Young men in Myanmar are avoiding going out after dark as the military government's forced conscription widens. In some areas, allegations have surfaced of a trade in people, in which young men are abducted and handed over to the military for money.
'Afraid to Go Out at Night' — Conscription Reports Spread Fear Among Youths
According to a recent report by Britain's BBC, warnings have been circulating among young men in Hpa-an, the capital of Myanmar's southern Kayin State, telling them not to go outside after sunset.
A 26-year-old man who works as a tuk-tuk driver in Hpa-an told the BBC that he was worried but had no choice but to go out to work. "My family keeps calling to tell me not to take passengers far away," he said. "People are terrified. Some of the people I know have been taken away."
Local residents said plainclothes officials from the military government have been seizing young people on the streets and forcing them into military service.
Allegations of a Trade in People to Fill Conscription Quotas
Residents also described young people being traded to meet conscription targets. A woman living in Yangon said her husband, then 33, was taken to a local administrative office by a relative in May last year and then handed over as a conscription target in another area. She said 4 million kyat changed hands in the process.
The administrative official in charge of the area acknowledged involvement in handing her husband over to conscription authorities but denied the allegation of a cash payment.
In August, a fire service official in Yangon and his son-in-law were arrested on suspicion of abducting four young people and attempting to sell them as conscription targets. An investigation found that they had lured the young people with offers of jobs and then confined them.
Naung Yoe, an official at the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security and a former soldier who opposes the military government, said there were cases in which military officials and criminal organizations seized young people and handed them over to units short of troops, or sent them to serve in place of wealthy individuals who had paid money.
Missing-Person Reports Jump From 4 to 82 as Youths Flee Abroad
Myanmar Witness, a group that investigates human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government, analyzed Facebook posts about missing people and found that reports of disappearances rose from four in 2021 to 82 last year. Most of those reported missing were men and boys.
An estimated 100,000 young people have been conscripted over the past two and a half years. International human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also pointed to cases of civilians being abducted for forced conscription.
Leaked documents obtained by the BBC also indicated that local authorities had been instructed to fill conscription quotas.
Myanmar's military has been struggling with troop shortages amid a prolonged civil war. The military government introduced mandatory military service in 2024 to replenish its ranks. Men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve at least two years, and those who refuse conscription can face up to five years in prison.
The BBC reported that labor shortages inside Myanmar are deepening as young people leave for neighboring countries such as Thailand to escape forced conscription.
Myanmar's military government declined to comment on the BBC's questions about the forced conscription allegations.