Two Child Soldiers Released in Burma

Burmese military officials free two young men to their families following international intervention.

The Burmese military, notorious for recruiting under-aged fighters, has released two child soldiers to their families following pressure from a global labor rights watchdog.

RFA

Phyo Sithu with his mother following his release from prison, Sept. 2, 2011.

Zaw Wai Lin, 16, and Nay Ye Lin, 15, who were conscripted into different military units, were both allowed to leave their barracks on Friday after each had spent nearly a year in forced service.

Both children had been the subject of RFA coverage after their parents reported the boys missing and local rights group Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) filed cases on their behalf with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Zaw Wai Lin, of Rangoon division’s Hlaing Tharyar township, told RFA that he was released from the Mandalay 111 Directorate of Signal in front of local authorities and his parents.

"A group of army officers, one local authority, and my parents were present when they released me. They didn’t say anything when I was set free,” he said.

“I will be going back to school next year. For now, I will help my mom with farming."

Zaw Wai Lin said he was forced to join the army in September last year at the age of 15... (READ FULL STORY)

SOURCES: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/soldiers-09092011174806.html

Obama gives U.S. aid to 4 countries using child soldiers

United States President Obama

Photo: http://www.clker.com/

President Obama granted a waiver on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, signed into law by former President George W. Bush, which extends U.S. aid to four countries using children as soldiers.

A memo was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton extending military aid to Sudan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad. All four countries are recognized as using child soldiers in their military. (read the memo)

The Obama administration said cutting the aid to these countries would do more harm than good. The aid being sent will provide more stability and allow the U.S. to help these governments eliminate the use of child soldiers. In addition, the Obama administration says that military aid to these countries is essential in the war on terror and in combattng Al-Queda in these regions.

A number of human rights group beg to differ.

"What the president has done is basically given everybody a pass for using child soldiers," said Jo Becker, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch.

Other non-profit organizations are concerned by the waivers. They say the Child Soldier Prevention Act does not mandate cutting off all forms of aid to countries in violation of the act. The U.S. can still provide aid and support to the countries in question and help them work towards ending the use of child soldiers.
"That kind of assistance is still allowed under the law without invoking the waiver. That's why this is a disturbing step," said Jesse Eaves of the World Vision humanitarian organization.

Author's Note:
There are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world today. This is one of the most disturbing forms of modern slavery aside from sex trafficking. Many children are orphans, or children of opposing sides, who become child soldiers through human trafficking and kidnapping. Due to their vulnerability and impressionability, young children are preferred because they can easily be controlled and forced to obey commands.

I do not know if it was the right or wrong decision by President Obama to sign the waivers. Time will tell. I do know that the U.S. government does need to work to help these countries eliminate the use of Child Soldiers and I hope that th aid being distributed to these countries will make it a top priority.

Below is a video from Project AK47, an organization working to end the use of child soldiers in Asia. You can also see more videos about child soldiers throughout Africa and Asia onYoutube.com. If you're looking for a book to read about child soldiers, I suggest the book War Child, by Emmanuel Jal. Be warned that the book is graphic and is not for the faint of heart. It will tear you down and hopefully build you up again, as it did me.

Somali Child Soldiers

Somali militants increasing use of child soldiers

By KATHARINE HOURELD (AP) – May 1, 2010

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Sharif says he was 10 when his religious teacher led his class into a poor neighborhood of Somalia's capital to pray for a sick relative. Suddenly Islamist fighters jumped from the shadows and ordered the children onto buses, the beginning of a terrifying two years as a child soldier.

The class was taken to a training base in the south of the anarchic country, Sharif says, where Somali and foreign instructors showed them how to use weapons and set ambushes. The boy says before battle he was sometimes given drugs that made him feel like he could "pick up a tank and throw it aside like a telephone."

The recruitment of child fighters in Somalia is on the rise, both by the government and particularly by the country's most powerful Islamist militia, al-Shabab, whose name means "the youth." Al-Shabab's recruitment of children may partly stem from a lack of willing adults, who have been alienated by Islamist attacks on traditional Sufi saints and bans on everything from chewing qat, a mildly narcotic leaf, to school bells and music.

"Better informed, smarter, older people are saying they don't want to join" al-Shabab, said E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst at the International Crisis Group. "The sad reality with modern infantry weapons is that all you really need is a kid to operate them."

UNICEF, the section of the U.N. dealing with children's rights, said children as young as 9 are being targeted and often taken through force or deception, said Denise Shepherd-Johnson, a Nairobi-based spokeswoman, citing information received from monitors in Somalia.

"Children are being systematically recruited and used in ever larger numbers for military and related purposes by all of the major combatant groups," she said. "The number of bases and camps used to train these children is commensurately widespread and appears to be growing." READ THE FULL STORY...

Associated Press Writers Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia and Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

PROJECT AK47: No More Child Soldiers

Child slavery in all forms is heinous and evil, but especially when it involves child soldiers. Guerilla armies and drug cartels will take children, train them to kill, and then send them to the battlefield.

Instead of a childhood full of love and learning, these children, boys and girls as young as 5, receive a childhood filled with the death and horrors of war.

PROJECT AK47 is working to protect these children and free them from military life in Asia. With over 100,000 child soldiers in Asia, their work is beyond admirable and you can learn how to help by visiting their website www.projectak47.com.

Child soldiers are largely found in Asia and Africa, but the problem exists worldwide. Look for future posts with more information about the groups fighting this evil and ways you can help them.

AUTHOR'S INVITATION:

Everyone I talk to about modern slavery agrees it's atrocious. Then they ask, "What can I do?" BE A VOICE. Spread awareness by sharing these posts and videos with others. Collectively we can reach thousands of people. Creating awareness and making this an issue in the public mind WILL lead to CHANGE.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

~Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Will you accept my invitation? Will you be a voice?

Thank you,
John Burger

AbolitionistJB