Burmese Monks Back in Streets

More than 100 march as rights group slams junta over recruiting child soldiers
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 31, 2007 8:52 AM CDT
Burmese Monks Back in Streets
Two young ethnic Karen boys man a guard post at New Manerplaw, Myanmar, Karen rebel territory Jan. 31, 2004. Myanmar's military government, already under criticism for abuses, is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces, a U.S. rights group charged in a report released Wednesday, Oct....   (Associated Press)

Picking up their quashed demands, more than 100 Burmese monks marched in defiance of the military junta today in the first marches since the government crackdown on pro-democracy protests late last month. "This is very significant... we are very encouraged to see the monks taking up action," one Burmese human rights watcher told the BBC.

A US human rights group said yesterday that the junta is recruiting children as young as 10 to serve in the military, reports the AP, citing "continued army expansion, high desertion rates, and a lack of willing volunteers." Myanmar's information ministry dismissed the report as "biased reporting;" however, the internationally denounced junta faces a second visit from a UN envoy this weekend. (More Burma stories.)

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