The junta has killed at least 73 Chin children across Myanmar since the February 2021 coup, according to the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO).
According to a CHRO report, 73 Chin children under the age of 18 have been killed by the junta, mainly in Chin State, Kale Township and Sagaing Region. Ways the children were killed included by airstrikes, artillery fire and landmines.
Salai Mang Hre Lian, a CHRO programme manager said: “After the coup, we began witnessing incidents of Chin children being arrested and killed. The first case was in Matupi Township, where a 13-year-old boy was arrested and killed. Some children also died from landmines or while unknowingly playing with unexploded artillery shells. However, airstrikes remain the leading cause of death among children.”
He explained that some of the children had been killed when the churches, religious buildings and schools where they were sheltering were hit by junta airstrikes. As a result of such incidents, many children in Chin State are now traumatised and too afraid to attend school, he added.
The CHRO is thoroughly documenting the junta's deliberate killings of Chin children and intends to pursue those responsible by prosecuting them in international courts, either directly or through the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).
As well as killing Chin children, the junta has also killed many Chin adults, leaving Chin children as orphans.
On 7 January 2024, a junta airstrike on Kanan, a predominantly Chin village near the outskirts of Khampat Town in Tamu District, Sagaing Region, killed 17 civilians, including nine children, and injured 19 others, among them 10 children.
In November 2023, junta aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire with machine guns on Vuilu Village in Matupi Township, striking a location where children had gathered to study, resulting in the deaths of 11 residents, including eight children.
But, it is not just Chin children the junta is killing. It is killing children of all races and ethnicities throughout Myanmar.
