UN welcomes Myanmar's move to release 75 children from military
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(Photo: CGTN/VCG)

The United Nations on Friday welcomed the release of 75 children from Tatmadaw, the Myanmar armed forces, and called for the release of all remaining children in the military.  

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Virginia Gamba, the special representative for children in armed conflict, welcomed the release and called for freeing of the remaining children.

The United Nations on Friday welcomed the release of 75 children from Tatmadaw, the Myanmar armed forces, and called for the release of all remaining children in the military.  

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Virginia Gamba, the special representative for children in armed conflict, welcomed the release and called for freeing of the remaining children.

More than 10,000 children globally were killed last year, she said.

In 2017, Gamba said 849 children had been released from the Myanmar military since 2012.

Rakhine State, in Myanmar's northwest, has been racked by attacks from government military and civilian militias, sending more than 700,000 ethnic Muslim Rohingya fleeing into the Cox's Bazar District in neighboring Bangladesh's southernmost region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.

They joined an excess of 200,000 Rohingya who earlier were routed from Rakhine, the agency said. The refugees reported killings, rapes and the torching of villages in response to an Aug. 25, 2017, deadly Rohingya rebel attack on Myanmar security posts.

The United Nations has been seeking unrestricted access to Rakhine to assess damage and interview remaining residents.