Myanmar also found out that the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and certain countries made irresponsible references on Myanmar at the report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and its open debate. In this regard, Myanmar further rejects the distorted figures and groundless accusations contained in the report and calls for more observed and constructive approach towards the matter.
Response
Myanmar observed that the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict for 2022 with document no. A/77/895-S/2023/363 was released on 27 June 2023 and the Open Debate at the United Nations Security Council was organized on 5 July 2023. Myanmar also found out that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and certain countries made irresponsible references on Myanmar at the debate.
It is disappointing to find that the distorted report includes country-specific descriptions of Myanmar based on biased narratives and unfounded allegations. Relisting Myanmar armed forces in the Annex of the report demonstrates a clear act of politicization as the author merely includes numbers of alleged violations without verifiable facts such as date, time and place of incidents.
Myanmar never hesitates to receive the complaints and respond to the relevant UN entities. It has received only five requests for information in connection with alleged deaths and arrests of children during the reporting period. To utter dismay, Myanmar noted that the report inflated the figures of alleged killing and arrests from twelve to thirty times than the UN actually verified with the Government.
And the rest of the figures contained in the report were never verified with the country-concerned despite the UN independent experts are required to verify the allegations to the best extent possible. Myanmar has established the Committee on Prevention of Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict under the leadership of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and the Committee has been implementing the Second National Action Plan on the Prevention of Killing, Maiming and Sexual Violence against Children in Armed Conflict (2022-2023). The complaint mechanism was also established along with helpline number 1566 to file the complaint.
On the other hand, the report tried to conceal the brutal crimes committed by the NUG and PDF terrorist groups which claimed the lives of 97 children and injured 275. Besides, nine hospitals and clinics and 140 schools and educational buildings were also attacked by so-called PDF. The report, however, only expresses their inhumane acts just a speck in the universe and tried to cover up the brutality of terrorist groups with such obscure expression as “unidentified perpetrators”.
Regarding the prevention of underage recruitment, the Committee on Preventing of Underage Recruitment led by the Ministry of Defence was established since 2011 and the Committee has rendered its uninterrupted cooperation with the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (UN CTFMR). Myanmar, nonetheless, concerns about the independence and impartiality of the CTFMR as it is not transparent where its resources are coming from. There are 2,364 numbers of suspected minor cases submitted by CTFMR since 2013 while 1,197 suspected cases were delisted due to insufficient information. A total of 1,057 underage individuals were discharged from Tatmadaw and punitive measures were taken against 475 responsible military personnel. Majority of underage recruitments cases were taken place due to insufficient civil documents to identify the age of individuals and many of the cases were date back to 2000s. In fact, the CTFMR shared only seven new cases of suspected minors during the reporting period; nonetheless, it keeps the figure of 112 children in the report by blending the old cases to maintain Myanmar on the list attached to the annual report.
Relisting Myanmar Armed Forces in the Annex of the report and indicating further negative steps would not help the cooperation between Myanmar and the United Nations to serve the best interests of children in the country. Myanmar further rejects the distorted figures and groundless accusations contained in the report and calls for more observed and constructive approach towards the matter.
Committee on Prevention of Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict
9 July 2023
Source: GNLM (10-7-2023)
- Relisting Myanmar armed forces in the Annex of the report demonstrates a clear act of politicization as the author merely includes numbers of alleged violations without verifiable facts such as date, time and place of incidents.
- To utter dismay, Myanmar noted that the report inflated the figures of alleged killing and arrests from twelve to thirty times than the UN actually verified with the Government.
- The report tried to conceal the brutal crimes committed by the NUG and PDF terrorist groups which claimed the lives of 97 children and injured 275.
- Nine hospitals and clinics and 140 schools and educational buildings were also attacked by so-called PDF. The report, however, only expresses their inhumane acts just a speck in the universe and tried to cover up the brutality of terrorist groups with such obscure expression as “unidentified perpetrators”.
- Myanmar, nonetheless, concerns about the independence and impartiality of the CTFMR as it is not transparent where its resources are coming from.
- The CTFMR keeps the figure of 112 children in the report by blending the old cases to maintain Myanmar on the list attached to the annual report.
- Myanmar further rejects the distorted figures and groundless accusations contained in the report and calls for more observed and constructive approach towards the matter.