child soldiers.
And, the International Criminal Court just sentenced Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in prison for forcing children into his rebel army. Lubanga has been in jail since 2006, so with time served, he only has another eight years to do, but hopefully it will still send a message to other warlords and such.