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YANGON - More than 100 Buddhist monks marched and chanted in Pakokku, northern Myanmar, for nearly an hour last night, in the first such march since the Government's deadly crackdown last month.
Earlier, Human Rights Watch reported that the junta is making more use of child soldiers, some as young as 10, because of recruitment difficulties. Children at bus and train stations are picked on and forced to join up.
The regime has long been accused of using children to fight the insurgencies and liberation movements challenging it on Myanmar's borders. Although the junta set up a committee in 2004 to prevent the recruitment of children, HRW says it has failed.
The children typically receive 18 weeks' military training and some are sent into combat within days of being deployed.
- Independent
