On 28 June 2022, Thomas H. Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, will host a public event in Geneva and online to discuss the rights of children in Myanmar. Speakers will include representatives of humanitarian organizations working with and for children and activists working to document crimes against children in Myanmar and children from Myanmar who will join through a special video presentation.
The event will provide an opportunity to discuss the findings of the Special Rapporteurs’ conference room paper, “Losing a Generation: How the military junta is devastating Myanmar’s children and undermining Myanmar’s future.”
The paper, which will be published on 13 June 2022, highlights the ways in which children have been impacted by the dire political, economic and humanitarian crisis precipitated by the 1 February 2021 military coup. It describes how the Myanmar military has murdered, abducted, detained and tortured children, attacked schools and hospitals, and created conditions favourable for the exploitation and abuse of children. The report warns that, absent a prompt return to democratic governance and concerted remedial action, Myanmar’s children will become a lost generation.
- The event will provide an opportunity for panellists and participants to better understand the violence being perpetrated against children by the junta, and discussion will also focus on the devastating economic social and cultural human rights impacts that children across the country are enduring.
- The event will also provide an opportunity for participants to strategize around the effective implementation of the Special Rapporteurs concrete recommendations to UN bodies, agencies and Member States, humanitarian organizations and international donors.
