It has been half a month since the enforcement of the conscription law that will blatantly push Myanmar youths to the killing field, but the ASEAN and the UN are pretending like they do not know this.
The military junta not only activated the conscription law on February 10, but also continued to enforce the Reserve Force Law that required even ex-servicemen to re-enlist for military service.
Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, said, “This law proves that the military junta, which is in wounded and increased desperate, remains extremely very dangerous institution for the people of Myanmar.”
The enforcement of the conscription law known as the National Military Service Law was a major earthquake that shook the people nationwide after the ineffective and failed military coup.
It makes Myanmar youths concerned and challenged across the State. The youths who respond quickly to this conscription law immediately are joining PDF forces, risking their lives. Many young people are leaving the State and fleeing to neighboring countries. Some young people are watching and observing the situation related to this conscription law with great concern, not knowing how they will move forward.
What all young people have in common agreement is that they cannot join the evil junta army for any reason. There is no reason to give life to Min Aung Hlaing’s madness for his power. Myanmar people unconditionally believe that joining the junta military is a path of no return. That is why Myanmar youth are in disarray.
Both ASEAN and the UN know that Myanmar youths do not want to join the junta army at all, and Myanmar people hate and detest the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and his accomplice gangs. The forced recruitment of soldiers, by activating the conscription law is a plot to violate and terrorize young people physically and mentally. Additionally, an attempt to forcibly expand the military force is against the five-point consensus of ASEAN signed by the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing himself.
However, ASEAN and the United Nations do not budge and pay attention to the conscription law enforced by the junta. ASEAN seems to be preparing information to inconsiderately deny that the enforcement of conscription law is only Myanmar’s internal affairs. The UN used to announce condemnation statements on Myanmar issues at high speed before, but they are now unable to even make a statement concerning this conscription law.
Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, demanded that the international community must act urgently to isolate the military junta and protect the people of Myanmar more than ever, but the international community seems that Myanmar’s affairs are none of their business.
Regarding the enforcement of conscription law, not only the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights but also international experts strongly condemned it. Former Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, a member of the board of the ASEAN Parliamentary for Human Rights (APHR), said that the enforcement of the conscription law by the junta is a measure to destroy the future of Myanmar’s youth.
Ms. Yanghee Lee, a member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), said of this conscription law, “Min Aung Hlaing’s forced conscription directive won’t save him or his junta. Instead, his depraved attack on the country’s future illustrates he is willing to destroy an entire generation rather than accept the failure of his disastrous coup. He must accept that the old military playbook will not work this time”.
As Ms. Yanghee Lee’s says, the junta is taking revenge on the youths of Myanmar who oppose them with the forced conscription law. The military junta is imagining whether they will live longer by strengthening the soldiers, and by letting the youth kill each other, they desire to destroy the entire generation of youth.
However, ASEAN and the UN do not consider and budge on this accident. Mazuki Darusman, a member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), said, “Myanmar’s youth have been abandoned to wage a three-year-long struggle alone against military tyranny in pursuit of a Myanmar built on peace, justice and human rights. If the UN and ASEAN allow Min Aung Hlaing to forcibly conscript millions of young people into his junta death cult, then they will be further complicit in denying Myanmar this future.”
Till now, the absence of any reaction to the forced conscription law by either ASEAN or the UN raises the question of whether it is acceptance of the forced conscription law enacted by the military junta. We will have to wait and see if ASEAN and the UN will continue as accomplices in the junta’s target to destroy Myanmar’s future.