SPDC AND UNICEF DISCUSS CHILD SOLDIERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001361 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KOCI BM SUBJECT: SPDC AND UNICEF DISCUSS CHILD SOLDIERS REF: RANGOON 1136 RANGOON 00001361 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: PolOff Dean Tidwell for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: SPDC Secretary-1 Lt. Gen. Thein Sein recently told UNICEF that Burma is making progress on reducing child soldiers in its military, although UNICEF admits it has no mechanism to verify these claims. The regime continues to refuse UNICEF's request for regular, unannounced visits to military induction centers. UNICEF has offered to help rehabilitate discharged underage soldiers and to conduct workshops for military recruiters. UNICEF has asked the military to identify a technical liaison but is still waiting for a response from the GOB. UNICEF and ILO both doubt NGO claims there are 70,000 underage soldiers in the Burmese army. UNICEF believes that some ethnic armies still recruit child soldiers, particularly the Wa, although it believes the Karen are sincere in recent efforts to try to ban use of child soldiers. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Ramesh Shrestha, UNICEF Burma Representative, and Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF Burma's Child Protection Chief, briefed PolOff on their August 30 meeting in Nay Pyi Taw with SPDC Secretary-1, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein. Thein Sein, who chairs the SPDC's Committee for Prevention Against Recruitment of Minors for Military Service, raised the subject of child soldiers and claimed that SPDC efforts to prevent recruitment of child soldiers by the Burmese army are effective. According to UNICEF, the SPDC seems aware of international attention on child soldiers and is taking the problem more seriously. According to Shrestha, the SPDC finds it particularly galling to be ranked on a par with Sudan and other African countries notorious for recruiting underage soldiers. While UNICEF acknowledges the SPDC wishes "if not to eliminate, at least to minimize" its recruitment of underage soldiers, UNICEF admitted it has no independent means to verify SPDC claims. The military continues to refuse UNICEF's request to make regular, unannounced visits to military induction centers. ¶3. (C) Thein Sein claimed that the SPDC is following its 2004 Plan of Action to eliminate the recruitment of child soldiers and had briefed all recruitment centers on proper recruitment protocols. The latest report from the Ministry of Defense to UNICEF claims that in the period from February to May 2006, the Burmese army discharged 55 new recruits, of whom four were deemed to be underage and 12 others who were released in response to appeals by their families. The rest were declared unfit for military service due to unspecified reasons. ¶4. (C) UNICEF has requested that the SPDC identify a technical point-of-contact with whom UN agencies could work on child soldier issues. UNICEF also offered to assist to rehabilitate and reintegrate child soldiers released by the military and to conduct awareness workshops for the military's recruitment personnel. The GOB has yet to respond. ¶5. (C) UNICEF believes that recent NGO claims that the Burmese army has as many as 70,000 child soldiers are grossly exaggerated. They note that this figure would represent almost 20 percent of Burmese armed forces, making it impossible to keep so many child soldiers out of public view. UNICEF claimed that a human rights organization extrapolated this figure based on a very small sample. Absent free access to military camps and recruitment centers, UNICEF admitted that it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of child soldiers. ¶6. (C) On August 30, ILO Liaison Officer Richard Horsey told EconOff he received credible information that child RANGOON 00001361 002.2 OF 002 recruitment continues, especially in response to official pressure to meet the regime's target of a total military force of 400,000 soldiers. He noted that children are easy to trick and that recruiters focus on street children, children in transit, children from poor families, and those without identity cards. He said that if families claim their children before the army sends them to induction and training, authorities release them. CHILDREN IN ETHNIC ARMIES ¶7. (C) UNICEF confirmed there are also child soldiers among Burma's ethnic armies, particularly in the Wa region, where UNICEF field workers reported seeing significant numbers of soldiers in the United Wa State Army (UWSA) who clearly were underage. Wa officials freely admitted to Charg that at age 16 males must join the UWSA (reftel). UNICEF and UNHCR in Thailand have held talks on child soldiers with the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Shan State Army - South. Both groups responded to the UN in writing, claiming that they do not and would not recruit child soldiers. The KNU's letter stated the KNU was committed to not accepting underage volunteers in its army, and said it was illegal under Karen law. The KNU vowed to take action against anyone who recruited child soldiers. Dufay said the KNU is eager to be removed from the UNSYG's list of armed groups that recruit child soldiers. ¶8. (C) COMMENT: Absent any means of independent verification, both the regime's and armed ethnic groups' denials that they recruit any child soldiers are impossible to access. International attention to the issues has forced the regime and the KNU to address the issue, and senior leaders of the SPDC and the KNU are condemning the practice publicly. However, with growing poverty and ongoing pressure on recruiters to fill ranks, the Burmese military and some armed insurgent groups will find it hard to resist recruiting child soldiers until the strategic costs truly outweigh the tactical benefits. END COMMENT. VILLAROSA