The junta forcibly has abducted about 20 young men in Paung Township, Mon State, to forcibly enlist them into the army as part of the seventh round of conscription.
During November 2024, junta soldiers and police officers started arresting more youths at night time, so that they could conscript them, according to residents of Paung Township.
They also suggested that the junta is targeting youths when they are on nights out socialising by targeting evening entertainment venues such as bars, people who are intoxicated and drug users.
However, Than Lwin Times has investigated the situation and discovered that the junta’s arrests for conscription have focussed mainly on migrant workers from other parts of Myanmar and day labourers who depend on irregular work, who are aged between 18 and 40 years.
A young man in Paung Township criticised the junta for forcibly abducting and conscripting youths saying it is not their responsibility to fight the junta’s civil war.
He said to Than Lwin Times: “Young people have no obligation to fight in a civil war that isn’t about defending against a foreign invasion. They have their own plans for their futures, their families, and their lives to build. Forcing them into military service for the junta’s unjust cause makes no sense at all—it’s completely unacceptable. If the junta tries to coerce us, we must resist in every way possible. We also need a strong organisation capable of standing against them.”
Mon resistance forces are urging young people to plan ahead and consider what preventative measures they can take to avoid being targeted for conscription. They also advised them to come up with escape strategies for if they are abducted by the junta.
For previous rounds of conscription in Mon State there was a practice of paying migrant workers from other areas in Myanmar to take the places of people being conscripted. But now that conscripts are being sent to the frontlines, it has become much harder to find people willing to take conscripts’ places in the army. This has led to an increase in forced abductions of young men by the junta in Mon State.
Sources close to the junta have also confirmed that, driven by a growing need for manpower, the junta has intensified its conscription efforts and begun cracking down on draft dodgers in Mon State since November.
Since the junta announced that the conscription law would be enforced on 10 February 2024, approximately 1,400 people from Mon State have been conscripted, both voluntarily and forcibly, in six rounds of conscription.
