Top 10 Facts About Myanmar Child Soldiers

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, might be on its way to achieving democracy but it is still far away from achieving a stellar record when it comes to human rights. This becomes especially evident in the case of child soldiers.

In this article, the top 10 facts about Myanmar child soldiers will be presented, one of the biggest problems this nation is currently facing.

Top 10 Facts About Myanmar Child Soldiers

1. According to Human Rights Watch, Myanmar has the highest number of child soldiers in the world. Children are army members of both confronted sides- the national army as well as rebel groups in the ethnic minority regions outside the capital of Yangon. Roughly 350,000 soldiers make up the Burmese army with an estimated 20 percent of them being child soldiers.
2. The children are usually taken against their will from public areas, such as parks and train stations in their town. They are often abducted and forced to be conscripted. If they refuse, they are threatened with jail time.
3. After the 2008 Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, many families were separated and many identification documents were destroyed or damaged. This made easier for the army recruiters to prey on the vulnerable children, particularly orphans since there is no one to identify and protect them.
4. One of the examples of exploitation of children for army purposes can be seen in the Northern Rakhine state. It has been verified that 53 boys have been used by the Border Guard Police for various purposes that include maintaining the camps, as well as constructing and carrying equipment.
5. The largest ethnic opposition groups, the United Wa State Army, has the largest number of forcible child conscripts. Another notorious group, the Kachin Independence Army, is the only military group in Burma that recruits girls.
6. Boys as young as 12 are forced to fight and to commit human rights violations against the civilians that they are made to round up. This includes setting villages on fire and carrying out extrajudicial killings.
7. Human Rights Watch has urged the Burmese government as well as all opposition ethnic rebel groups that forcibly recruit children under the age of 18 to stop the practice and release all current child soldiers. It has also called for these state and non-state actors to cooperate with international organizations such as UNICEF.
8. In June 2012, the Burmese government signed a Joint Action Plan with the government and armed groups to take steps in order to reintegrate the child soldiers into civilian life. The plan also entailed allowing U.N. workers to access military bases.
9. Since signing the deal in 2012, the government has released 924 children, according to a statement released by child protection agency UNICEF.
10. The government has released 75 child soldiers in 2018 as part of the above mentioned process to end decades of forced recruitment of soldiers under the age of 18.

In conclusion, Myanmar’s development will be incomplete without the eradication of the problem of child soldiers. As long as the ethnic groups and the official Myanmar Army continue to use child soldiers to fight in their wars, the twin path of democracy and development are still a long way off.

– Maneesha Khalae
Photo: Flickr

The Chanje Movement’s Projects: Five Symptoms of Poverty in Haiti

From the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake and the Haitian Creole word “chanje,” meaning “change” and “transformation,” hope for Haitians has emerged in the form of the Chanje Movement. According to the movement’s website if you can say yes to change and share it with the community and the world, then you could be considered as a part of the Chanje Movement.

Yet, beyond such motivating and inclusive statements, the Chanje Movement tangibly combats poverty in Haiti by transforming the lives of the next generation through addressing basic needs, creating healthy communities and providing leadership training.

The Chanje Movement believes that young people in Haiti have the power to reconstruct a nation in which more than 50 percent of the population is poor and 2.5 million people need humanitarian aid eight years after the earthquake that took 316,000 lives.

Five of the projects the Chanje Movement promotes on its website highlight five symptoms of poverty in Haiti. They are described below.

The Dream Center

The Dream Center is intended to be a community center where Haitians can gather to have a variety of physical and social needs meant. In Croix-des-Bouquets, a village about eight miles northeast of Port-au-Prince, people are working on building in stages a space for a church with a local pastor, a medical clinic, an education center, a trade school, a home for orphans and an auditorium for special events.

Specifically, the Chanje Movement desires for this type of space to be replicable throughout Haiti, so as they equip the Haitians of Croix-des-Bouquets, they can, in turn, spread similar positive change throughout the country. The World Bank claims that one of the key needs poverty in Haiti has created is the investment in people, both in their individual futures and access to basic services and collectively as a community. The Dream Center aims to accomplish these needs.

Clean Water

So many places in Haiti need clean water that the Chanje Movement usually has a waitlist for when they receive donations. Less than 50 percent of the rural population has access to clean water. This is because rural areas often depend on piped water systems that require hand pumps. These systems require funds for maintenance, so they are often neglected. The lack of clean water unsurprisingly leads to health problems, such as the cholera epidemic after the 2010 earthquake that claimed 8,700 lives. The whole system is tenuous, as exemplified by the resurgence in cholera in early 2015 following heavy rains.

Build a Home

Tens of thousands of Haitians lost homes in the earthquake and about 55,000 people still live in tents and makeshift homes eight years later. These abodes do not offer safety, shelter from tropical storms, insulation or hygienic conditions. The Chanje Movement’s efforts to build real homes benefits individuals and the Haitian economy, as Haitian workers are employed to construct them.

Micro Loans

With donated funds, the Chanje Movement loans up to $500 to Haitians to be paid back in six months to two years, increasing economic stability by allowing Haitians a chance to start businesses. When the loans are paid back, funds are immediately reinvested in a new entrepreneur. The World Bank claims that helping Haitians use their skills to start their own businesses will be crucial in ending poverty in Haiti, as the income a business provides will allow assets to accumulate, protecting the next generation of Haitians from the devastating consequences of a natural disaster like the earthquake with savings.

Additionally, helping Haitians generate more steady income through their own businesses could address the orphan crisis that is a huge issue related to poverty in Haiti. Currently, 30,000 children live in orphanages in Haiti, but 80 percent of these orphans have at least one living parent, a discrepancy caused by the homelessness following the earthquake.

Backpacks for Kids

Meanwhile, backpacks full of supplies help provide for some of the country’s orphans at the homes the Chanje Movement has for children in Croix-des-Bouquets.

Daniel DiGrazia attends Crossline Church, a church partnered with a Christian organization called The Global Mission that currently connects 18 churches and humanitarian outreaches around the world, including the Chanje Movement. DiGrazia has been to Haiti four times in the past three years and explains that a key part of distributing these supplies, which he helped with earlier this summer, is playing with the kids that live in these orphanages.

Because he keeps going back, he says, “I have grown in relationship with a multitude of the people there.” While DiGrazia’s team helped the Chanje Movement administer relief during his trips, the reason he keeps going back is to show love to the Haitians by continuing to invest in these relationships.

He explains, “I’d love to go again next year. It is a really good experience and I really love the people there. And I really don’t want to just be there and gone. I want to build relationships and keep coming back and see how they’re doing.”

For those that cannot immediately travel to Haiti, supporting the Chanje Movement tangibly combats poverty in Haiti. In the past year, thousands of Haitians had basic needs met with clean water and food provided by the Chanje Movement. This organization has also trained 500 future leaders and helped 75 children access education, taking steps towards Haiti without poverty and the need for humanitarian aid.

– Charlotte Preston
Photo: Flickr

Child Poverty in Albania

Albania, a small country located in the Balkan, has a harsh and troubling history. From a constructing of half-a-million bunkers due to fear of a foreign invasion to multiple economic crises, corruption and civil unrest, Albania has seen it all. Such disruptions have taken a toll on the Albanian people, especially its children. As the situation in Albania gradually improves, targeting child poverty has become a significant focus of the international community. In the text below, 10 facts about the child poverty in Albania are presented.

10 Facts About Child Poverty in Albania

1. Albania has a total population of 2.8 million. Out of this number, the number of Albanians under the age of 19 is around 1 million, which represents more than a third of the population. This places Albania’s populace in the second place of youngest countries in all of Europe, that creates an ever-increasing urgency to end child poverty and break the cycle of poverty in the country.
2. The United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) outlines the most significant threats to the Albanian children as growing economic disparities, social exclusion and discrimination violence and exploitation, domestic violence, lack of access to health and education services and, finally, malnutrition.
3. In 2012, approximately 17.4 percent of Albanian children lived in absolute poverty while 1.8 percent lived with families who had no income. Furthermore, there is a measurable gap between poverty levels in rural and urban areas. However, this gap has narrowed to a difference of only 1.7 percent of those living in poverty in rural and urban areas.
4. The Albanian government launched the Economic Aid (E.A.) programme in hopes of transferring cash and assistance to the country’s poorest. But by 2008, coverage had fallen to less than 7 percent due to stricter eligibility criteria and results showed only 0.4 percent of people lifted out of poverty.
5. UNICEF attributes one-third of child deaths to malnutrition in Albania and has seen rates directly affected by wealth, geographic location, different residence (urban or rural) and education level of the mother. Child poverty and malnutrition in Albania are especially more prominent in resource-poor rural households and urban neighborhoods with high unemployment rates. According to a 2010 survey, up to 43 percent of these households had difficulties in providing food for their families on a yearly basis.
6. Besides malnutrition, access to health services and other factors greatly hinder young Albanians from living healthy lives. For instance, the mortality rate of children under 5 in Albania is 17 per 1,000 children. In urban areas, the rate drops to 13 children, but more than doubles to 28 in rural parts of the country. On top of these statistics, primary health care and basic health services are severely underfunded and 90 percent of Albanian families cannot pay for their health care.
7. The Romani (or Gypsy) children living in Albania are particularly at risk of poverty due to the discrimination they experience and the lack of institutions that support their cultural and linguistic background. In 2011, UNICEF conducted research on the Romani population and found that 40 percent are illiterate, only 25 percent of Romani children attend pre-school or early education institutions and 75 percent are considered very poor.
8. While drop-out rates are only about 0.37 percent and the percent of children who never attended school is at 1.05 percent, the quality of education is still a challenge for the Albanian government. The vast majority of funding is given to teacher salaries and infrastructure (important parts of the successful educational system), but too little is given to development, services and quality of providing education.
9. Due to the social and cultural attitudes of Albania, physical and phycological violence against children are often tolerated or even encouraged. A UNICEF study in 2006 revealed that most adults think physical or phycological violence has positive effects on children. Moreover, 50 percent of children have absorbed these ideas and believe that violence is needed at home and in school. In addition, children are exploited into forced labor since there basic social services and safety nets are lacking.
10. Despite child poverty in Albania, UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have done tremendous work through humanitarian aid and action. For example, UNICEF has largely focused on lobbying and working with the Albanian government and international community in providing long-term protections for the children in the country. As of 2016, UNICEF and the Albanian government have launched ambitious reforms in the social, economic, health and educational sectors in order to curtail childhood poverty. Furthermore, USAID has contributed nearly $500 million in foreign aid to Albania since 1992 with the goal of strengthening democracy, curtailing corruption, promoting civil society and gender equality and creating a more equitable economy.

Perhaps the biggest organization influencing poverty in Albania is the European Union (EU). While Albania is a candidate for the EU, the organization is requiring that the country progresses on political and economic reforms, improves governance and the rule of law and observes human rights standards.

Albania has shown that it values a future of being an E.U. member, which would be a significant step to building a stronger relationship between the United States and Albania. But in the first place, foreign aid will is needed to create a system capable of protecting every child and ending child poverty in Albania.

– Tanner Helem
Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts about Child Soldiers in Syria

During the Syrian conflict, children, even younger than 10, have been recruited into armed groups. These children are inadequately protected by the government and many are recruited into government and terrorist organizations. The majority of them are untrained but are placed in combat situations. Years of violence and despair have plagued the lives of these children. In the text below, the top 10 facts about child soldiers in Syria are presented.

 Top 10 Facts about Child Soldiers in Syria

1. In a survey conducted by Save the Children, 59 percent of adults interviewed in Syria claimed to know children or young adults in Syria that had been recruited into armed groups. As of 2017, 910 children have been killed and 361 have been maimed during the Syrian conflict. Child soldiers in Syria have been used as human shields, suicide bombers, front-line soldiers and as guards at checkpoints.
2. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of armed children in the Syrian civil war verified by the U.N. was 851, more than double from the year before. The incentives used to encourage children into the army are salaries, ideologies and family or community influence. Even girls join these armed groups and seek to escape either abuse or arranged marriages.
3. Child soldiers are encouraged to join armed groups due to poverty or being consistently targeted by specific groups. Some child soldiers in Syria have been reported to receive salaries of up to $400 a month. The families targeted by recruiters are typically poor and recruiters have been known to promise to pay and clothe children for their enlistment.
4. In Syria, ISIS had kidnapped 463 children in 2015. ISIS usually targets ethnic minority groups and women and children in their abductions. In 2015, it was believed that this organization has 3,500 slaves that were made up mostly of women and children.
5. The U.N. verified 29 child soldiers in Syria associated with government forces. Although the government is not supposed to conscript child soldiers, they do sit anyway. The children in Syria have little protection from the government against armed groups recruitment.
6. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have recently issued an order that no one under the age of 18 is allowed to be enlisted into the army. This order requires commanders to verify the ages of soldiers and then take those under the age limit to authorities to end their enlistment. It also calls for punishments for commanders who refuse to comply with this order.
7. Around 60 percent of the United Nation’s verified cases of child soldiers in Syria were associated with the Free Syrian Army. The Free Syrian Army is a rebel group formed by army deserters in Turkey. Several other armed groups across Syria have adopted their banner. A child interviewed by the Human Rights Watch stated that he joined the Free Syrian Army after he was previously tortured by the government forces.
8. Children are actively being detained in Syria due to their perceived alliance with a specific group or organization. The U.N. verified that government forces had arrested 12 boys in 2016. Anti-government forces imprison children that are believed to support the government.
9. There are 292,000 children trapped in besieged areas. The affected areas include Damascus, Idlib, Deir Az Zor and Homs. These areas have been besieged by both rebel and pro-government forces.
10. Recently, the United Nations appealed to the U.S. for $8 billion of aid for Syria. The first part of the proposal aims to help refugees and the second part aims to provide humanitarian aid and protection for the 13.5 million people inside Syria.

These top 10 facts about child soldiers in Syria demonstrate the desperate crisis children in this country face every day. These are children who desperately need support in a fractured world, especially child soldiers that are affected most by the violence.

Investing in the future of this region and its children could have a large impact. Rehabilitation programs for child soldiers could help them reintegrate into society and into a normal life. These children could be placed into care centers or mandatory rehab programs to deal with the psychological and physical damage they have suffered.

Programs like these have worked in other conflicts and war situations and could help Syrian child soldiers find a way out of the violence they face every day and help them re-establish relationships with their families and communities as well.

– Olivia Halliburton

Photo: Flickr

Global Reduction in Child Labor

Child labor is defined as the employment of children who are under the legal working age. Currently, there are about 265 million children engaged in child labor around the world. While this is clearly not ideal, there has been a reduction in child labor across the globe, from 23 percent of children working in 2000 to close to 17 percent in 2012. Many countries whose laws once allowed for child labor now protect their children from such harsh conditions instead.

Where Countries Are Based on Levels of Income

There are four basic income levels. Level 1 is extreme poverty; the family can barely afford to eat and must get water from wells. Level 2 is lower-middle income; the family can afford decent food and shoes. Level 3 is upper-middle income; the family can afford running water and basic appliances. Level 4 is high income; the family can afford a nice house and cars.

The higher a family’s income, the less likely they are to have their children work from a young age. Likewise, the higher a country’s income, the less likely they are to approve of child labor. We can see the likelihood of child labor by looking at the income level of different countries.

Level 4: Ireland

In 18th and 19th century Ireland, children were routinely put to work because they could be paid less than what adult workers were paid, they could operate certain machines that adults could not and it was believed that they would grow up to be harder workers. In many cases, children aged 3 to 7 were outright kidnapped by organized trade rings and forced to do whatever work their masters wanted them to.

The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act of 1996 changed all of that. Under this law, Irish employers cannot make children younger than 16 work full time. Additionally, employers cannot hire anyone under age 14 at all. Children aged 14 to 15 can only do light work during school holiday periods, work in educational programs that are not harmful to their health or cultural enrichment jobs. On top of that, employees aged 18 or younger must receive a minimum of €6.69 per hour, which is 70 percent of the Irish adult minimum wage.

Level 3: Croatia

In Croatia, the legal minimum age for work is 15. From the ages of 15 to 18 years old, children can only work with written permission from their parents, and inspections must show that the labor does not interfere with the child’s health, morality or education. In addition, anyone caught dealing in child prostitution in any way will face a three to 10-month prison sentence.

These laws have not stopped all child labor in Croatia. Roma children are often forced to beg in the streets, and Croatia experiences the active trafficking of young girls for prostitution. That said, the 2006-2012 National Program for the Protection of the Best Interests of Children made great strides in the reduction in child labor, particularly prostitution.

Level 2: Sudan

Of Sudan’s 37.96 million children, 45,600 are currently subject to child labor. Not only are there no laws against child labor, but the government also encourages it by kidnapping children in rural areas during military raids. These children start working at age 5, so they miss out on their educations, which otherwise would be compulsory.

However, Sudan has made strides in decreasing the child labor rate, including signing a Partnership Protocol Agreement with the European Union in 2008 and inspecting working environments to keep children from working in toxic conditions. Unfortunately, little has been done to help rural areas. Families have to migrate to urban areas or to other countries to escape labor and let their children get an education. Although, escape from Sudan is illegal and far from easy, it is still possible.

Level 1: Niger

The child labor rate in Niger is 42.8 percent. The jobs that young children are made to perform include agriculture, mining, caste-based servitude and forced begging. The government has set up a number of programs to reduce child labor, including Centers for Education, Legal, and Preventative Service; The Project to Reduce Child Labor in Agriculture; and The World Bank Country Program. However, these programs have made only moderate advances in stopping child labor.

Child labor continues to be a problem in the world today. Poor and corrupt countries are quick to put children to work because the children do not require high wages. However, laws and legislation all over the world have resulted in a global reduction in child labor. It has not stopped child labor altogether, but a little progress is better than none at all. The fight to end child labor continues.

– Cassie Parvaz
Photo: Flickr