The escalation in fighting between Myanmar’s military and ethnic Rakhine rebels in recent months has triggered a surge in violence against children (Al Jazeera). Rakhine state is home to the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group that faced a brutal crackdown by the military in 2017 (Daily Sabah).Violence against children increased six fold in the first three months of 2020, the humanitarian group, Save the Children, said in a report Tuesday (Daily Sabah). 18 children were killed and 71 children were physically injured or maimed, in comparison to 3 killed and 12 injured children between October-December 2019 (Save The Children).
“The widespread use of mines and improvised explosive devices poses a specific threat to children,” Duncan Harvey, Save the Children official in Myanmar, said (Al Jazeera). Extortion, killing and maiming are the top three abuses impacting children in central Rakhine (Save The Children). Severe under-reporting of violations against children continues to be a huge challenge across Myanmar, where whole areas remain largely sealed off to independent observers (Save The Children). Some 750,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh from the violence that has led to charges of genocide against Myanmar at the United Nations’ top court (Daily Sabah).
Sources:
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/asia-pacific/violence-against-children-in-myanmars-rakhine-up-sixfold-in-1st-3-months-of-2020-report
https://www.savethechildren.org.au/media/media-releases/myanmar-conflict
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/children-killed-maimed-myanmar-conflict-200623010811604.html