Human Rights Myanmar has submitted two reports to UN bodies covering the devastating impacts of Myanmar’s ongoing armed conflict on children and education.
These reports expose the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the military, emphasising the urgent need for international action to protect vulnerable populations and hold perpetrators accountable. By highlighting violations of children’s rights and the systematic destruction of the education system, HRM seeks to draw global attention to the dire crisis in Myanmar.
HRM’s report on violations of children’s rights, entitled: Child rights violations in Myanmar’s armed conflict submitted to the UN OHCHR as part of its public consultation on children’s rights in conflict, provides a detailed account of the atrocities faced by children in Myanmar.
Over 460 small children under the age of 14 have been killed since the military coup, with many deaths resulting from indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling targeting civilian areas. Thousands more small children have been maimed or have lost their parents. In some cases, children have been used as human shields by the military.
Almost 200 small children under 14 have been arbitrarily detained, often without access to legal representation, and subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including torture. As many as 65 are in prison today.
Approximately 1.4 million small children have been displaced since the coup started, 500,000 abroad. Myanmar children are among the world’s most malnutritioned and at least 1 million are classed as “zero-dose” for immunisations.
Children have also been denied their civil and political rights, blocked from information and education by the military’s digital coup. At least 18 have been sentenced to imprisonment for spreading “fake news”.
The military has also ignored its responsibilities toward children, dismantling legal child protections and basic support for the most vulnerable and marginalised, such as orphans. Trauma is widespread among children.
HRM’s second report, entitled: Myanmar’s militarisation of education, was submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, in response to a public request for information, and focuses on the militarisation of education and its catastrophic effects on students and teachers.
At least 1,430 children and youth, who would normally be in education, have been killed by the military. A further 3,932 children and youth have been arbitrarily detained, with 3,022 still in jail. Teachers have also been attacked by the military, with 37 killed, eight of which died while being held in detention. More than 500 teachers have been jailed.
Since the coup, hundreds of schools have been occupied or attacked by military forces, turning educational institutions into battlegrounds and exposing students to violence. At least 300 schools have been used for military purposes, including as torture centres. A further 150 have been bombed.
The military has claimed that public resistence to the coup is driven by illiteracy. It has dismissed at least 31 and 69 per cent of basic and higher level teachers respectively, many of whom were striking in the CDM. The military has also imposed mandatory military training in some schools, including combat exercises.
Almost 3.4 million children are still missing from the education system, four years after the coup started. University enrollment has dropped by 91 per cent. The report highlights the total collapse of State support for education, and outlines the major disruption in childhood.
Both reports underscore the urgent need for international intervention to halt the widespread violations of human rights in Myanmar.
They call on the United Nations and the global community to implement robust accountability mechanisms to address war crimes and crimes against humanity.
HRM also urges increased international support for civil society efforts to protect children and ensure access to education in conflict-affected areas.
