The Child Rights Crisis in Burma
July 1, 2026
Since the onset of the military coup on 1 February 2021, armed conflict and human rights violations have escalated rapidly across Burma. The consequences of such violence have been borne disproportionately by civilians, with children being particularly vulnerable. Children have continuously faced threats to their lives, suffered injuries, been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, been forced to flee their homes, been deprived of their right to education and experienced significant psychological trauma.
Children have been continuously killed and maimed as a result of the military junta’s airstrikes, artillery shelling, raids and destruction of villages and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas following the coup. Not only that, but the increasing number of attacks on schools, displacement camps, religious buildings and other locations where civilians seek shelter has severely undermined children’s right to life, safety, education and development. The deteriorating security situation, school closures and ongoing attacks have disrupted the education of millions of children. As a result, the fundamental rights of children across Burma continue to be systematically violated and eroded.
The incidents documented in this report indicate widespread violations of the rights to survival, development, protection and education as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Furthermore, these incidents are found to constitute serious violations of the standards set out in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC) and international humanitarian law (IHL).
The child rights crisis in Burma is not only a humanitarian concern but also a human rights emergency directly linked to issues of accountability, child protection and the long-term building of peace. Urgent attention and responsibility from the international community and all relevant stakeholders are required to effectively protect and uphold children’s rights.
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
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