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Home > Briefs > Global Risk > Myanmar junta says 93 child soldiers already released, as it counters UN criticism

Myanmar junta says 93 child soldiers already released, as it counters UN criticism

Myanmar’s ruling junta said on July 4 that it has already discharged 93 minors from military service, responding to a UN report in June accusing it and its allies of recruiting over 400 children, many in combat roles. In a rare admission published in its mouthpiece newspaper, the junta said it conducted a verification process in 2024 that resulted in the discharge of 93 verified minors, who were also provided with financial assistance. “To date, only 18 suspected minor cases remain pending verification,” a government-run committee said in a statement published in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. It is unclear when the 93 minors were released. Myanmar’s military and the armed groups affiliated to it recruited 467 boys and 15 girls, including over 370 children used in combat roles in 2024, the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict said. Anti-junta groups had also recruited children, the report said, although their number was far lower than that of the military. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, causing widespread protests that morphed into a nationwide armed uprising against the powerful military.

Full story : Myanmar junta says 93 child soldiers already released, as it counters UN criticism.

Tagged: Myanmar