A/HRC/13/48 sources of ongoing recruitment and the estimates of upwards of thousands of underage soldiers call for increased measures against recruiting officers and generals. 76. Despite measures by the Government of Myanmar to prevent and halt the recruitment and use of child soldiers, these practices still persist in the military and by nonState actors. Children from vulnerable poor families are particularly at risk of being lured into the military with promises of jobs and food. There have been reports of threats of arrests to children who refuse to join the military. 77. In 2009, ILO received 78 complaints concerning underage recruitment, of which 34 led to releases that year; an additional 10 complaints received in 2008 led to discharges in 2009. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur, the Government has released 278 child soldiers. 78. The Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict released its conclusions on Myanmar on 28 October 2009 (S/AC.51/2009/4) which included strong condemnation of all recruitment and use of children in violation of national and international law as well as deep concern about continued lack of humanitarian access particularly in contested and ceasefire areas.2 79. Non-State armed groups have recruited and used children, including through forced recruitment. Although the situation has been well documented by several NGOs, due to the restrictions in access to the border areas the United Nations has been unable to monitor and verify the presence of children in these groups. A United Nations country task force has been established as a monitoring and reporting mechanism, but the effective functioning of such a mechanism requires strengthened capacity, unhindered access, freedom of movement and witness protection guarantees. The ILO complaint mechanism on forced labour encompasses recruitment of child soldiers and should be given the conditions and means to operate effectively, including strengthened capacity of the office. 80. Recruitment of child soldiers is a crime for which perpetrators must be held accountable in accordance with the law. Only legal prosecution of those involved will contribute to ending this practice. The Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict urged the Myanmar Government to prosecute as a matter of priority persons responsible for crimes committed against children.3 Punitive measures taken to punish those involved in the recruitment of child soldiers have been disproportionately light and largely ineffective. 81. The Special Rapporteur also encourages the Government to apply the principle that child recruits cannot be found guilty of desertion and to adjust its policies to ensure that children are not charged with desertion in the first place, and are not subject to any criminal charges, imprisonment or any other form of harassment. There appears to be a practice of arresting former child soldiers for desertion some years after the fact. 82. The Special Rapporteur raised the case of Myo Win with the Minister of Labour. Myo Win was arrested in September 2009 for desertion and sentenced to seven years in a military court without a lawyer. He had been forcibly recruited into the military in 1996 while still in school but escaped back home after spending four and a half months in training and a week in his regiment. 2 3 GE.10-11915 Para. 6 (b) and (c). S/AC.51/2009/4, para. 7 (c) (iii). 15