Call to end child soldier recruitment

04 July 2015
Call to end child soldier recruitment
Photo from the cover of the report: “A Dangerous Refuge: Ongoing child recruitment by the Kachin Independence Army”.

The Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) should immediately end the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 years and release all those recruited under-18 within their ranks, Child Soldiers International said in new research released on July 2. 
Research conducted by Child Soldiers International shows that ongoing conflict between the Myanmar military and the KIA has spurred the demand for both sides to continue to recruit children into their forces. Fresh disagreements between the government and negotiators from the ethnic armies have generated pressure on the peace process.
The Tatmadaw continues to face pressures to increase troop numbers and a system of incentive-based quotas drives demand for fresh recruitment. This puts children at particular risk. In the Kachin State, a sense of public service, revenge and justice, coupled with a lack of alternative livelihoods are the main drivers for ongoing underage recruitment. Occasionally, the KIA has intimidated and coerced children into their ranks and in some other instances children are sent to the KIA by their parents or guardians as a form of correction for aberrant behavior.
Child Soldiers International conducted research in Kachin State in June 2014 and found evidence of ongoing child recruitment, documented in its new report, “A Dangerous Refuge: Ongoing child recruitment by the Kachin Independence Army”. While much of the recruitment is formally voluntary, ongoing coercive recruitment also takes place. Soldiers and civilian administrators in charge of recruitment routinely overlook evidence that recruits are underage.
While the KIA denies the practice, confidential interviews conducted by Child Soldiers International with KIA officers reveal that since the 1960s, the KIA has recruited according to an unofficial but customary rule of a "one-recruit-per-family" quota. KIA soldiers have access to a “list” containing data on household members and their ages, maintained by Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) administrators at the township and village level as part of an ongoing data collection effort.
A Kachin aid worker told Child Soldiers International: “The KIA has a list with information concerning every household and their members and ages. In the [internally displaced persons] camps, this is also true. The KIA can call whomever they want at any time and they know where to find them. No family is exempt from this kind of recruitment because the KIA has the list of every person in their territory. If you are called but not ready to join then you can try to explain your circumstances but they may not choose to release you ... Once the KIA has the list with your name on it, you will have to join sooner or later when they call you.”
Children who volunteer with the KIA are, in some cases, encouraged to continue their studies, but they are almost always eventually accepted into the KIA’s ranks. Children involved in drugs or criminality or those who skip school are also sent to the KIA as a form of “correction” by their parents or guardians. Research conducted by Child Soldiers International found that the most common ages of children in the KIA are between 15 and 17 years old, although there have been a few reports of children aged 13 and 14.
Once in the KIA, children are treated like adults and not allowed direct communication with the outside world during training.