August 26th, 2022
It is reported that the military council is persuading children under the age of 18 from orphanages in Ayeyarwady Region.
“A soldier [from the military council] told me that they would give me 500,000 MMK, education, and a place to live if I joined the army. He also told me that I can become a captain if I’m good at fighting,” said a 15-year-old boy from the Yellow Generation Wave orphanage.
According to sources close to the orphanage, the military council is trying to get underage children from Yellow Generation orphanages and orphanages founded by Buddhist monks to enlist in the junta army.
Some trustees of the orphanages said that corporals from the recruiting corps and battalions of the Southwest Regional Command usually come to persuade the children from the orphanages to join the army.
Every week, the military council soldiers ask the children of the Yellow Generation Wave to do cleaning work in the town, and some children between the ages of 14 and 18 have run away from the orphanage.
“Most of the children in the orphanages are ethnic children. They have become orphans because of the war,” said U Maung Maung, a human rights activist.
There are a number of orphanages run by Yellow Generation Wave and Buddhist monks in more than 20 townships, including Maubin, Labutta, Pathein, Thabaung, Hinthada and Myaungmya in Ayeyarwady Region, according to charity organizations.
Sent by NMG