Child Soldiers in Burma

Christelle T.

Ms. Bailey

UNICEF

16 May 2011

Child Soldiers in Burma

Under worldwide law, the participation of children under 18 in armed conflict is usually forbidden, and the recruitment and use of children under 15 is a war crime. But worldwide, hundreds of thousands of children are recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil armed force and a diversity of other armed groups. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home. Others join "voluntarily", typically because they see few other options. Children like this are robbed of their childhood and exposed to dreadful dangers and to psychological and physical pain. The International Labour Organization convention on the worst forms of child labor, adopted in 1999, also recognizes the forced recruitment of children under age 18 for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labor. They are put in combat situations, used as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Girls in particular are at risk of rape and sexual abuse. According to the UN about 250,000 children, ages 6 and younger, are recruited into armed conflicts around the world. The rehabilitation process is sometimes long and severe. When children are free into civilization, they are discriminated against or the society takes revenge on them because of what they have done.

Burma has the largest amount of child soldiers in the world and the number is rising. The majority of Burma's child soldiers are found in the national army, which by force recruits children as young as 11, although armed opposition groups use child soldiers as well. "Burma has a poor human rights record, but its record on child soldiers is the worst in the world," said Jo Becker, advocacy director of the Children's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "Burma's army preys on children, using threats, intimidation and often violence to force young boys to become soldiers," said Becker. "To be a boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked up off the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and never seeing your family again." Burma's army has doubled in size since 1988, and with about 350,000 soldiers is now one of the biggest armies in Southeast Asia. Recruiters for Burma's army abduct boys at train and bus stations, markets and other public places, threatening them with jail if they say no to join the army. The boys are given no opportunity to get in touch with their families, and are sent to camps where they experience weapons preparation, are constantly beaten, and unsympathetically punished if they try to get away. Human Rights Watch received countless accounts of boys who were beaten to death after trying to run away. Once deployed, boys as young as 12 engage in combat against opposition groups, and are forced to commit human rights abuses against civilians, including rounding up villagers for forced labor, burning villages, and carrying out executions. The Burmese government had been demobilizing some children. "Even though the [government] has taken some steps, it is woefully insufficient to the scale of the problem and is just not good enough." said David Matheson from Human Rights Watch. In Burma’s law it says that no child under the age of 18 shall be recruited the army. But in the Human Rights Watch report, 'Sold to be Soldiers', it is reported that commanders hardly check documentation.

What I would like to see done is immediate action to take the children out of the situation they are in. More rehabilitation centers to make their life a little better for them. I would also like to have parents and children educated about child soldiers and political wars in their area and what is going on. Hopefully children will not be taken away from their homes and forced to commit acts of violence just to stay alive one more day. We need to take a stand on this issue and make it our first priority. The children are our future and it’s our duty to protect them anyway we can.

Bibliography

· "Child Soldiers | Amnesty International USA." Amnesty International USA | Protect Human Rights. Amnesty International. Web. 16 May 2011. .

· "Burma: World's Highest Number of Child Soldiers." Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 16 Oct. 2002. Web. 16 May 2011. .

· Ellgee, Alex. "UN to Tackle Burma’s Child Soldier Problem." Democratic Voice of Burma. Web. 16 May 2011. .

My experience at International High School

In middle school my main goal was to get greats grades and go to an awesome top school High school. One day in the auditorium at Jane Long Middle school this man in a suit introduced his school. This was relatively small to the average school in HISD. For some reason this really intrigued me a school in which you get to know everybody and everybody knows you. One in which you get one-on-one attentions between student and teacher. I wanted to go to a school like that and in my mind I thought perhaps there will be less of a competition then going to a traditionally big high school.
My first year in International High school was awesome I made a mass of great friends from different parts of the world. I was honored to go on field trips to varies universities in Texas such as Baylor College of Medicine, St. Thomas, and the University of Houston. I was part of a school organization that goes by Student Government Association (SGA) and in it I was elected as freshmen representative. My grades were always on top, I always made sure I made high A's and B's in every subject even in Geometry. My favorite subjects at the time were AP Human Geography, Speech, Art and English.
My second year at International High School as a sophomore was very stressful I had three AP classes and a math class I really hated. Most of my friends from the previous year moved or didn’t really connect with me. In the middle of the semester my mother decided we should move to an area outside the HISD district. She wanted me to transfer schools but I did not want to. My mother had a talk with the principal Mr. Yu while I was just sitting crying my eyes out. We came to a compromise I can still attend IHS for the reminder of the school year. From that day forth I tried hard to get to school wither it was by car or metro. Most of the time I was late, so I started riding the early bus and stopped depending on my dad. On a normal school day I got home around five. This year brought about my favorite class which is Choir with Ms. Pizana. I love singing and telling jokes in the class. A bonus is that three of the best girls are in the class and they always make my day.
All in all my IHS memories will always be with me. It sucks that I will never be able to be a student at IHS since I have to attend a school in the Alief district. I will miss my awesome teachers and especially all the friends I have made. I hope the school achieves all its goals of college bound students and globally aware classrooms.