Don't forget

Burma has the largest number of child soldiers in the world and the number is growing, Human Rights Watch said in an extensive new report released October 16. The overwhelming majority of Burma's child soldiers are found in the national army, which forcibly 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.

Recruiters for Burma's army frequently apprehend boys at train and bus stations, markets and other public places, threatening them with jail if they refuse to join the army. The boys are given no opportunity to contact their families, and are sent to camps where they undergo weapons training, are routinely beaten, and brutally punished if they try to escape. Human Rights Watch received several accounts of boys who were beaten to death after trying to run away.

Read : http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/10/burma-1016.htm.

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