UN envoy for children in conflict due in Myanmar

A UN envoy tasked with investigating the plight of children in armed conflict is due to meet the military leaders, who are accused of using child soldiers.

A UN envoy tasked with investigating the plight of children in armed conflict was due in Myanmar on Monday to meet the nation's military leaders, who are accused of using child soldiers.

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The envoy, Radhika Coomaraswamy, was expected to travel to Yangon as well as to the military's new administrative capital Naypyidaw in central Myanmar, an information ministry official said.

The official declined to say who Coomaraswamy was due to meet in Naypyidaw, and would not give any other details of the visit.

UN officials also declined to give an agenda for her trip.
Myanmar's military government officially denies using child soldiers and has passed a law to outlaw the practice.

But human rights groups say child soldiers in Myanmar remain alarmingly common, with boys as young as 12 recruited to fight ethnic rebels in the country's border regions.