BurmaNet News: January 17 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

January 17 2003 Issue #2159

INSIDE BURMA

DPA: Ethnic rebels from united front against Myanmar junta
AFP: Two arrested ‘pseudo nuns’ received NLD support: Myanmar junta

DRUGS

AFP: Myanmar to host drugs meet with India, China
AP: Myanmar says it seized more than 2 tons of opium, heroin in 2002
UN News Wire: Regional forum pledges total ban on drug production by 2015

MONEY

Nation: THAI signs Burma deal

REGIONAL

AP: Myanmar foreign minister to visit India
AFP: Thaksin to visit Myanmar next month
Financial Times: China throws Burma a financial times
Asia Times Online: Thai-Myanmar ties: Drug lords cash in

INTERNATIONAL

Irrawaddy: NGOs push UN to punish groups using child soldiers

INSIDE BURMA

Deutsche Presse-Agentur January 17 2003

Ethnic rebels form united front against Myanmar junta

Five ethnic-based insurgent armies opposed to the ruling junta in Yangon
(Rangoon) have joined forces to fight an expected dry-season offensive by
Myanmar (Burmese) troops and their allies, a news report said Friday.

Quoting a source in Thailand's Third Army, which covers the Myanmar border
areas, the Bangkok Post said the military alliance was forged late last
month between the rebel Shan State Army, the Karen National Union, the
Karenni National Progressive Party, the Arakan Liberation Party and the
Chin National Front. The five rebel groups, representing several of
Myanmar's ethnic minorities, have set up a joint command centre at Doi
Tailang, a major Shan State Army stronghold opposite Ma Pha district of
Mae Hong Son province, 630 kilometres north of Bangkok.

The Thai army source said the Yangon junta was likely to employ ethnic Wa
militias and hilltribe volunteers as proxies in its impending offensive
against ethnic minority rebels.

Ethnic insurgent groups, particularly the Shan and Karen, have been
fighting against a succession of Burman-dominated military governments in
Myanmar since 1962.

Thai troops have been ordered to watch for encroachment into Thai
territory. Such incidents have caused friction between Bangkok and Yangon
in the past.

Responding to charges from Yangon that Thailand has offered sanctuary and
material support for anti-junta insurgents, the Thai army was reported to
have closed the Thai offices of 10 rebel groups last month.

The groups included Myanmar students, the Karen National Union and ethnic
Mon rebels.

In a related development, Thai army commander General Somdhat Attanand was
reported Friday to have delayed his planned January 21-22 visit to Myanmar
because his Myanmar counterpart, General Maung Aya, had other commitments.
_______

Agence France-Presse January 17 2003

Two arrested "pseudo nuns" received NLD support: Myanmar junta

Myanmar's military junta on Friday accused two "pseudo nuns" arrested for
protesting against the government of receiving support from exiled members
of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

"This was the work of NLD (National League for Democracy) terrorists in
exile, who used religion to deliberately incite unrest in the country,"
said Brigadier General Than Tun, from the office of the chief of military
intelligence.

Than Thun also said that several members of the NLD in exile "who had
infiltrated Myanmar with the purpose of creating unrest in Yangon as well
as Mandalay" had been arrested last month. He did not specify numbers, but
said there were other "pseudo Buddhist nuns" among the group.

Than Tun described the two arrested women, Than Htay and Thin Thin Oo, as
"pseudo nuns" and said they had demonstrated Thursday in front of Yangon's
city hall, shouting pro-democracy and anti-government slogans and
demanding the release of political prisoners.

"We confiscated two of the fighting peacock flags they were brandishing as
well as a portrait of General Aung San," he said.

General Aung San -- the father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- is
considered the mastermind behind Myanmar's independence from Britain,
while the fighting peacock is a symbol of the country's democracy
movement.

One woman had become a nun a year ago, while the other had begun wearing
nun's robes just 15 days ago, Than Thun said.

"That's why I say that both these people have been pretending to be
Buddhist nuns and were creating unrest," he said.

"According to investigations both these persons attended a training course
on democracy and human rights held at Mae Sot (in Thailand's north) by the
NLD in exile," he said.

Two major exiled NLD groups in Thailand told AFP they had not heard of the
women.

Myanmar's junta strictly forbids demonstrations of any kind, however
individuals are intermittently arrested in the capital for protesting in
public, usually against the ongoing rule of the regime.

Some 85 percent of Myanmar's population is Buddhist, and monks are highly
respected.

Myanmar's monks have played an important role in the country's
pro-democracy movement. Some 30 of them were reportedly shot dead in the
August 1988 uprising by pro-democracy protestors in Yangon, the nation's
capital.

DRUGS

Agence France-Presse January 17 2003

Myanmar to host drugs meet with India, China

Myanmar is to host a two-day drugs meet with India and China next week on
the issue of chemicals used in the production of methamphetamines, the
country's ruling military regime said Friday.

The meeting next Monday and Tuesday would discuss the problem of
ephedrine, a precursor chemical the regime says is smuggled in mostly from
India and China to produce methamphetamines, mostly in illicit factories
in border areas.

"The meeting is essentially a bilateral one between Myanmar and India, to
which China has been invited as an observer," Police Colonel Kham Aung,
spokesman for the national drug committee, told reporters. Kham Aung said
over nine million stimulant tablets had been seized inside the country
over the last year, most of which were produced with ephedrine from India.
China was another major source of the chemical, he said.

"We need to seriously address the problem, not by pointing accusing
fingers at each other but by coming up with technical solutions in a
spirit of mutual cooperation," he said.

Drugs trafficking is a perennial irritant to relations between Myanmar and
neighbouring Thailand, with both sides accusing the other of supporting
ethnic armies involved in the trade.

Thailand's army said recently it was braced for a record influx of up to
one billion methamphetamine pills to be trafficked across the Myanmar
border this year, up from an estimated 700 million pills in 2002.

Myanmar's junta has repeatedly denied allegations that it is engaged in
the drugs trade, which United States and Thai anti-narcotics authorities
believe is controlled by ethnic armies allied to Yangon.

The United States acknowledged in November last year that the junta had
cooperated with the international community on drugs suppression.

James Kelly, the US State Department's top policymaker for East Asia and
the Pacific, said that while the area under poppy cultivation in Myanmar
had decreased, "unfortunately, methamphetamine production, which strikes
worst at Burma's Southeast Asian neighbours, has likely increased".
________

Associated Press January 17 2003

Myanmar says it seized more than 2 tons of opium, heroin in 2002

Myanmar's military government on Friday trumpeted its efforts at drug
control, saying authorities had seized more than 2 tons of opium and
heroin and 9 million illegal stimulant tablets during last year.

The government also cited U.S. official figures that production of opium
in Myanmar - which lies at the center of Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle
and is a leading world source of the drug - is a quarter of what it was
six years ago.

Col. Hkam Aung, a senior anti-drug official, told a news conference that a
total of 1,841 kilograms (4,058 pounds) of opium, 352 kilograms (776
pounds) of heroin and more than 9 million stimulant tablets were seized in
2002. Authorities also destroyed nine opium refineries and 25,862 acres
(10,466 hectares) of opium poppy cultivation, said Hkam Aung, the joint
secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control.

He claimed success for a program under which the government persuades
farmers to swap their opium poppy seeds for cereals such as rice, wheat,
corn, sunflower and vegetables. The poppy seeds are later burned.

In 2002, 152,041 kilograms (335,189 pounds) of poppy seeds capable of
producing enough opium to make 44.67 tons (49 US tons) of heroin were
destroyed, he said. About 10 tons of opium is needed to make one ton of
heroin.

The Myanmar regime has long been criticized for failing to crack down on
illegal drug production within its borders, allegedly turning a blind eye
to ethnic armies and drug lords in its mountainous regions that border
Thailand and Laos.

But the United States government recently acknowledged that Myanmar's
record against illicit drug trafficking is improving.

In a speech in November, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly
said the area under poppy cultivation in Myanmar has declined by 26
percent in 2002, and opium production in the country as a whole is now
less than one-quarter its level in 1996.

According to U.S. figures, opium production declined from 2,560 metric
tons (2,822 US tons) in 1996 to 630 tons (694 US tons) in 2002.

However, Kelly noted that methamphetamine production, which strikes mostly
at Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors including Thailand, has likely
increased.

According to the United Nations, Myanmar, also known as Burma, had the
largest area under opium cultivation in the world, estimated at 81,400
hectares (195,300 acres) in 2002. But Afghanistan will likely surpass
Myanmar as the largest producer in 2002 because of better yield.

The United Nations estimated Myanmar's opium production in 2002 at 828
metric tons (912 US tons).
__________


UN News Wire January 15 2003

Regional Forum Pledges Total Ban On Drug Production By 2015

Asian countries pledged Monday to strengthen cooperation in efforts to
eradicate regional drug production by 2015 during a forum of 10
Association of Southeast Asian Nations members and China, pointing to
programs to encourage alternative crop production as an effective way to
reach the goal.

With participation of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, representatives
from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia,
Brunei, the Philippines and Myanmar, along with United States, Japan,
Australia and the United Kingdom toured areas where alternative crops are
being grown.

ODC specialist Sanong Chinnanond said opium cultivation in Myanmar and
Laos is falling, but the U.N. agency said it is worried about opium
production in Afghanistan (Cheewin Sattha, Bangkok Post, Jan. 15).

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday set April 30 as a
deadline to rid "every square inch" of the country of illicit drug
production, warning that provincial governors and police chiefs who
performed poorly in this effort would lose their jobs.  "I want to see
every square inch getting X-rayed and authorities making a clean sweep of
drugs in every area within three months," he said

MONEY

The Nation January 17 2003

THAI signs Burma deal
By Choosak Jirasakunthai
Thai Airways International and Myanmar Airways International yesterday
signed a code-sharing agreement for the Bangkok-Rangoon route. The
agreement takes effect next month.
THAI currently operates two daily flights between Bangkok and Rangoon,
while the Burmese flagship airline operates one.
THAI president Kanok Abhiradee said the carrier is looking into expanding
its flight network in Burma.
THAI is also interested in signing more code-sharing agreements with other
regional airlines, he added. THAI will join the Stock Exchange of
Thailand's promotional road show to London and New York next week.
Meanwhile, Thai Airways International (THAI)'s cabin factor - the
percentage of occupied seats on all flights - rose to 73.3 per cent in the
fourth quarter of last year from 67.5 per cent in the year-ago period,
THAI executive vice president, commercial, Tasnai Sudasna na Ayudhaya said
yesterday.
Last October, the airline's cabin factor was 73.9 per cent compared to
66.2 per cent in the previous October, Tasnai said. It rose to 74 per cent
lastNovember compared to 67.3 per cent in November 2001, he added.
However, the number of occupied seats dropped to 72 per cent in December,
just slightly higher than the 69.2 per cent recorded in December 2001,
Tasnai said. He attributed last year's 8-per-cent rise in the number of
passengers to utilisation adjustments.
Such adjustments will continue, as THAI will offer three extra flights on
its Bangkok-Beijing route during the upcoming Chinese New Year
celebrations, he said.
During low tourist season, May to June, THAI will participate in a
promotion campaign with hotels and travel agencies, Tasnai said. The
airline also plans to launch a new promotion to increase the number of
business-class tickets it sells, he said.
Booking trends so far this year indicate that the carrier could see sales
growth, but the possibility of a war between the US and Iraq is a concern,
he said.

REGIONAL

Associated Press January 17 2003

Myanmar foreign minister to visit India

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung will go to neighboring India next week
for bilateral talks to improve warming relations between the two
countries, an official said.

It will be the first official visit to India by a Myanmar foreign minister
since the current military junta came to power in 1988. Win Aung will
arrive in India Jan. 19, at the invitation of his Indian counterpart,
Yashwant Sinha, said Thaung Tun, the director-general of the Foreign
Ministry's political department. The visit will likely last three or four
days, he said.

Myanmar and Indian officials accompanying the two ministers will discuss
cooperation and several issues including a possible visit to India by
Myanmar junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, Thaung Tun said.

"Exchange of visits is the core of strengthening ties between countries.
Under the globalization period, no country can stand alone. Myanmar is
playing an active role in regional politics," Thaung Tun said.

Than Shwe had visited India's neighbors, Bangladesh in December and China
in January.

Myanmar-India relations had been strained since the junta came to power in
September 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. But the relations
have improved significantly since 2000 with the exchange of visits by
officials from both sides.

Gen. Maung Aye, the No. 2 in state hierarchy, visited India in November
2000 and Jaswant Singh, the then Indian foreign minister, visited Myanmar
in February 2001.

India is one of Myanmars major trading partners with Myanmar enjoying a
favorable trade balance. India is also suspicious of its rival China's
close military ties with Myanmar.
__________

Agence France-Presse January 17 2003

Thaksin to visit Myanmar next month

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Friday he would pay his second
official visit to Myanmar early next month, with the drugs issue among
several on his agenda.

"I will visit Myanmar on Febuary 9 and 10, and have many topics on my
agenda, including drugs, border problems and tourism," he told reporters.
Thaksin said he would seek a clear position from Myanmar concerning the
mushrooming drug factories along the Thai-Myanmar border.

"Of course I will raise the problem of drug factories on the border and
make clear that the problem must be solved," the premier said.

Drugs trafficking is a perennial irritant to relations between Thailand
and Myanmar, with both sides accusing the other of supporting ethnic
armies involved in the trade.

Myanmar's junta has repeatedly denied allegations that it is engaged in
the drugs trade, which United States and Thai anti-narcotics authorities
believe is controlled by ethnic armies allied to Yangon. Clashes between
these groups and the Thai and Myanmar armies flare up frequently.

Meanwhile Thailand's army commander General Somdhat Attanand may postpone
his planned trip to Myanmar on January 21 and 22 as his counterpart
General Maung Aye would be unavailable to meet him, army spokesman Colonel
Somkuan Sangpattaranetr told AFP Friday.

Thailand's army said recently it was braced for a record influx of up to
one billion methamphetamine pills to be trafficked across the Myanmar
border this year, up from an estimated 700 million pills in 2002.
__________

Financial Times January 17 2003

China throws Burma a financial lifeline
By AMY KAZMIN

China, the closest international ally of Burma's isolated military regime,
has offered debt relief and a fresh Dollars 200m loan for Burma, where
authorities yesterday arrested two Buddhist nuns for protesting against
soaring food prices.

China's promise of a financial lifeline to Rangoon's cash-strapped
military junta, amid signs of deteriorating economic conditions in the
country, came during a series of high-level exchanges over the last two
weeks.

Li Lanqing, China's vice-premier, ended a three-day visit to Rangoon
yesterday. This had been immediately preceded by a six-day visit to China
by Burma's Senior General Than Shwe.

The visits and accompanying promises of aid have underscored the
importance of China's patronage to Burma, which has been shunned by
western countries and had sanctions imposed for a poor human rights record
and its failure to hand power to a democratically elected government.

Last May, the junta released pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi from house arrest, hoping that the prospect of political
liberalisation would encourage western countries to soften their sanctions
policy and would attract new investment.

But Human Rights Watch, the non-governmental human rights group, said in a
report this week that the junta had shown no interest in engaging in
substantive dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi on any kind of political transition.

"By late 2002, talks between Suu Kyi and the government had ground to a
halt and systemic restrictions on basic civil and political liberties
continued unabated," the report said.

The military regime also continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners
in its jails, despite frequent calls by the United Nations for the
unconditional release of all political prisoners as the first step in any
political change.

Furthermore, Burma's economy is deeply troubled, plagued by rapid
inflation - including rocketing food prices - and a plunging currency.

The kyat is now trading in the black market at around 1,050 to the dollar,
a drop of 31 per cent since April 2002.

In an effort to stop the currency's slide, authorities are said to have
arrested several currency dealers in recent days.

The two nuns arrested yesterday staged a protest in front of Rangoon's
city hall, where they shouted slogans against rising prices before they
were quickly whisked away.

In the spate of new deals, China has offered Burma a Dollars 200m
preferential loan for economic development, a grant of Rmb50m (Dollars
6.04m) for technological co-operation, and an unspecified amount of debt
relief.

The two sides have also agreed to work together on cultural, educational
and sports projects, as well as marine training and aerospace.

China says that its annual trade of Dollars 600m with Rangoon accounts for
around 12 per cent of Burma's total trade.
___________
Asia Times Online January 17 2003

Thai-Myanmar ties: Drug lords cash in
By Tom Fawthrop

BANGKOK - Thailand's policy of attempting to improve diplomatic and
economic ties with Myanmar has undermined attempts to stop the flow of
narcotics across the porous Myanmese border, says leading Thai senator Dr
Kraisak Choonhavan.

Kraisak, chairman of the Thai Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, is a
strong critic of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's policy shift toward
closer engagement and the avoidance of any confrontation with Yangon and
its drug-trafficking ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA). In a recent
interview with Asia Times Online, the senator charged: "The government has
bent over backwards to please the generals in Rangoon, the Burmese are
dictating to us."

The softly-softly approach with the prickly Myanmese generals appears to
be at odds with the latest Thai intelligence reports predicting a flood of
methamphetamine pills swamping the Thai market this year. While Thaksin
stresses the importance of friendly diplomatic relations with Yangon, up
to a billion yaba ("crazy medicine", as the Thais refer to speed) tablets
from the UWSA-controlled drug laboratories inside Myanmar's Shan are
expected to be smuggled across the border this year. Thailand already has
an estimated 250,000 addicts and is now facing an epidemic of yaba
addiction.

Thailand's northern military command has classified the nation's top
security threat as the drug operations across the border masterminded by
ethnic Wa and Chinese, who in recent years have seized control over most
of the Shan territory of eastern Myanmar.

About half of the Wa army is used by the Myanmese army as a border
security force along much of the 850-kilometer frontier with Thailand.
Shan sources estimate the Wa control 80 percent of the opium-heroin trade
and all the methamphetamine laboratories, which produce the
easy-to-smuggle pills.

About this time last year Thai soldiers engaged in periodic clashes along
the border with Myanmese army and their ethnic-Wa allies in a bitter war
of words and bullets. Since the 1989 ceasefire agreement with Yangon, the
Wa armies have stopped fighting the government and formed a de facto
alliance. The 20,000-strong UWSA has acquired heavy artillery and
anti-tank weapons, making it the most heavily armed drug mafia in the
world.

Thaksin has made sure there will be no repeat of last year's confrontation
with Myanmar's generals by his recent replacement of key army commanders
who favored a tougher approach.

Wa drug baron Wei Hsueh Kang is wanted both in Thailand and the United
States for drug trafficking. The US State Department has put a US$2
million reward on his head.

In talks with Bangkok during 2002, the Myanmese junta showed no interest
in the Thai request to crack down on Wei Hsueh Kang's operations. But
Yangon did insist on the removal of Thai army chief General Surayud
Chulanont and of the commander of the 3rd Army (which patrols the Chiang
Mai region of northern Thailand), as well as an end to the so-called
"provocative operations" of Task Force 399 along the border as
preconditions for friendly Myanmar-Thailand relations.

By the end of 2002 the Thaksin administration had obliged on all three
counts. The two key generals were replaced, and Task Force 399 has been
scaled down and removed from the border.

Kraisak commented that General Surayud was "the first professional army
chief in modern Thai history and highly conscientious in the field of
combating drug traffickers". The Thai senator argued that the transfer of
a highly respected army chief at the behest of Burmese generals is
"humiliating - our national pride is being trampled on for speculative
business gains".

Thaksin has opted for closer relations with Yangon with a strong emphasis
on increased business ties as the best way to prod the generals in the
direction of shutting down the Wa's burgeoning drug empire. Cooperation,
not confrontation, is the hallmark of the new track in Myanmar-Thailand
relations.

In November, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the Thai defense minister,
disclosed bilateral cooperation on four megaprojects: the construction of
a hydroelectric dam on the Salween River by Thailand's MDX company, a coal
mine in a Myanmese town opposite Prachuap Khiri Khan, a port project in
Tavoy, and a Mae Sot-Yangon road project.

"Joint development will make border areas more open and help eliminate bad
people, minority people and bad things hidden along the border and ensure
greater security," said the defense minister, who has been linked with
Thai logging companies and other private business interests in Myanmar.
General Chavalit also claimed "drug production would decline if minority
people were cleared from border areas through peaceful means".

This business-first agenda is deeply resented by many in the Thai
military. General Anu Sumitra, former military intelligence chief in the
Chiang Mai (3rd Army) region, declared in a letter to the Bangkok Post:
"The defense minister and the prime minister have business interests in
Burma. To protect those business interests, they are even prepared to
sacrifice the dignity of our army," a statement that reflected the
sentiments of many current senior officers.

Thaksin has ordered a domestic crackdown on illegal drugs but with major
operations ordered to stay well clear of border suppression that might
antagonize the Wa and their allies, the generals in Yangon.

Privy councilor and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanond has also
expressed concern about the prospect that there was no end to the
methamphetamine invasion, and apparently favors retaining Task Force 399
as the frontline defense against unwelcome imports from the Wa drug lords.

The Thai government and others who advocate the soft-engagement approach
with Yangon argue that the generals and the Wa leaders really want drug
eradication. An agreement to phase out opium production in the
Wa-controlled territory by 2005 has been widely publicized. However, no
such pledge has been made about stopping the methamphetamine trade.

Senator Kraisak and other analysts argue that the power of the generals
has long been closely wedded to the Wa-Chinese narco-economy, estimated to
be worth more than $550 million a year, and that without these
narco-profits fueling banks and business in Yangon, the economy would have
collapsed long ago. Wa investments include the Myanmar Mayflower Group,
the Hong Pang corporation (directly linked to heroin trafficker Wei Hsueh
Kang), and Yangon Airways.

There is no sign that the Thai government, for all its friendly overtures,
is having any impact on Wa narcotics production. On the contrary, the
evidence points to an expanding Wa drug empire. New drug laboratories have
sprung up at Myawaddy in the west where they can pump pills into central
Thailand, by the banks of the Mekong, and also in Kachin state, which
extends the yaba plague to both Laos and India.

"The new Thai approach is a complete failure," said Senator Kraisak.
"Thaksin's policy only makes it easier for the drug traffickers. Our
military are now reluctant to engage with intruders on the border - this
boosts the confidence of the Wa soldiers

INTERNATIONAL

Irrawaddy January 17 2003

NGOs Push UN to Punish Groups Using Child Soldiers
By Haider Rizvi

Several NGO leaders are urging the UN and the international community to
move immediately to protect millions of children involved in armed
conflict around the world.
Though pleased to note that the issue is being debated in the UN Security
Council, a coalition of NGO leaders demanded at a news conference Tuesday
that the council act against governments and armed groups that use
children in conflict.
In December, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan released a report that named
and shamed more than 20 countries where children are being used in armed
conflicts. The report is now under discussion at the 15-member Security
Council, the UN’s highest decision making body.
"There’s a need to translate words into action," said Katherine Hunt, a
member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, a global
network of NGOs. "The Security Council has to show its interest in
implementation, not just reporting."
The coalition said the council must adopt a strong resolution to set out
"a clear path" for protecting children, and it is pressing the body to
expand the list of the countries where children are used as soldiers.
Burma, Colombia and Sri Lanka must be added to the list, the coalition
insisted. Though groups in those countries are known to be heavy users of
children in armed conflict, the nations were excluded from the list
because they were not already on the council’s agenda.
The coalition’s demand was backed by the executive director of the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy. "Can there be a more
persuasive reason to act than the anguish of these children?" she asked
the council a few hours before the debate.
"It is children who represent the succeeding generations that the UN was
founded to save—and it's we who have the power to halt the suffering that
is endured by so many children in so many countries," she said.
Bellamy urged the council to establish what she called a "culture of
accountability" by holding those who use children in armed conflicts
responsible for their actions. "Much more is required to make the
protection of children an explicit priority in our efforts to build peace
and resolve conflict."
UNICEF estimates about 300,000 children across the globe are serving as
child soldiers. A recent report by the Coalition lists 72 parties to armed
conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others who
have recruited children in the past. In a report last year, New York-based
Human Rights Watch estimated there were up to 70,000 child soldiers in
armies in Burma, making it the country with the world’s highest number of
child soldiers.
Coalition leaders said they met a number of Security Council members
behind closed doors on Monday, asking them to support resolutions to
ensure that child protection becomes a top priority in the UN.
Some NGOs are lobbying member states to back a resolution that would
demand an annual progress report on countries that use children in
conflicts. Others suggest that imposing sanctions could be an effective
tool against those who defy international opinion.
Some Security Council members appeared ready to move beyond talk. "It is a
scandal that children are used in armed conflicts,"said Jean Marc De La
Sabliere, the French ambassador, who is also Council president this month.
"It is necessary to take action."
"The Council is one of the few bodies that does not have to confine itself
to helpless outrage," added Gunter Pleuger, the German envoy, urging all
countries to ratify a statute of the International Criminal Court that
classifies as war crimes the conscription, enlistment or use in
hostilities of children under age 15.
Pleuger said he fully supports UN monitoring efforts but added that they
would only succeed if those who refused to cooperate face consequences.
"The Council should add bite to monitoring," he added.
Annan reiterated the call to act against those who use child soldiers.
"Those who violate standards can no longer do so with impunity," he warned
while addressing the Council. "It is essential that publication of the
list is followed by systematic monitoring and reporting, as well as the
consideration of targeted measures against those who continue to flout
their international obligations."