The enforcement of the conscription law by the coup leader Min Aung Hlaing on February 10, 2024, caused a quite stir and shock among the Myanmar youths. The junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said at the Junta Ministers Meeting held in Nay Pyi Taw on February 2, 2024, “The Conscription Law must be implemented, and it must be enforced within a year”, then the conscription law was officially enforced a year later.
In the conscription law, men between the ages of 18 – 35 and women between the ages of 18 – 27 must serve in the military, and it also included men who graduated by the age of 45 and women who graduated by the age of 35. According to the recommendation of the CDM military community, the enforcement of conscription law by the junta military may be because of the needs of soldiers due to the excessive killing of junta troops during the Spring Revolution.
After the military coup, due to the opened multi-front attacks by resistance forces in Sagaing, Magway, Karenni, Kachin, Northern Shan, Kayin, and Rakhine, it is seen the army force was being continuously weakened and depleted because of many casualties and surrenders from the side of the junta military.
“I’m in a panic about the sudden enforcement of conscription law and immediately collecting selection pool. I don’t know what to do. If a person is forced to serve in the military junta, he will die on the front lines for sure. So I’m worried about my children,” a mother in Mandalay’s Chanayetharzan Township expressed her concern like this.
During the days before the military coup, the military’s top leaders and supporters express that the army’s strength is around 500,000. However military analysts said there are only around 200,000 strengths due to the lack of recruits, desertion, and fraudulent reporting by lower-ranking officers.
According to the research study of the Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar), the military strength is only 160,000 before the 2021 military coup. Military analysts said the number could be lower.
“It’s obvious the junta enforces this law because there are no more soldiers in the army. We need to prepare in advance how the youth will get out,” commented an Air Defense CDM officer.
In addition, after the formation of the military service central organization, a list of young people who can serve in the military is being collected according to relevant Region, Township, Ward, and Village. Due to the conscription law, grassroots, workers, and farmers have no choice other ways, but the upper class may choose to go abroad and some join to resistance forces, according to the recommendation of PLA spokesperson, comrade Hein Zaw.
“Our country will fall into the ditch and drown. There is no choice for the workers and farmers. Since there is no choice according to conditions of life, there may be an uprising of the workers and farmers,” said Comrade Hein Zin. Within a few days since the conscription law was enforced, the military junta has been making hasty preparations. At the end of April, it is said that recruitment will begin for military training No.1. The 5,000 people per military training and 60,000 people per year will be recruited.
“A law is drafted to be legally enacted and approved by Hluttaw. After the parliament approves, the strengths and weaknesses of the law must be discussed. Then it must be enacted by Hluttaw. After enacting a law, a rule is enacted for practical implementation. So, if it is not like that, a law can’t be defined as a law, but as just writing what they want. It is not legally approved. To say it clearly, the conscription law is just legal porter,” said an advocate U Zin Myint regarding the conscription law.
“A law must be drafted after consultation with legal experts, then the law must be enacted, and its rule must be followed up. So, the conscription law currently enforced by the junta is not a valid and legal one,” an advocate Daw Thandar Tin said.
In addition, she said that the laws currently enforced by the junta are only provisions for what they want, not laws like legal binding, and words threatening with a weapon are covered by the pretext of the law.
“There are laws, acts, statute laws, rules and regulations. Parliament enacts laws. The rule is the practical provision of how to implement the legislation. Laws have degrees. The rule cannot override the law. The rule enacts the practical way of implementation in the law. The law is mother law and the rule is substitute law. The law comes into force only after the enforcement of procedural rules. Now it is like the military junta is carrying out what they wish,” Daw Thandar Tin said.
The National Unity Government (NUG) issued a statement on February 13, 2024, opposing the conscription law enforced by the junta. The statement expressed “The public no need to follow the conscription law because it is not legally binding.” However, the NUG’s statement was criticized among political analysts for being too general. People living in urban areas, especially, will face severe punishment if they do not follow the order of the military junta, so they say this statement is unrealistic.
“We need to think about the consequences that will come after enacting the law. This law will come to an effort nationwide. For that reason, we cannot flee to liberated areas or neighboring countries on a national scale. That’s why, since the NUG is a revolution-led government, the relevant ministries must prepare in advance to welcome those who will inevitably flee,” a human rights activist, former ABFSU leader Ko Min Tway Thet, said.
According to local media reports, more than 400 young people were arrested as porters in the cities of Yangon, Mandalay, Monywa, Myitkyina, and Meiktila within days after the enforcement of the conscription law.
General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Military Junta, denied that these reports were just rumors. According to residents living in these areas, the exact number of porters is not known, but they confirm that the reports are true.
“Now they (junta) arrest inspecting motorcycle ride and we don’t know what’s going on. Then those riding a motorcycle inspected were arrested and taken away once. One of my friend’s young brothers was also arrested and taken like that. We still can’t contact him. We don’t know where to ask. We are also afraid that we will be arrested when we follow up,” a local woman in Myitkyina said. During the civil war that has been going on for over 70 years, the military has been using villagers as human shields by making porters, and the military has entered the villages in convoys and forced the captured villagers to carry bags and taken those villagers as guides. Then, some of those villagers are killed and some are released.
In Sagaing Region where the armed revolution has gained momentum, the military is doing the most arrests and killings of villagers. A local villager in Ingyinsu village of Pale Township, who has personally experienced these events, said this.
“When the junta column arrived, we ran away. The column spent the night in the village. In the morning, I went to the village to check the situation. At that time, I met an ambush patrol and was arrested. They (column) asked me where the PDFs were. Some in the column were villagers who had been arrested without knowing which village. Those villagers arrested were carrying bags and were not given food. If they (junta) lost their temper, they would swear and beat me with a gun. I thought they would kill me when they got to the place they wanted to go, but I could say I was lucky because I was released. The villagers carrying their bags continued to be taken with the column. After that, I didn’t hear any news about those arrested villagers anymore,” he explained his personal experiences about the human shield.
Just like the above incidents happened in the local towns, the arrests of young people have become more frequent in the urban cities since the beginning of this year. As a result, the urban people are concerned and the youths in urban areas are trying to go abroad.
After the conscription law came into force, thousands of young people who apply for visas to travel to Thailand, which borders Myanmar, are at the Thai Embassy in Myanmar every day.
Young people who are going to go abroad are queuing up at embassies and paying expeditious fees through brokers to get visas quickly. To obtain a passport, they have reportedly to pay bribes to the relevant staff at the Myanmar passport offices.
“Some make passports through brokers. Some apply online. After the youths are required to serve in the military, the number of passport applications increases day by day, and if they want a passport quickly, they must pay nearly 15 lakhs (1.5 million kyats) for an expedited fee. There are nearly a few thousand people who applied. There is also the possibility of more,” said a staff of the Myanmar Passport Office (Naypyitaw). According to the Military Junta, there are 13 million people who can serve in the military in Myanmar.
In a survey of young people’s opinions about the conscription law, most of them refused to serve in the military. Some say they don’t know exactly about the law.
The Military Junta will have to take time to prepare for reorganizing the army structures, and they cannot be immediately summoned for military service. But young people don’t trust the military junta and fear that they will be forced to be porters by the junta, so they have to quickly prepare to go abroad.
In addition, after the military coup, young people are trying to work abroad as a way out due to regional instability, lack of job opportunities, and low levels of education.
“I don’t have much choice. I oppose the military coup because I don’t like it. When some people went to liberated areas to fight back the military junta, I had to stay in the city because of my family’s situation. Now the situation is clear. I will not join the military junta. I will go to my people. I will join the PDF, even if I don’t fight the war, I will do everything like cooking,” said Ko Sai Naung, who arrived in the liberated area in the past few days to join the PDF.
Human rights activists say that the generals leading the military regime have enforced the conscription law to destroy the future of young people and publicize human rights violations to maintain their power.
“More than 30 countries in the world have practiced the mandatory military service law, but Myanmar’s conscription law is unacceptable because it violates many human rights,” U Aung Myo Min, the Union Minister for Human Rights of the National Unity Government (NUG), said in an interview with MIZZIMA news agency. Legal analysts again say that there are many loopholes in the junta’s conscription law, that violate the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Especially, it is articles 3, 4, and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 3 states that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of a person. It is no longer there before the enforcement of the conscription law. It is worse in ethnic areas. Article 4 states that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude, but now people are forced to serve as military slaves and are forced to pass minefields as human shields. Article 5 states that no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. But the military violates all these things. It will know more about the oppression inside the military if the prisoners of war who are the junta troops, are asked,” a human rights activist said.
The youths of Myanmar which have been down and out because of civil war have lost their way due to the military coup. On the other side, the revolutionary forces also welcome and urge to join the people’s defense force. Some young people are joining the nearby revolutionary forces.
Moreover, a prisoner of war said that if people have been forced into military service or taken as porters in any way, there may be the human rights violations such as oppression, torture, threat, forced labor, insult, and rape.
A prisoner of war who was arrested by the Sagaing-based Anti-Dictatorship People’s Revolutionary Army (ADPRA) explained the treatment of recruits who arrived in the military.
“There are people who are arrested for various reasons. Those people arrested are sent to recruit. Those people are given basic military training. Those who have been in the military for a long time ask recruits for everything, and if those recruits reply to them, those recruits are punched and beaten. They say they are doing it to make those recruits fall into the military, and they swear when they are punching those recruits without any guilt. Some of those recruits are rounded up and tied up by men and those recruits are raped by man to man. The victims do not dare to say because they are ashamed,” said a prisoner of war.
The military junta destroys the future of the youth of Myanmar, enforcing the conscription law which completely violates human rights, to survive their loss and failure due to the offensive of the resistance forces all over Myanmar. In addition to these events, it is still a problem that cannot be solved now for the youth to continue to stand up and struggle due to internal crises.