Myanmar’s military has been grabbing more and more children to fight in its wars since the 2021 coup, with kids as young as 12 forced into combat after the junta started drafting people in February 2024, according to Human Rights Watch. The UN counted 2,138 serious crimes against children in Myanmar’s conflict last year. Another 1,200 cases are still being checked.
The UN has confirmed over 1,800 cases of children recruited by junta forces since the coup. But the real number is probably much higher because it’s dangerous to report these crimes and hard to monitor what’s happening. Local groups and opposition activists keep finding child soldiers among captured fighters and military defectors who escape. Soldiers grab children when they’re alone, homeless, or working, then lie about their ages or don’t bother checking before sending them to war.
Myanmar’s junta is the only government on the UN’s annual “list of shame” for all five major crimes against children in war. These include recruitment, killing, sexual violence, attacking schools and hospitals, and kidnapping. The military has drafted about 70,000 people in 14 rounds since April 2024. Child recruitment has gotten worse as commanders face pressure to fill quotas.
“The Myanmar military has a long and appalling history of using children as porters, guides, and in combat roles,” said Shayna Bauchner from Human Rights Watch.
Recruiters have faked children’s documents or taken them when they couldn’t find the adults on their conscription lists. A 17-year-old from Yangon told reporters he was grabbed on his way home from work, given fake papers saying he was 19, and sent to fight before he managed to run away.
