Child Soldier Imprisoned for Desertion

Here's the latest story to prove that Burma is to human rights what Kanye is to etiquette class: a child forced into the army who managed to escape was sentenced to six months in prison for desertion. What's next, Burma? Sentencing children forced into commercial sex for prostitution? Oh, wait, we do that in the U.S.

Here's Burma's sense of justice: two 16-year-old boys are at a train station when some soldiers kidnap them and ship them off to boot camp. In Burma, children under 18 are not legally allowed to serve in the army; according to international law, children 16 to 18 can serve only voluntarily. After six months of hard and brutal training, the boys were allowed 10 days leave to visit their families. They used this opportunity to escape their slavery and did not return to the army. So what does Burma do when they find out this child was held against his will? Do they arrest or censure the soldiers who kidnapped him? Do they launch an internal investigation to make sure there are no other children trapped in similar situations. No, they arrest the boy for desertion and sentence him to six months in jail.

This story is cast in a much more frightening light when you consider how incredibly common the abduction and trafficking of children to be child soldiers is in Burma. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch, Burma has the highest number of child soldiers in the world, and the industry growing. Look out, Uganda, there's a new brutally opressive regime in town! Burma's army is the largest in Southeast Asia, and 20% of its 350,000 members are thought to be trafficked children.

This vast proliferation of child soldiers would be startling enough if the Burmese government was taking action to combat it, or at least trying to identify trafficked kids in the army and move them to safety. But they're actually arresting and imprisoning the few children who do manage to escape. Such a precedent is both legally and socially frightening. It gives the military the legal power to punish even those who were never voluntarily enlisted in the first place, and it dissuades children from trying to escape the army.

Burma's army and all armed opposition groups, which also recruit and use child soldiers, need to immediately end all recruitment of children under the age of 18, whether through force or coercion. They also need to free all children currently serving as soldiers. Come on, Burma. There is no excuse for using child soldiers, and even less of one for arresting and imprisoning them.

Photo credit: bixentro