US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to remove Myanmar, along with Iraq, from a list of countries with the worst records on the use of child soldiers, despite opposition from within the State Department, Reuters reported on Friday.
Tillerson also rejected an internal proposal to add Afghanistan to the list.
Anonymous department officials told Reuters the Secretary’s decisions were probably a result of pressure from the US Department of Defense, which oversees the military. Keeping these countries off the list makes military cooperation with the US easier.
The US considers Iraq and Afghanistan close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, and Myanmar is of growing strategic importance to the US as China’s influence in the region grows.
In removing Myanmar and Iraq from the list, Tillerson had to dismiss the recommendations of members of his own department, including the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, the legal office, and diplomats in Asia and the Middle East.
The anonymous officials told Reuters the move broke longstanding protocol and could lead to accusations that the Trump administration prioritizes security and diplomatic interests ahead of human rights.
Human Rights Watch said removing Myanmar would be a “completely premature and disastrous action that will effectively betray more children to continued servitude and rights abuses.”
The changes to the child soldier list are expected to be officially announced as part of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report tomorrow.
On Friday, UNICEF announced that Myanmar had freed 67 child soldiers. The country has freed nearly 850 child soldiers since the government signed a pact with the UN in 2012.
Myanmar’s army-run newspaper Myawaddy reported today that 439 soldiers, including 87 officers, have been demoted or jailed over the use of child soldiers since the 2012 agreement.
Experts say children remain at risk as new underage recruits continue to trickle into the military and into ethnic armed groups.
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