Child soldiers
Child soldiers have and continue to play a major part in the Burmese Army as well as Burmese rebel movements. The Independent reported in June, 2012 that "Children are being sold as conscripts into the Burmese military for as little as $40 and a bag of rice or a can of petrol."[162] The UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, who stepped down from her position a week later, met representatives of the Government of Myanmar on 5 July 2012 and stated that she hoped the government's signing of an action plan would "signal a transformation."[163] In September 2012, the Myanmar Armed Forces released 42 child soldiers and the International Labour Organization met with representatives of the government as well as the Kachin Independence Army to secure the release of more child soldiers.[164] According to Samantha Power, a U.S. delegation raised the issue of child soldiers with the government in October, 2012 however she did not comment on the government's progress towards reform in this area.[94]A Bangkok Post article on 23 December 2012 reported that the Myanmar Armed Forces continued to use child soldiers including during the army's large offensive against the KIA in December 2012. The newspaper reported that "Many of them were pulled off Yangon streets and elsewhere and given a minimum of training before being sent to the front line."[165][unreliable source?]
Child/forced/slave labour, systematic sexual violence and human trafficking
Forced labour, human trafficking, and child labour are common.[166] The military is also notorious for rampant use of sexual violence as an instrument of control, including allegations of systematic rapes and taking of sex slaves by the military, a practice continuing as of 2012.[15] In 2007 the international movement to defend women's human rights issues in Burma was said to be gaining speed.[167]Genocide allegations and crimes against Rohingya people
Evidence has been gathered suggesting that the Burmese regime has marked certain ethnic minorities such as the Karen, Karenni and Shan for extermination or 'Burmisation'.[168] This, however, has received little attention from the international community since it has been more subtle and indirect than the mass killings in places like Rwanda.[169]The Rohingya have consistently faced human rights abuses by the Burmese regime, which has refused to acknowledge them as Burmese citizens (despite some of them having lived in Burma for some generations) and attempted to forcibly expel Rohingya and bring in non-Rohingyas to replace them.[170] This policy has resulted in the expulsion of approximately half of the Rohingya population from Burma.[170] An estimated 90,000 people have been displaced in the recent sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Burma's western Rakhine State.[98] As a result of this policy Rohingya people have been described as "among the world's least wanted"[171] and "one of the world's most persecuted minorities."[172][173] They have been denied Burmese citizenship since a 1982 citizenship law was enacted.[174] Rohingya are not allowed to travel without official permission, are banned from owning land and are required to sign a commitment to have no more than two children.[174] In 2012, a riot broke out between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, which left 78 people dead, 87 injured, and thousands of homes destroyed. It also displaced more than 52,000 people.[175] As of July 2012, the Myanmar Government did not include the Rohingya minority group—classified as stateless Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh since 1982—on the government's list of more than 130 ethnic races and therefore the government says that they have no claim to Myanmar citizenship.[176]
2012 Rakhine State riots
Main article: 2012 Rakhine State riots
The 2012 Rakhine State riots are a series of ongoing conflicts between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine in northern Rakhine State,
Myanmar. The riots came after weeks of sectarian disputes and have been
condemned by most people on both sides of the conflict.[177]The immediate cause of the riots is unclear, with many commentators citing the killing of ten Burmese Muslims by ethnic Rakhine after the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman as the main cause.[178] Whole villages have been "decimated".[178] Over 300 houses and a number of public buildings have been razed. According to Tun Khin, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), as of 28 June 2012, 650 Rohingyas have been killed, 1,200 are missing, and more than 80,000 have been displaced.[179] According to the Myanmar authorities, the violence, between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, left 78 people dead, 87 injured, and thousands of homes destroyed. It displaced more than 52,000 people.[175]
The government has responded by imposing curfews and by deploying troops in the regions. On 10 June 2012, a state of emergency was declared in Rakhine, allowing the military to participate in administration of the region.[180][181] The Burmese army and police have been accused of targeting Rohingya Muslims through mass arrests and arbitrary violence.[179][182] A number of monks' organizations that played a vital role in Burma's struggle for democracy have taken measures to block any humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya community.[183]
Freedom of speech
Main article: Censorship in Burma
Restrictions on media censorship were significantly eased in August
2012 following demonstrations by hundreds of protesters who wore shirts
demanding that the government "Stop Killing the Press."[184]
The most significant change has come in the form that media
organizations will no longer have to submit their content to a
censorship board before publication. However, as explained by one
editorial in the exiled press The Irrawaddy, this new "freedom" has caused some Burmese journalists to simply see the new law as an attempt to create an environment of self-censorship
as journalists "are required to follow 16 guidelines towards protecting
the three national causes — non-disintegration of the Union,
non-disintegration of national solidarity, perpetuation of sovereignty —
and "journalistic ethics" to ensure their stories are accurate and do
not jeopardize national security."[184]
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