Search
  1. Home
  2. Asia
  3. Thailand

Calls to penalize Thailand's child soldier recruitment

Khin Myint* was 14 when he was drafted as a child soldier. His mother contacted ILO to help him get discharged. She now volunteers as a facilitator and connects other parents of child soldiers with ILO Contributor/IRIN
    BANGKOK

    NGOs are calling for harsher penalties and better enforcement of laws criminalizing child soldier recruitment in southern Thailand's ongoing conflict between the government and Muslim separatists.



    A recent study by the Bangkok-based NGO, Working Group for Justice and Peace, and the London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers found evidence that boys under the age of 18 were associated with village defence militias, known as Chor Or Bor, in more than 65 percent of 19 surveyed villages in the south.



    "Children are growing up in a highly militarized environment where the presence and availability of arms encourages them to interact and become involved with the military," said the coalition's director, Victoria Adam.



    The study noted that more than 100 children ranging from 14 to 18 years old were imprisoned from 2004-2009 for suspected involvement with armed insurgencies. "There needs to be a strategy to support recovery and reintegration of child soldiers, as well as monitoring systems to prevent further child involvement in the conflict,"said Adam.



    dm/pt/mw

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join