No More Child Soldiers In Camp: Karenni Army

by Solomon
Tuesday, 12 February 2008 00:00

New Delhi (Mizzima) - An ethnic armed rebel group in eastern Burma said in adherence to its military code it has successfully abolished the use of child soldiers, and requested the United Nations to remove its name from the list of groups that uses child soldiers.

The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), an ethnic Karenni rebel group, on Tuesday said it has abolished the use of child soldiers in its military operations strictly adhering to its military code.

General Bi Thu, of the Karenni Army, an armed wing of the KNPP, said the KA welcomes independent agencies including the United Nations to conduct an investigation in areas where they operate and appealed that the UN remove them from the list of groups that still has child soldiers.

"We, the KNPP, would like to appeal once again to Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for the name of our armed force, the Karenni Army, to be removed from the list of non-state armed groups utilizing child soldiers," the KNPP said in a statement released today.

Bi Thu said, the removal of child soldiers from the ranks of KA has been done in accordance with its military code and in this regard the group has twice met representatives of the UN children's fund (UNICEF) in April 2007.

Burma, which is ruled by one of the most brutal military dictators, has attracted a volley of criticism by Human Rights groups as well as the UN for having underage children in military camps.

While the criticism mainly focuses on the 'Tatmadaw', Burma's army, ethnic armed insurgent groups are no exception as far as the use of child soldier is concerned.

According to the Human Rights Watch 2007 report, there are over 60,000 child soldiers in Burma's armed forces, which include armed insurgent groups like the Karenni Army, Shan State Army and the Karen National Union.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his 2007 report on Child Soldiers puts Burma among those countries that continue to rampantly recruit children into military camps.

However, Bi Thu, admitting that the UN has at least twice cited the KA of recruiting child soldiers, said, "We cannot accept the UN's criticism, which is made without visiting and seeing our areas of operation. And we would like to invite them for checking our places."

Bi Thu, however, admits that the KA earlier had children joining the armed force but said, "they were never allowed to go to battle, though they were given military training."

"Earlier we had over one hundred youngsters, and we called them student soldiers because they were not supposed to go to battle zones, though occasionally they were allowed to visit army camps. They were more like a public army, trained to defend themselves and were only allowed to remain for two years in the camp," Bi Thu added.

Following the use of child soldiers being abolished, the KA has several times requested the UN to remove them from the list of armed groups that has child soldiers, he added.

However, there has been no effort by the UN to verify the KA's claims and they continue to be named as one of the groups that uses child soldiers.

"We have sent our appeals at least three times to the United Nations for removing us from the list," Bi Thu said.