Children Are Burma's Biggest Losers

Few places are as bad for children as Burma. An estimated 20% of the national army are children as young as twelve — the highest number of child soldiers used by any army in the world — and those born to marginalized ethnic minority groups face a life of poverty, violence, and displacement.

The military is well-known for not only its own forced recruitment campaigns, but for buying children from "brokers" to fill their ranks. Children are, after all, cheap and obedient, far more likely to do what they're told, far less likely to make demands about compensation and quality of life. For all armed groups that use child soldiers, children are seen as far more expendable when sent off into battle — losing a child is not, for instance, as big of a deal as losing an adult soldier in whom you've invested time and money in training. It's an unfortunate calculation, to say the least, but it's far more common than you might think.

In addition to the over-reliance of child soldiering, aid workers and human rights activists have documented unspeakable cruelties committed by Burmese soldiers against children over the past decade. A new report released by the Partners Relief & Development and Free Burma Rangers opens with the story of a seven-year-old girl of the Karen ethnic group who was abducted, raped, and murdered — a shocking, individual story that represents many others untold.

The end result, and likely the calculated goal, is not just the violation of individual rights, but the destruction of families and communities through the decimation of an entire generation.

Photo credit: Gideon Tsang