(Hakha) 9 June 2010: That the Burmese junta continues to recruit under age persons into the Burmese Army, despite its posturing that it has banned such recruitment, was evident with reports of child soldiers sighted in the Falam town based LIB 268 in Chin state western Burma.

Maung Thet Lwin (16) recruited by the Kalemyo military base in October 2009 said, “I joined because I had some problems with my family members. But now I regret the decision. I cannot leave the army though my family had requested our commanders to let me go. They refused.”
Thet lwin is now posted in the cattle farm of a military camp near Talangzang village 25 miles from Hakha town.

There are more child soldiers in the Falam based LIB 268 military camp, Thet lwin added.
The Burmese military junta had signed on the agreement of Human Rights on Children on 16 July 1991, and became a member of CRC on 15 August 1991.

Burmese law prohibits recruiting persons under the age of 18 years into the military. But the government flouts its own law.

Recently the Weekly Eleven journal in Burma reported that over a hundred child soldiers were sent back home by the military regime to their parents.

A UN statement said that child soldiers are still being recruited by the Burmese military regime and the armed groups like the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).-