Committee on Prevention of Recruitment of Child Soldiers Holds 2/2022 Meeting

The Committee on the Prevention of Recruitment of Child Soldiers held its 2/2022 meeting at the meeting hall of the Ministry of Defence on 11 November. Union Minister for Defence General Mya Tun Oo, Chairman of the Committee on the Prevention of Recruitment of Child Soldiers delivered the opening remark covering the following facts –

• In order to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers, the Committee on the Prevention of Recruitment of Child Soldiers was on 5 January 2014 an Tatmadaw discharged 597 child soldiers till 27 June 2012 before signing the Plan of Action with 2014 CTFMR (Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting).
• The government and CTFMR signed the Plan of Action for the prevention of child soldier recruitment on 27 June 2012 to remove Tatmadaw (army) from the list of the UN Secretary-General.
• According to the action plan, Tatmadaw released wrongly-recruited 1,029 child soldiers to reunite with their parents by cooperating with CTFMR.
• Moreover, 28 verified child soldiers were sent back to their parents on 13 May 2022, totalling 1,057 to date.
• During the period from January to October 2022, when the youths joining the Tatmadaw were scrutinized, 45 of them who were dubious being under age and 140 who were against their wills, 185 in total were also sent back to their parents.
• At present, Tatmadaw is recruiting newcomers in line with the prescriptions, laws, rules and regulations of the Committee and CTFMR.
• The Committee has held the meetings regularly and implemented the objective of the committee to ensure there is no child soldiers in the Tatmadaw. The decisions made at the meeting and the work progress are also being reported to CTFMR.

The meeting was attended by the members of the Committee on the Prevention of Recruitment of Child Soldiers and officials from relevant offices and departments.

Source: Myawady Daily Newspaper (12-11-2022)

• 28 verified child soldiers were sent back to their parents on 13 May 2022, totalling 1,057 to date.
• During the period from January to October 2022, when the youths joining the Tatmadaw were scrutinized, 45 of them who were dubious being under age and 140 who were against their wills, 185 in total were also sent back to their parents.
• At present, Tatmadaw is recruiting newcomers in line with the prescriptions, laws, rules and regulations of the Committee and CTFMR.