Myanmar Junta Admits to Child Soldier Use, Discharges 93 Minors After UN Report

Myanmar Junta Admits to Child Soldier Use, Discharges 93 Minors After UN Report

Last Updated Jul - 04 - 2025, 04:45 PM | Source : Fela News

Myanmar’s military says it has released 93 children from service after a UN report accused it of recruiting over 400 minors, many in combat. The junta faces gro

Myanmar's ruling junta announced on Friday, July 4, 2025, that it has released 93 minors from military service, following a United Nations report last month accusing it and allied forces of recruiting more than 400 children, many of whom were used in combat roles. In a rare acknowledgement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar, the junta stated that a verification process conducted last year led to the discharge of these 93 children, who also received financial support. The government-run committee added that only 18 suspected cases remain under review.

According to the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict, Myanmar’s military and its affiliated armed groups recruited 467 boys and 15 girls last year, with over 370 of them deployed in combat situations. The report also noted that anti-junta groups had enlisted children, though in significantly smaller numbers compared to the military.

Since the 2021 military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been gripped by unrest. Nationwide protests escalated into armed resistance, with both long standing ethnic militias and newly formed armed groups gaining control of large swaths of the country’s border regions, confining the junta mostly to the central areas.

In 2024, the junta reactivated a mandatory military service law to counter severe troop shortages after months of heavy fighting and territorial losses.

The conflict has displaced nearly 3.5 million people internally, with children making up more than one-third of that number in 2024, according to UNICEF. The highest levels of child recruitment were reported in the western Rakhine state, home to the marginalized Rohingya Muslim community. The UN report said the military and two allied groups enlisted around 300 children from the area.

Reuters previously reported that children as young as 13 were seen fighting on the frontlines in Rakhine, citing accounts from a UN official and two Rohingya combatants.

Meanwhile, millions of Rohingya who fled persecution remain confined to refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where militant activity and violence significantly increased last year.

meta description: Myanmar’s military says it has released 93 children from service after a UN report accused it of recruiting over 400 minors, many in combat. The junta faces growing pressure amid ongoing conflict and rising child displacement.

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