The just released report of the UN human rights rapporteur on Myanmar is an eye opener on the extent of damage that the Military coup has created on the future of children of Myanmar.

Aptly titled as ‘Losing a Generation: How the Military Junta is devastating Myanmar’s children and undermining Myanmar’s future, the report focuses especially on children, their education and vulnerabilities, the report terms the situation as ‘a generation lost’ due to the coup where in the military government has created havoc in terms of violence and disruption of normal life of citizens and educational rights of children.

In its recommendations, the UN rapporteur’s report seeks the military government to ‘cease of attacks on schools, teachers and education administration and refrain from occupying schools or using schools for military purposes’. The need of the hour is to “Depoliticize education, including by allowing students and teachers to return to the classroom without punishment or retaliation for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement and by respecting the choice of students, families, and teachers who decide to engage with alternative education systems;

The last year and half military rule is marked with at least 260 attacks on schools where children and teachers were targets of the military government. It is to be noted that close to 12 million children have been deprived of education in the country due to the pandemic where in almost for an year schools have been closed. As schools reopened after COVID-19 closures in 2021, many teachers and students stayed away because of security concerns or an unwillingness to participate in an education system controlled by the junta. The system has collapsed as many as fifty percent of teachers followed civil disobedience movement and there has been repression on teachers and schools across the country including arrests and detentions. About 30 per cent of teachers have been removed from their services due to their participation in the resistance movement. A reported 7.8 million children remained out of school due to the occupation of schools. Displacement of large sections of people due to the violence attacks of the military across the townships has resulted in disruption in schooling of children and it has exacerbated the vulnerability and exploitation of children. Children’s safety in schools has been heavily compromised as they received threats and attacks on schools. The education system has also suffered as striking teachers have been replaced by unqualified teachers and the attendance in schools remained very low despite assurances of the military government. Disruption in education is so acute that UN system estimates education support for over 6.4 million children and adolescents. This is coupled with the fact that over 5million population have been displaced from their homes and living in forests and border areas without any basic facilities including education services.

The report brings to the fore the grim reality that education and schools have become battle ground for both the military junta as well as ethnic armed groups and peoples’ defence forces who are opposing the military rule. Attacks on schools and destruction of infrastructure, occupation of schools by military and resistance groups, arrest of teachers, have resulted in complete collapse of the system. Such a militarization of schools amounts to violation of rights of children. The UN documented 320 cases of the use of schools by armed groups between February 2021 and March 2022.134 Often, soldiers have remained in schools for months at a time. Several such instances have

been documented in the report which warrants a collective action by the members of international community who profess protection and promotion of human rights.

The long-term implications are many including psychosocial impact on children and loss of their learning. The emotional trauma that children experience in this situation requires significant inputs and there appears to be no system to meet their psychosocial support needs. “If access to education is not restored, these risks will continue to compound and contribute to a lost generation of human potential”.

The ethnic education system run by the ethnic organisations and temporary schooling arrangements by the CSOs and national unity government are some solace for children but such facilities are far and few to meet the needs. In some ethnic areas education system has completely in disarray due to the security situation and the intensity of the resistance movement. There are reports of increase in enrollment of ethnic education system as many relocated populations have started availing that facility. Use of technology and home-based learning systems have also come into use though their presence is very limited at the moment due to limitations of technology, communication facilities like internet and power supply. All these efforts point towards the need to accelerate support to children so that they are not deprived of education. The need for funding such alternative arrangements is all the more critical at this juncture as they would be the only sources of education for millions of children who are out of schools.

The UN report highlights the need for resource commitment from UN bodies, donor countries and others so that children’s right to education is fulfilled even under these dire constraints. Education of children should not become causality in this protracted conflict that is challenging the very basic democratic rights of people of Myanmar.

The Myanmar military junta has brutally attacked and killed children and systematically abused their human rights, a UN expert said in a report released today that calls for immediate coordinated action to protect the rights of children and safeguard Myanmar’s future, according to the office of the UNHCR.

“The junta’s relentless attacks on children underscore the generals’ depravity and willingness to inflict immense suffering on innocent victims in its attempt to subjugate the people of Myanmar,” said Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

“The international community’s approach to the coup and the junta’s atrocities has failed. States must take immediate coordinated action to address an escalating political, economic and humanitarian crisis that is putting Myanmar’s children at risk of becoming a lost generation.”

The Special Rapporteur said it was clear from the evidence that the children of Myanmar were not only being caught in the crossfire of escalating attacks, but that they were often the targets of the violence.

“During my fact-finding for this report, I received information about children who were beaten, stabbed, burned with cigarettes, and subjected to mock executions, and who had their fingernails and teeth pulled out during lengthy interrogation sessions,” Andrews said.

“The junta’s attacks on children constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes. Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and other architects of the violence in Myanmar must be held accountable for their crimes against children,” he said.

“For the sake of Myanmar’s children, Member States, regional organisations, the Security Council, and other UN entities must respond to the crisis in Myanmar with the same urgency they have responded to the crisis in Ukraine.”

Andrews urged Member States to work in coordination to alleviate the suffering of children by systematically increasing pressure on the junta. He urged States that have already imposed sanctions on the military and military-linked companies to take stronger coordinated action that will inhibit the junta’s ability to finance atrocities.

“States must pursue stronger targeted economic sanctions and coordinated financial investigations. I urge Member States to commit to a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance and unequivocal regional support for refugees,” he said.

“It is scandalous that the international community has committed only 10 percent of the funds required to implement the Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan 2022, causing lifesaving programs for children to be shelved,” he said.

The Special Rapporteur’s report describes the impact of the 1 February 2021 coup on the human rights of children in Myanmar and details the alarming, underreported facts of the violence being perpetrated against them. Soldiers, police officers and military-backed militias have murdered, abducted, detained and tortured children in a campaign of violence that has touched every corner of the country, the report said.

Over the past 16 months, the military has killed at least 142 children in Myanmar. Over 250,000 children have been displaced by the military’s attacks and over 1,400 have been arbitrarily detained. At least 61 children, including several under three years of age, are reportedly being held as hostages. The UN has documented the torture of 142 children since the coup.

The junta has intentionally deprived children of their fundamental human rights to health, education and development, with an estimated 7.8 million children out of school. Following the collapse of the public health system since the coup, the World Health Organization projects that 33,000 children will die preventable deaths in 2022 because they have not received routine immunizations.

Andrews said the lack of action by Security Council was a moral failure with profound repercussions for children in the country.

“World leaders, diplomats and donors should ask themselves why the world is failing to do all that can reasonably be done to bring an end to the suffering of the children of Myanmar,” the expert said.