BurmaBurma has recruited tens of thousands of boys into its national army, typically by force, coercion or intimidation. Boys are often told that if they refuse to join the army, they will be forced to go to jail. Deliberately cut off from contact with their families, they are treated brutally by their superiors and often prevented from fraternizing even among themselves. After training they are sent off to distant battalions, where they are further brutalized by their commanders and taught to view the local population as their enemy. When a recruit is captured attempting to escape there is a standard punishment that seems common to most of Burma’s training schools and has not changed in the last 10 years: the trainee is paraded in front of his entire training company, who are then forced to line up and take turns hitting him hard once or twice with a stick while officers or other trainees pin him down and look on. Sai Seng described his experience of this in 2005, when he was 17:
Sai Seng, a 16-year-old Shan farmer who was taken as a porter in mid-2001 and then forced into the army, told Human Rights Watch in 2002,
Child recruits sent to their first combat operation were often so afraid that they were unable to use their weapon or attempted to retreat. Fear of beatings or death at the hands of their commanders prevented them from escaping. Khin Maung Than was 12 years old when he was first deployed into combat:
Aung Zaw’s commander threatened to kill him if he attempted to retreat during his first combat exposure:
Child recruits interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported being forced to participate in human rights violations against civilians, including forced labor, beatings and summary executions. Forced to carry heavy loads of ammunition and other supplies, the civilians often have trouble keeping up with the army column. The rank and file soldiers in charge of them, afraid of the beatings and other punishments they face if they fall behind, become desperate and try to do whatever is necessary to keep the porters moving. Thein Oo often saw villagers beaten by his commanders during forced labor; “I didn't like it but I was afraid of my commander. If I protested I'd be beaten by my commander, 2nd Lieutenant Kyaw Myint Thein.” Child soldiers are also compelled to take part in the destruction of villages in areas where the army is pursuing a scorched earth policy. From the time of his recruitment at age thirteen in 1995 until he fled the army in late 2001, Moe Shwe says, “I saw it twelve times. There were some Karen soldiers in the village, or if there's a battle near a village we burned the village.” When asked if he actually torched houses himself, he answered, “Yes, three times. About two or three houses each time. We had to do it. We were ordered. If not they'd punch me. I felt very sorry and unhappy, because I thought that if my house were burned like this there would be a lot of problems for my family and me.”
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