KHRG Photo Gallery 2006: Soldiers
5. Soldiers
The SPDC Army has more child soldiers than any other army in the world, their number estimated by Human Rights Watch in 2002 to be at least 70,000. Ranging in age from 11 to 17, most of them are forcibly conscripted and treated brutally in training and in the field. Cut off from all contact with their families, they are forced to loot food from the villages and round up villagers for forced labour. Most other armed groups in Burma, including the DKBA and KNLA, have child soldiers in far smaller numbers. Many of these are volunteers, seeking revenge against SPDC forces for abuses against their families or simply looking for a chance to be sent to school or a way to obtain regular meals. Though these armies could choose to send these children to schools, they are often deployed in active military units instead.
All photos are by KHRG except where specifically noted otherwise.
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Saw E--- is 13 years old, but the local officer of the KNU's Gher Tha (known as the 'local force', part-time Karen National Defence Organisation village defence militia) in his village in southwestern Papun district ordered him to join. This photo was taken in January 2006. [Photo: KHRG] |
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This 15 year old boy in northern Papun district says he joined the KNLA to fight back against the SPDC because SPDC soldiers had tortured his siblings. During the school year the KNLA sends him to school, but during the school holidays he accompanies an active KNLA unit and carries an assault rifle. [Photo: KHRG]
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Z--- is 15 years old but was forced into the SPDC Army and assigned to Light Infantry Battalion #349 in Shwegyin township before escaping in February 2006. He now has to decide what to do, knowing that if he tries to return home he may be arrested for desertion, imprisoned and then forced back into the Army. [Photo: KHRG] |
5-4
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T--- was conscripted into SPDC Light Infantry Division #66, and was taking part in the SPDC attacks on villages in eastern Toungoo district until he deserted in February 2006 and surrendered to the KNLA. He is one of thousands of conscripts who have been forced to burn villages in the ongoing offensive. [Photo: KHRG]
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5-5
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Some of the several dozen SPDC soldiers who have deserted in Dooplaya district and surrendered to KNLA forces since 2004. Coming from several different battalions, the most common reasons they give for their desertion are that they were regularly beaten by NCOs and officers for no valid reason and that large portions of their salaries were withheld by corrupt officers. [Photo: KHRG] |
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This young soldier from SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 was part of the columns destroying villages and shooting at villagers in Toungoo district, but ran away from the Army in September 2006 because he says his commander, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), beat and tortured him. [Photo: KHRG] |
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Sixteen year old T--- had only completed 5th standard (grade 5) at school when he was inducted into the SPDC Army in 2006 and posted to Light Infantry Battalion #434's Win Maw (Wah Mu) camp in western Papun district.
He says he was persistently abused by his non-commissioned officer (NCO), so he fled the Army in October 2006 and ended up in the care of the KNU. The SPDC claims that there are no soldiers under age 18 in its army. [Photo: KHRG] |
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