UN repeats call for action on child soldiers – Clive Parker

Irrawaddy news, 29 Nov 2006 

The UN Security Council has repeated its call for action against the recruitment of child soldiers in countries considered the worst offenders, including Burma.

During a special day-long session to consider a UN report on progress to fight the problem, the council heard of "reliable reports" that the Tatmadaw (Burma Army) continues to recruit child soldiers. The junta was also accused of failing to cooperate fully with the UN in Burma in attempts to eradicate the problem, charges denied by the government.

Speaking to the council, Burmese government representative Kyaw Tint Swe said the report contained "unfounded allegations," and that appropriate measures had been put into place to eradicate the problem, including discharging minors from the military.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said that commitments to demobilize troops in Burma, along with the Ivory Coast, Burundi and Uganda, "would result in concrete action". However, her report to the council said it was currently impossible to verify Burmese government efforts to eradicate the problem.

"The United Nations country team is aware of some cases of children being released from army service [in Burma] but is unable to verify the effectiveness of the [government] committee’s plan of action or whether all children are being screened out of the Government armed forces," the report concluded.
In January 2004, Burma set up a committee to address the problem following reports of extensive use of child soldiers.

Kyaw Tint Swe again criticized the UN decision to keep the Burmese army on a blacklist of recruiters of children. Insurgent groups including the Karen National Union and the Karenni National Progressive Party were removed from the list following consultations with the UN Children’s Agency earlier this year and are currently working with the UN to eradicate the problem.

The UNICEF office in Rangoon was unavailable for further comment on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s discussion at the Security Council means that Burma remains under pressure to provide evidence to the UN that it is taking effective measures to end the practice of recruiting minors into the army. Successive resolutions include the provision of a complete ban on arms sales to countries that persistently fail to address the problem.

The Tatmadaw has long been accused of forcibly recruiting children to its 400,000-strong armed forces. In 2004, the London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that the junta had in some cases kidnapped children as young as 11, forcing them to serve in the military. At the time, it estimated that up to 20 percent of Tatmadaw and ethnic insurgency forces were under 18-the current legal age of conscription-which would have put the total number of child soldiers in Burma at nearly 90,000, the highest of any country in the world.

Myanmar: guidelines for UN imposed for their own safety

AFP, 18 Dec 2006 

Naypyidaw: Military-ruled Myanmar said Sunday that regulations on how United Nations agencies and development organisations operate were imposed to ensure no “unpleasant incidents” happen to them.
Several UN agencies and non-governmental organisations have complained that their movements within the secretive state have been restricted, thus hampering their ability to carry out their work independently.

Soe Tha, minister for National Planning and Economic Development, told reporters Sunday that contrary to their complaints, the regulations were in fact there to make life easier for them.

“Even we, ourselves, have to take security precautions for traveling, let alone the foreigners, since there still remain a few insurgents in some parts of the country,” he said.
“We do not wish any unpleasant incidents to happen to them even if they take their own risks to travel.”
Myanmar’s junta has signed peace deals with 17 armed ethnic groups, but a handful of rebel groups continue to fight against the military government.

Soe Tha said UN agencies were required to inform the government two weeks ahead of a trip to a project site, and chastised UN officials who did not stick to their proposed itineraries.
“These people do not try to understand our situation; they thought we were hindering them from what they wanted to do,” he said. “In fact, it is not (the case).”
He said that Myanmar was cooperating with the United Nations and other development agencies on more that 120 projects, but warned that “we cannot accept those who use UN to do activities that will infringe our sovereignty”.

The junta in February issued seven pages of guidelines, including rules on employment and a requirement that government officials must accompany staff when they travel in Myanmar.
Even before then, agencies had complained of limitations of their activities.

In August last year, the UN-created Global Fund against AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis — diseases that are prevalent in Myanmar — announced it was pulling out, citing the junta’s restrictions.
Myanmar’s generals have long accused some foreigners of seeking to overthrow the government, labelling them “destructive elements” who encourage dissident opposition groups.