23 children under age 5 killed or wounded in year of Arakan fighting

By Admin 16 Nov 2024

DMG Newsroom
16 November 2024, Sittwe

At least seven children under the age of 5 were killed and 16 others were injured in Arakan State by junta air and artillery attacks, raids, and explosions of landmines and unexploded ordnance since the latest fighting broke out between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) just over a year ago, according to a DMG tally.

The deceased were three from Minbya, two from Thandwe, and one each from Pauktaw and Mrauk-U. The injured included four from Maungdaw, three each from Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw, two from Mrauk-U and one from Ann.

The casualty count was compiled by DMG, and the actual number killed and injured could well be higher on the ground.

"Even if the children are sleeping at night, if they hear a sound, they startle and cry and panic, saying that a junta jet fighter is coming. Children are more traumatised than adults. If a child gets traumatised, that trauma stays with them into adulthood," said the mother of a child who was displaced by fighting in Pauktaw Township.

A junta artillery strike on Mose Island's Sarpyingyi Village, in Arakan State's Rathedaung Township, killed two civilians and injured four others including two children on August 28.

The military regime's airstrikes have produced the bulk of the casualties, and parents say education is needed to better address the trauma experienced by children in conflict zones.

Children are suffering from both physical and psychological insecurity as the regime is carrying out airstrikes on areas controlled by the AA as well as territories being actively contested by ground forces of the warring parties.

"The regime targets civilian areas and carries out airstrikes, killing innocent children and local residents. These are the regime's violations of human rights," said a human rights activist in Arakan State.

Customary international humanitarian law requires any armed organisation to protect civilians and bars them from attacking, abducting or using civilians as human shields, or targeting civilian dwellings.

More than 600 civilians have been killed and over 1,000 others injured in Arakan State by regime air and artillery attacks, raids, and explosions of landmines and unexploded ordnance since the latest fighting broke out between the Myanmar military and the AA just over a year ago, according to a DMG tally. At least 82 children under the age of 18 were killed and 214 others were injured in the junta attacks.