On April 11, a fighter jet dropped two bombs on the new offices of the Kanbalu’s Peoples Administration Team in the Pa Zi Gyi village of Myanmar’s Sagaing region, where around 200 people had gathered on Thingya, the traditional Myanmar New Year. At least 97 people were killed, including 34 children, as they were preparing for the opening ceremony. Eyewitnesses told Myanmar Now that “many of the children’s bodies were crushed into pieces” and the locals had to count the crushed arms and legs scattered around after the bombing to estimate the number of dead.
Myanmar’s military took control over the country by toppling the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. According to a report titled “Losing a Generation: How the military junta is attacking Myanmar’s children and stealing their future” by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, in June 2022, children have especially suffered due to the fighting between the military and the anti-coup resistance.
The UN Special Rapporteurs report claimed that at least 382 children have been killed or maimed and 1,400 arbitrarily arrested since the coup.
The report also accused the junta forces of beating and stabbing minors for protesting against the military’s rule. It found that minors had their teeth and fingernails removed during interrogations, were burned with cigarettes, and some even subjected to mock executions and stress positions.
“The unsettling fact remains: no one knows the true extent of the suffering of Myanmar’s children and their families at the hands of the junta and their forces,” Andrews said.
A UN Child Rights Committee report last year estimated that around 7.8 million children in Myanmar were out of school. Many are forced to work due to the deteriorating economic conditions. According to the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar, there has been a rise in the number of child workers employed in factories. The International Labor Organization (ILO) stated that as of June 2022, “one in 10 children” in Myanmar were engaged in child labor.
Difficulties in accessing food, funds, and medical aid and restrictions imposed on communication have also given rise to child trafficking. Human Rights Watch in an investigative report documented cases of bride trafficking from Myanmar’s Kachin State to China. A number of reports also suggest that several children have been abducted and recruited in the armed conflict. Additionally, at least 520,000 children were displaced due to fighting between the junta forces and anti-coup insurgents, Save the Children reported last year.
Attacks on houses, schools, and healthcare centers have traumatized the children. In Mindat and Kantpetlet townships in Chin State, local children are forced to save themselves from aerial bombing by ducking in underground trenches. The UN has documented 260 attacks on schools and education personnel since the coup. The conditions in the IDP camps are also adding to the psychological stress of children.
Water shortage and lack of proper hygiene and sanitation facilities has led to the outbreak of several diseases. Skin disease outbreaks have been reported from several places, such as Demoso in Karenni (Kayah) State and Kani township in Sagaing.
UNICEF claimed in January that at least 5.6 million children in Myanmar are in need of humanitarian assistance.
