Myanmar’s young men are living under considerable fear as military authorities and their supporters conduct widespread street arrests to meet conscription quotas. Residents of Hpa-An, the capital of Karen state, have adopted defensive practices such as avoiding travel after dark and limiting their movements. Individuals in their teens through thirties face unpredictable detention by plain-clothed operatives who forcibly enlist them into military service, prompting many to flee to neighboring countries or to distant relatives’ homes.
The forced recruitment efforts intensified following Myanmar’s 2021 military coup and the subsequent mandatory conscription law enacted three years later. This law requires all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve at least two years under military command, with refusal punishable by up to five years imprisonment. According to leaked documents and testimony, military authorities have been directed to aggressively fulfill recruitment quotas across all jurisdictions to sustain the junta’s ranks amid its ongoing conflict against ethnic militias, pro-democracy groups, and civilian resistance movements.
International human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented widespread patterns of civilian abduction and forced military service. Research from Myanmar Witness analyzing missing-person advertisements on social media found a dramatic increase in reports from January 2021 to 2025, with notices rising from four to 82 cases. The organization concluded that much recruitment occurs through detention, coercion, and disappearance rather than formal procedures, often without notification to families.
Case documentation reveals that recruitment methods sometimes involve local ward administrators who transfer individuals across townships to meet quotas and generate revenue. One documented instance involved a woman whose husband was taken to a recruitment center after being delivered to a ward office, allegedly with financial transactions involved. The military junta has reported an estimated 100,000 conscripts obtained over approximately two-and-a-half years, many through coercive means including extortion and abduction. The regime’s conscription strategy has provided personnel reinforcements that observers credit with helping the military reclaim territory, though the broader conflict remains unresolved.
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