Hein Min Aung, a former child soldier from Burma, urged the Obama administration at a congressional hearing on Wednesday to help in the resettlement of others like him in the United States.
“It is my hope that by telling my story in the United States, I will be able to raise awareness about 70,000 child soldiers in Burma,” Hein Min Aung said at the hearing, organized by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. The Obama administration also needs to urge the United Nations to pressure the Burmese government to end child conscription, he said, adding that the US government could also talk directly with the Burmese authorities to convince them of the need to protect child from being forced into military service.
“Most of all, child soldiers need to know that they are not forgotten, that there are people in the world who care what happens to them, and who are working to end the nightmare of child conscription,” he said. “Burma has the highest number of child soldiers in the world today. I would like to share with you my experience as a forcibly conscripted child soldier in the Burmese military, the atrocities I witnessed as a soldier and my escape to Thailand at the age of 16,” Now 26, Hein Min was forcibly conscripted into the Burmese Army at the age of 14. He escaped two years later, and was granted refugee status by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Now a citizen of New Zealand, he is currently in the US meeting lawmakers, think tanks and US officials to brief them on the condition of child soldiers in Burma.
Burmese version Bur ျမန္မာ 2011.08.04
2011.08.04 The Irrawaddy - Urging US to help child soldiers