Burma Army Accused of ‘Recruiting Children’

Human Rights Watch (HRW) charges that the Burmese army is forcibly recruiting children to cover for the lack of adult recruits. In a recent report, HRW cites that thousands of children as young as 10 are beaten or threatened with arrest to make them enlist. It also claims that recruiting officers falsify enlistment documents to register children as being 18, the legal minimum age for recruitment.

Jo Becker of HRW also cites government collusion in the process of “literally buying and selling children” to fill the ranks. Becker claims that “In this environment, army recruiters traffic children at will.”

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