More than 1,700 child soldiers in Myanmar have been reunited with their parents, and about 800 military officers and other army personnel who recruited and used them have been punished, a defense ministry official said Thursday during a workshop in Naypyidaw to discuss the creation of a complaint mechanism to report instances of forced labor.
Colonel Tun Tun Win of the Ministry of Defense said that the army has taken action against the use of child soldiers in Myanmar based on regulations of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency that sets global labor standards and promotes social protection for workers.
"In response to the ILO's regulations, the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] has taken action from 2007 to 2018 against a total of 379 military personnel, including 64 officers and 315 other ranks in accordance with military discipline," he said.
Child Soldiers, Representational Iamge
At the same time, the U.N. Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR), co-chaired by June Kunugi, UNICEF's representative to Myanmar, and Knut Ostby, the U.N.'s highest representative and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, to report on grave violations committed against children during times of armed conflict, has taken action against 448 military personnel, including 96 officers and 352 other ranks, he said.
The punishments included sending military personnel to both civilian and army jails as well as demotions, Tun Tun Win said.
Besides sending nearly 1,730 child soldiers home, the army is addressing the issue in a transparent manner, he said.
Saw Tin Win, a lawmaker who is a member of the Farmers and Workers Affairs Committee in Myanmar's lower house of parliament, said his committee receives about 40 complaints about the military's use of child soldiers every month, though only two or three have been returned.
U.N.'s highest representative and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar
"Some underage children were allowed to resign from the service, while other cases remain under investigation," he said. "And some children were not allowed to resign during their recruitment period."He also said that the committee had gathered evidence of underage children being used as child soldiers and then sent complaint letters to the defense ministry.
Thein Swe, Myanmar's minister for labor, immigration, and population said that the Myanmar military is cooperating with both the CTFMR and the ILO on the child soldier issue.
"It also has taken action if complaints were submitted under the Supplementary Understanding agreement," he said.
The February 2007 agreement between the Myanmar government and the ILO provides for a complaint mechanism under which individuals can submit cases of forced labor under the ILO Convention 29 concerning forced labor, and including underage recruitment, to the ILO liaison officer in Yangon.
"For instance, if the Tatmadaw cooperated on the issue of child soldier recruitment, then it took action against those who recruit underage children and notified us once the issue had been resolved," Thein Swe said.
He also said that the ministry would address the issue of forced labor by ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, but did not elaborate.
Widespread use of child soldiers
Besides sending nearly 1,730 child soldiers home, the army is addressing the issue in a transparent manner, he said.
The use of child soldiers in Myanmar has been widespread since the country's independence from colonial ruler Britain in 1948. For decades, the national military has engaged in hostilities with several ethnic armies fighting for varying degrees of autonomy in their states.
Some of the ethnic armies that are fighting against Myanmar forces, and some of the forces allied with them, also have recruited and used child soldiers, though the numbers have been much lower than those recruited and used by the Myanmar military.
In 2007, Myanmar and the U.N. began negotiations on ending the use child soldiers that culminated in a joint action plan in June 2012 to stop the recruitment and use of children by the armed forces.
Three years later, Myanmar signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), also known as the international child soldier treaty, but has yet to ratify it to make it fully binding.
In 2017, the country signed the Paris Principles and Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces and groups and to reintegrate those who have been associated with armed forces into civilian life.
In September 2018, the Myanmar government released 75 children and young people who were recruited and used by the military in the only discharge to take place last year.
(Reported by Win Ko Ko Latt for RFA's Myanmar Service.)