Myanmar’s Response: Response to Children and Armed Conflict Report

Committee on Prevention of Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict issued a statement on the 25th of June. It states that the report of the United NationsSecretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict for 2023containing country-specific descriptions of over two dozen countries including Myanmar was released on 13 June 2024.

It is observed that the country-specific descriptions of Myanmar in the report contains groundless accusations and distorted figures based on the information received from unverified sources and anti-governments groups. The alleged perpetrators of violations mentioned in the report are ambiguous and the violations committed by various terrorist armed groups are listed under the accused violations of Tatmadaw.

Although Myanmar Government has provided the factual descriptions of accounts as a response to the communication of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict prior to the report, they are not reflected in the report. Myanmar is protecting the fundamental rights of children enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The Child Rights Law (2019) which repealed the Child Law (1993) ensures zero tolerance towards severe violations against children in armed conflict. Under the guidance of the National Committeefor Prevention of Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict, various efforts have been made to safeguard children from grave violations in armed conflict.

The 4-Digit Helpline (1566) was launched in October 2022 as a National Complaint Mechanism.With regard to the alleged recruitment of underage children, the Committee on Prevention of Underage Recruitment has been cooperating with CTFMR and a total of 58 meetings have been held since 2012.

Myanmar has been responding to each and every inquiry made by CTFMR with facts and evidences. Although CTFMR shared only 9 suspected under-age recruitments with the Committee in 2023, the report mentions exaggerated figure of 1102 alleged under-age recruitments by Tatmadaw in 2023.Therefore, Myanmar registers its objection to the unfounded allegations contained in the report and calls for the United Nations to present balanced and credible reports by applying constructive approach.