BurmaNet News, September 12, 2008

[Editor]

September 12, 2008 Issue # 3555


INSIDE BURMA
Guardian (UK): Burma regime allows Suu Kyi to receive mail
DVB: Eight sentenced for political activities and media contact
Irrawaddy: Min Ko Naing defiant at hearing: Lawyer
Mizzima News: Magwe Division activists sentenced to long prison terms
Mizzima News: Two killed nine injured in explosion in Burma's Pegu division
SHAN: Burma army continues violating child rights
IRIN News: Forewarned, not forearmed

BUSINESS / TRADE
Narinjara News: Rice price reduced after trade ban lifted

INTERNATIONAL
AP: UN chief urges Myanmar junta to include opponents

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: A risky fight for basic rights – Kyaw Zwa Moe
IHT: Child soldiers and the China factor – Jo Becker



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 12, Guardian (UK)
Burma regime allows Suu Kyi to receive mail – David Batty

Burma's junta has relaxed some restrictions placed on the country's
democratically elected opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer
said today.

The military regime will now allow the 63-year-old Nobel peace prize
winner to receive mail regularly from her family and read some foreign
news publications.

The apparent concessions come amid concern at Suu Kyi's hunger strike in
protest at her long detention. She has refused daily food deliveries to
her home for more than three weeks.

"She will most probably accept her food deliveries as some of the
conditions she had asked for were smoothed out," said her lawyer, Kyi Win.

The junta has not made any comment.

Among Suu Kyi's requests were to be allowed mail from her two sons, who
live in Britain, and other family members, Kyi Win said. Up to now some
mail had been permitted and some blocked, he said.

The lawyer did not say how long Suu Kyi has been denied access to foreign
news publications, but said she had now been given permission to read
"Time, Newsweek, etc".

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) overwhelmingly won a 1990
general election but the result was ignored by the junta. She has been
under house arrest without trial for 12 of the past 18 years, and
continuously since May 2003.

She lives in a lakeside home in Ragoon, Burma's biggest city and former
capital, with two female companions who help take care of the house.

Suu Kyi had demanded greater freedom of movement for the two women, who
were previously barred from leaving the home. They will now be allowed out
during the daytime, the lawyer said.

She will be allowed monthly medical checks by her personal doctor, which
the junta had previously promised but then blocked.

____________________________________

September 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
Eight sentenced for political activities and media contact – Naw Noreen

Eight people who have been held in Thayet prison for about a year were
sentenced yesterday for political activities and contact with foreign
media, their family members said.

The eight were sentenced at 3pm yesterday by a court inside the prison.

NLD members U Myint Oo from Magwe, U Thar Cho from Yenangyaung and U Tun
Tun Nyein from Chauk were each sentenced to two and a half years in
prison, while U Htay Win from Natmauk was jailed for two years.

Myint Oo is secretary of Magwe township NLD.

Four Pakokku residents who had been arrested for speaking to foreign media
were also sentenced yesterday – U Nayla, U Tha Aung and U Sein Lin to two
years and U Thant Shin to nine.

Myint Oo’s wife Daw Sandar Win, also an NLD member, who is now living on
the Thai-Burma border, said she had heard about the sentences.

“[People from] Pakokku, Yenangyaung, Chauk, Natmauk and Magwe were all
sentenced today, we heard. I heard that my husband got two and a half
years,” she said, speaking yesterday.

“The person who got the longest was U Thant Shin – I heard he got nine
years.”

Sandar Win said she had hoped her husband would be released, but would
continue to work for her country.

“We expected them to get longer than this – it has become a tradition that
you get at least five years in connection with political activities,”
Sandar Win said.

“We have already calculated that they are not likely to be released
easily, but it is two and half years; he has already served a year and we
hope that he will be released after another year,” she said.

“We are holding out for that.”

____________________________________

September 12, Irrawaddy
Min Ko Naing defiant at hearing: Lawyer – Min Lwin

A lawyer for Min Ko Naing, a leading figure from Burma’s nationwide
pro-democracy uprising in 1988, said that the detained activist was
defiant when he appeared in court at Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday.

“You can sentence us to a thousand years in prison for our political
activities, but we will continue to defend ourselves in accordance with
the law. Nobody can hide from justice,” the lawyer quoted Min Ko Naing as
saying to the presiding judge.

Nyi Nyi Hlaing, a lawyer for Min Ko Naing and 34 other members of the 88
Generation Students’ Group, said that the defendants were facing a variety
of charges related to their involvement in last year’s protests against a
drastic fuel price hike by the ruling junta.

The charges include violations of Electronics Act 33A, the Illegal
Organizations Act 17/1 and Section 4 of SPDC Law No 5/96, which prohibits
actions that “endanger the national convention.”

The accused were also charged with violating Article 130B of the Penal
Code, which prohibits libel against friendly foreign powers. The charge
stems from the group’s alleged criticism of China and Russia for their
role in vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution o¬n Burma in
January 2007.

Nyi Nyi Hlaing told The Irrawaddy that the prosecution also accused Min Ko
Naing and his colleagues of speaking with the exiled media. Recorded
interviews and other items uploaded to Web sites operated by Burmese
exiles were exhibited as evidence.

On Tuesday, the 35 detained former student leaders appeared in the Rangoon
East District Court, located in Insein Prison, with their lawyers and
family members to hear the charges against them.

According to relatives of the defendants, the 88 Generation Students’
Group requested on August 27 to be permitted to appear in court without
handcuffs. They also requested the presence of witnesses during the court
hearing, in accordance with international laws. However, only family
members were allowed to enter the courtroom.

“The family members could be present and listen to the court proceedings,
but [the defendants] were still in handcuffs,” said Aung Thein, another
lawyer for the group.

Most of the accused have been in detention since August 21, 2007, when
they were arrested for leading a march against sharp increases in the
price of fuel and other commodities on August 19.

Many are veterans of Burma’s pro-democracy movement who have spent more
than a decade in prison for their political activities.

Besides Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, other prominent members of the 88
Generation Students’ Group who are now in detention include Htay Win Aung,
Min Zeya, Mya Aye and Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy).

Lawyers for the group expressed doubt that they would receive a fair
trial, saying that the authorities had already decided that they were
guilty.

“Nobody should predict the outcome of a trial before a verdict has been
reached,” said Aung Thein, referring to a press conference given by police
chief Brig-Gen Khin Ye, who repeatedly declared that the defendants were
guilty of a variety of crimes.

Nine other political activists who were not present at Tuesday’s hearing
were also among the accused. They include Tun Myint Aung and Soe Tun, who
are still in hiding, and Nilar Thein, who was arrested on Wednesday, and
Mar Mar Oo, who was apprehended two weeks ago.

____________________________________

September 12, Mizzima News
Magwe Division activists sentenced to long prison terms – Phanida

Four 'National League for Democracy' (NLD) members from Yenanchaung, Chauk
and Magwe of Magwe Division and seven people from Pakokku arrested in
connection with the September unrest last year were sentenced to various
prison terms ranging from two to nine years by Judge Daw Soe Soe Khet.

The accused were produced in court on Wednesday inside Theyet prison where
the 11 activists are being held and sentenced.

Yenanchaung NLD Organizing Committee member Thar Cho, Chauk NLD Youth Wing
member Tun Tun Nyein and Magwe Township NLD Secretary  Myint Oo were
charged under section 505(b) of the Penal Code (inducing crime against
public tranquility) and sentenced to two years in jail and another 6
months prison term for joining an unlawful assembly under section 143 of
the Penal Code.

These prison terms will run concurrently. Tuition teacher Htay Win from
Natmauk was sentenced to two years' prison term under section 505(b) of
the Penal Code (inducing crime against public tranquility).

"I felt it is unfair as he is innocent. He was just following protesting
monks while they were marching in procession. He is my eldest son. I feel
extremely sorry to hear the sentence. Please don't neglect and ignore my
son," mother of Tun Tun Nyein said.
"He was sentenced to two and-a-half years in prison. He took part in the
September unrest. We have been in and out of the prison since 1988. So
this is not much different for us," Ko Kyaw San Oo, younger brother of
Thar Cho, said.

Common people Nay La, Thar Aung a.k.a. Nyunt Shwe, Sein Linn, Khin Maung
Win, Pho Ni, Nyein Chan who were taken away from their homes on September
7 last year for questioning were sentenced to two years in prison and
Thant Shin was sentenced to nine years respectively by the judge.

Thant Shin was sentenced to seven in prison under section 5(j) of the
'Emergency Provisions Act', two years in prison under section 147 of the
Penal Code (rioting). Other people were charged and sentenced under
sections 147 and 143 of the Penal Code. Pho Ni and Ko Nyein Chan were
sentenced under section 6(1) of the Public Property Protection Act.

"They were sentenced for serious crimes that they didn't commit. They
fought for truth and justice. I feel sorry to hear that they were
sentenced to such harsh prison terms for crimes they did not commit," Zar
Ni, a colleague of the persons, who fled from Burma, said.

____________________________________

September 12, Mizzima News
Two killed nine injured in explosion in Burma's Pegu division – Than Htike Oo

Two people were killed and nine seriously injured when two explosions
occurred in Kyaukgyi town in Pegu division, Burma on Thursday evening.

The explosions, which were believed to be caused by landmines, occurred
almost simultaneously near a video parlour and in front of a shop in the
centre of the town, when a movie goer at the parlour came out and stepped
on the mine, local residents said.

"The explosions took place near a video parlour and at a nearby medicine
shop. We heard that two people died and nine others were severely injured
in the blasts," a local resident told Mizzima over telephone.

The injured were rushed to Kyuak Gyi Township hospital.

Though armed rebel groups, fighting the ruling junta, are reported to be
present in Kyaugyi town, such blasts are considered rare.

Earlier on July 14, a bomb exploded on a passenger bus, which was plying
between Rangoon to Kyuak Gyi town, near Dike Oo town in Pegu division
killing one and injuring another.

____________________________________

September 12, Shan Herald Agency for News
Burma army continues violating child rights

Despite international pressure on the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) to stop recruiting and using child soldiers, the SPDC has been
continuously violating child rights to recruit or use child soldiers in
its army, according to a report from Sino-Burma border.

Myo Gyi/Hseng Khio Fah
12 September 2008

On August 14, a group of soldiers from a battalion based in Myothit,
abducted an orphan, Mg Pauk Chate, 14, from Ngat Pyaw Daw village, Bhamo
township, Kachin State, according to a local villager close to the victim.

“Pauk Chate disappeared on the day soldiers arrived at the village. We
were told by a villager that he was called by a soldier and went with
him,” the source said.

There are 3 Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) #438, #437 and 320 based in
Myothit-Momauk.

“We don’t know exactly that which LIB the soldiers were from. If they were
from Makhoy, it may only be LIB # 437,” said the villager.

On the following day, Ko Yae Wine, a brother of Pauk Chate and some local
head villages went to appeal the case at Makhoy battalion command post,
but they were denied meeting with authorities and Pauk Chate.

However, a soldier from Makhoy confirmed that Pauk Chate was at a barracks
at that time, said the source.

On September 2007, the SPDC said in a letter sent to the Human Rights
Watch (HRW) that they have formed a Committee for the Prevention of
Recruiting Child Soldiers and preventing forced recruitment of under-age
children as soldiers and ensuring adherence to orders and instructions
issued for the protection of under-age children.

Nevertheless, the HRW's world report and Child Soldiers Global Report 2008
by the Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
(SEACSUCS) found that not only the Burma Army but also several ethnic
armed groups are still recruiting and using child soldiers in their
armies.

____________________________________

September 12, IRIN News
Forewarned, not forearmed

The Myanmar government says most residents were warned about approaching
cyclone Nargis, but many failed to take appropriate measures or were
simply caught off-guard.

“Most of the people [in the worst-hit areas] got the cyclone warning from
us two or three days before,” claimed Tun Lwin, director-general of the
Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH), in Yangon, the former
Burmese capital.

“The problem was that they weren’t fully aware of it and had no knowledge
as to how to prepare for it [the cyclone],” he said.

Lack of preparedness

Scores of cyclone survivors across southern Myanmar lack adequate disaster
awareness in the wake of Nargis – the country’s worst natural disaster in
living memory, which left almost 140,000 people dead or missing and
affected another 2.4 million.

“The true tragedy of this event is that it is not unique. Asia has shown
time and again its vulnerability to severe cyclones,” Oliver Fall of the
Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center [see:
http://www.adpc.net/v2007/] , which has been mandated by several southeast
Asian nations to establish an tsunami and multi-hazard early warning
system (EWS) and has been working closely with the DMH.

Though many residents were warned of the storm’s arrival by television or
radio, many perished out of ignorance of what to do or where to go,
despite Myanmar’s history of natural disasters.

Over the past 60 years, Myanmar has seen 11 severe tropical cyclones, two
of which made landfall in the Ayeyarwady Delta. The region was also
affected by the 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 60 lives and left
2,500 homeless along the coast.

Yet little has done to raise awareness. “People should be educated about
[natural] disasters and how to prepare,” Tun Lwin repeated.

Although the country does have an EWS, as in many countries in the region,
it lacks financial resources to invest in it.

Moreover, many donors remain reluctant to provide support for the
military-led government.

Capacity building

Fall maintains that the main issue in combating a lack of capacity in
government systems, as well as at the community level, is partly access,
but also the adequate time to conduct capacity-building exercises.

“It has only been three years since the tsunami and Myanmar’s membership
of the EWS; there is no feasible way that sufficient capacities can be
built up within that timeframe on a national level in Myanmar,” the ADPC
official said.

To promote disaster awareness, programmes should be initiated in the
cyclone-hit villages through community-based mechanisms, while
disaster-resistant buildings should be built in areas most at risk.

“We’re focusing on community-level preparedness and response planning
through the current early recovery programmes and it will be scaled up
gradually to other parts of the country,” Dillip Kumar Bhanja, disaster
risk reduction specialist for the UN Development Programme in Myanmar,
confirmed.

As part of that effort, UNDP is promoting disaster-resistant buildings
through the training of masons.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 12, Narinjara News
Rice price reduced after trade ban lifted

Burmese military authorities have allowed rice traders to transport rice
from Burma proper to Arakan State out of fear of public unrest if the rice
price continued to increase this rainy season in Arakan.

"The rice price in Arakan State has gone down at present because much rice
has been exported to Arakan State from Burma proper," a rice trader said

In local rice markets, a 50 kilogram sack of normal rice did cost 25,000
kyat, but has since gone down to 15,000 kyat.

In Arakan State the rice price always increases every year even though the
state is the third highest rice producer in Burma, because the authorities
and the rice merchants' association exports rice to Bangladesh after
purchasing it from local Arakanese farmers.

At the same time that rice was being exported, the government did not
allow the transportation of rice between townships in Arakan, nor from
Burma proper into Arakan State. This created a unnecessary scarcity of
rice in the township markets, causing the prices to continually increase.

A social activist from Sittwe said, "The authority knows how much
Arakanese people are suffering from the high price of rice so they have
allowed the transportation of rice from Burma proper to Arakan State to
avoid from unrest among the people there."

He also added that Burmese military authorities want to lure the Arakanese
people to not support any kind of anti-government protests in Sittwe, so
they are trying to placate the people by reducing the price of rice in the
state.

Many tons of rice from Prome Town located in Pegu Division are being
brought into Arakan every day by lorries that are crossing the Arakan
roma.

The authority has also blocked the Arakanese Rice Merchant Association
from exporting rice from Arakan State to Bangladesh, in order to control
the price of rice in Arakan.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 12, Associated Press
UN chief urges Myanmar junta to include opponents – Edith M. Lederer

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed frustration Thursday at the
failure of Myanmar's military government to open its political process and
urged the junta to take "tangible steps" to include opponents like Aung
San Suu Kyi.

Ban spoke to reporters at a news conference while his special envoy to
Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was briefing the U.N. Security Council behind
closed doors on his visit to Myanmar from Aug. 18-23. He failed to see Suu
Kyi during the visit.

Gambari said afterward that he told council members the visit "fell below
our expectations, particularly with regard to the release of political
prisoners and the resumption of dialogue between the government and Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi."

"Therefore, it's our view that it's imperative for the government of
Myanmar at this point to deliver substantive results...," he said.

Ban refused to call Gambari's visit a failure, telling reporters that he
intends to continue to try to make progress through "all possible
diplomatic means."

He announced that he will hold a meeting on Friday with ambassadors from
concerned member states to discuss ways to promote progress, particularly
with countries that may have influence on Myanmar.

"I share the frustration many feel with the situation in Myanmar," Ban
said. "We have not seen the political progress I had hoped for. We want to
see the parties, in particular the government of Myanmar, take tangible
steps toward establishing a credible and inclusive political process in
the country, which of course must include progress on human rights."

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in a political deadlock since 1990,
when Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won a general election but was not
allowed to take power by the military. She has been detained, mainly under
house arrest, for 13 of the last 19 years.

The United Nations has tried with little success to nudge the regime
toward talks with the opposition, hoping the top generals would respond to
international pressure to embrace national reconciliation following its
violent suppression of massive, anti-government protests in Yangon last
year. Suu Kyi's cancellation of meetings with Gambari was the latest
stumble in the U.N.'s bid to promote democracy in Myanmar.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Thursday that Washington believes
"more pressure needs to be applied on the (Myanmar) regime."

"The regime is not complying," he said. "It is in defiance of what the
international community has asked for. We believe that it is time to
deliberate on what to do to be more effective."

British Ambassador John Sawers said the U.N., the Security Council and
others "need to reassess the way forward to bring about national
reconciliation and democratic government."

"Prospects of moving forward are not at all promising," he said. "We need
to understand the frustration that she (Suu Kyi), her supporters and party
and indeed the people of Burma are feeling at the lack of progress there."

A statement last month by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
complained about the lack of results from Gambari's trips.

Gambari, who has met with Suu Kyi seven times during five previous visits,
said the fact that he didn't meet the detained Nobel Peace Prize winner on
this trip "was disappointing to all of us" and meant he couldn't report
her views as he had in the past.

He said he didn't know why Suu Kyi didn't meet him, noting that she has
previously said the U.N. should be at the center of promoting dialogue
between her and the government.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 12, Irrawaddy
A risky fight for basic rights – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Aung San Suu Kyi’s refusal to accept food supplies led to a few small
victories this week, but at what cost to the country’s future? The Nobel
Peace Prize laureate was forced to threaten her health before the junta
granted a few small concessions.

How can a Nobel Prize winner be reduced to such pathetic circumstances?

Suu Kyi was allowed to meet her lawyer, Kyi Win, for two hours on
Thursday, after which a compromise was announced between her and the
authorities. Her lawyer said the regime will lift some restrictions on the
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, allowing her to receive letters from her sons,
some international magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, loosen the
restrictions on the movement of her housekeeper, Khin Khin Win, and her
daughter, and also allow renewed monthly visits from her personal
physician.

To gain her small concessions, she stopped accepting food deliveries. The
pro-democracy leader, who has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years,
has refused food supplies since August 15. She told her lawyer when he met
with her on September 1, “I am fine, but I am losing my weight.”

Her loss of weight recalls the early 1990s when her weight fell from 106
to 90 pounds. During that ordeal, the detained pro-democracy leader was
short of food because of a lack of funds, forcing her to sell furniture
for food. Some of her hair fell out, her eyesight deteriorated and her
immune system weakened. She was sometimes too feeble to get out of bed.

In The Lady, a biography by Barbara Victor, she was quoted as saying:
“Except for my one and only hunger strike at the very beginning of my
detention, there was never any other. The rumors [of hunger strikes] began
because for a while, there was literally no food in the house and actually
no money to buy any food.” Her first detention period was from 1989 to
1995.

For the past seven months, the regime, breaking its earlier agreement, had
prohibited regular monthly visits of her physician, which prompted her
food delivery boycott and demand for more concessions.

Other concessions Suu Kyi requested include installation of a satellite
television service and the use of the Internet, according to sources in
the National League for Democracy. Sources said authorities have yet to
return her malfunctioning DVD player. Her only communication device is a
radio.

Also at the top of her discussion with her lawyer was the issue of the
legality of her continued detention, which recently expired after five
years. She has been detained under article 10 (b) of the State Protection
Law. Under the law, a person who is a “threat to the sovereignty and
security of the State and the peace of the people” can be detained for up
to five years. Suu Kyi was detained, most recently, on May 30, 2003,
following an attack by junta-organized thugs on her motorcade in northern
Burma. The regime recently extended her detention for six months to one
year.

Even now, food supplies in her home are scare, said one NLD member. Few
countries seem to care.

“The United States and the international community remain deeply concerned
about her welfare,” US spokesman Sena McCormack said on Tuesday. The UN
and its special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, have been reduced to near
silence when it comes to vigorously protesting such treatment. Sui Kyi
simply refused to meet with Gambari during his recent visit, in protest
over a lack of progress in her face-to-face negotiations with the regime.

Suu Kyi’s health is directly related to the country’s political situation
and its future. Sadly, she has no apparent successor should her health
prevent her from maintaining her leadership role.

She is the one person who can confidently talk to the generals when it
comes to issues of national reconciliation. She is the only leader who can
unite most opposition and ethnic groups. She is the most trusted popular
leader who had demonstrated political integrity, unwavering courage and an
iron will in guiding the pro-democracy movement during the past 20 years.

Critics note that 20 years of her leadership haven’t brought any
democratic change to the country. That’s true. But those 20 years have
tested her principles and courage under circumstances few popular leaders
have had to endure.

In fact, Suu Kyi remains the best hope for the Burmese people. Should she
be forced to abandon her role on the political scene—because of health or
other reasons—it would mark the further decline of an already weakened
pro-democracy movement.


____________________________________

September 12, International Herald Tribune
Child soldiers and the China factor – Jo Becker

Myin Win was 11 years old when he was first recruited into Burma's
national army. He was picked up by soldiers while selling vegetables at a
railway station and sent to a military training camp. He weighed only 70
pounds, or about 32 kilograms, and said that the guns were so heavy he
could hardly lift them.

He was able to escape, but was recruited a second time at the age of 14.
This time he tried to negotiate. "I'll give you money," he said to the
lance corporal. The recruiter replied, "I don't want your money." Myin Win
said, "I'll call my mother and she can vouch for me." The soldier told
him, "I don't want to see your mother or father and I don't want money. I
want you to join the army."

Myin Win was sent to training again and, while still only 14, deployed
into ethnic minority areas where he was ordered to burn down houses and
capture civilians. "We were ordered that if we see anyone, including women
and children, then we must approach and catch them and take them to our
officers for interrogation," he said. "If they try to run, shoot them."

Burma's military regime may have the largest number of child soldiers in
the world. Thousands of children serve in Burma's national army, swept up
in massive recruitment drives to offset high rates of desertion and a lack
of willing volunteers. The United Nations Secretary General has identified
the regime as one of the world's worst perpetrators of child recruitment,
citing it in six separate reports to the UN Security Council since 2002.

Two years ago, the Security Council created a special working group
specifically to address abuses against children in armed conflict. The
group is empowered to recommend arms embargoes and other targeted
sanctions against violators, like Burma, that repeatedly recruit and use
child soldiers.

But in Burma's case, the Security Council has shamefully squandered its
responsibility. After a formal review of Burma's violations, the working
group's recent report fails even to acknowledge that Burma's army recruits
children. Far from considering well-justified sanctions, the working group
repeatedly welcomed the regime's "cooperation" with the UN.

The approach to Burma is in stark contrast to the Security Council working
group's tough - and effective - approach to other perpetrators like Sri
Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Last year the Security Council
threatened sanctions against the Tamil Tigers for the group's use of child
soldiers during Sri Lanka's two-decade-long civil war, and gave a
six-month deadline for action. It worked. Reports of child recruitment by
the Tamil Tigers dropped from 1,090 in 2004 to 26 in the first six months
of this year.

In other cases, the Security Council has also obtained results. In Ivory
Coast, it pushed government and rebel forces to adopt action plans to end
child recruitment; the practice has now been abandoned in that country. In
the Democratic Republic of Congo, it referred information on violations to
sanctions committees and urged the arrest and prosecution of commanders
responsible for child recruitment. Although some child recruitment
continues in the country, an estimated 30,000 child soldiers have been
released or demobilized since 2003.

So why is the Security Council giving Burma a free pass? In a word, China.
A stalwart ally of Burma's military regime, China tried to prevent the
Security Council from discussing Burma's record of violations against
children. According to diplomats, China's representatives (often backed by
Russia and Indonesia) have consistently rejected all efforts to pressure
Burma to address its use of child soldiers - including proposals for a
more detailed action plan on the issue from Burma's government, access by
UN personnel to Burma's territory to verify Burma's claims that it has no
child soldiers, or even a follow-up report on progress.

Despite all eyes being on China during the recent Olympic Games, this
obstructionist behavior provides another sad illustration of China's
failure to uphold basic human rights standards, including protections for
some of the world's most vulnerable children.

One diplomat said, "China's position was that we must build a relationship
of trust with Burma, and to do that, we must accept whatever they say."
Including, apparently, the fiction that Burma has no child soldiers.

Without credible pressure from the Security Council, UN officials in Burma
- already doing little to engage the military regime on its use of child
soldiers - are unlikely to demand concrete action. And unfortunately for
Myin Win and thousands like him, the regime has even less incentive to end
the routine recruitment of children into its military ranks.

It's hard to decide whose actions are more shameful - Burma's exploitation
of children as soldiers or the Security Council's failure to condemn the
practice.

Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights
Watch and co-author of "Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of
Child Soldiers in Burma."