Arakan Army bans young people from leaving Rakhine State

The Arakan Army (AA) announced last week that it is prohibiting young people from leaving Rakhine State under its newly imposed military service regulations. The announcement comes two months after the introduction of the group’s National Defence Emergency Provision, which requires men in the state aged 18 to 45 and women aged 18 to 25 to serve in the AA for two years. In a statement released on May 22, the AA said that those eligible for conscription will be prohibited from travelling outside the state until a stable military situation is achieved. Only patients whose lives are at risk if they are unable to travel will be exempted from the ban, the statement said. It adds that those who transport people seeking to leave their homeland despite the prohibition, whether by land or water routes, will also be prosecuted under existing laws. The statement also claims that the travel ban will serve to protect ethnic Rakhine people from the risk of being arrested, imprisoned, or killed in territories controlled by Myanmar’s military junta. Since launching a major offensive against the regime in November 2023, the AA has captured 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chin State. In areas under its control, it has established the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government, responsible for administering the judicial, education, and healthcare systems. Since these mechanisms require human resources, over the past three months, some healthcare and education workers, as well as other essential workers, have been prevented from leaving the state. While these measures have been met with a certain degree of acceptance from the local population, many disagree with the idea of imposing a total ban on travel. “To speak frankly, not being allowed to leave at all is inappropriate. Besides healthcare, young people and adults need to go out for education and economic purposes. If they can’t, and if they don’t have their own farms, they will starve to death,” said one woman. In the northern townships of Minbya, Mrauk-U, and Pauktaw, there have been reports of the AA calling not only on Rakhine youths, but also on young people from the ethnic Chin and Mro minorities, to serve in its ranks. Earlier this month, the Voice of Chinland, a Chin online news outlet, reported the arrest of seven Chin teenagers from Minbya at an AA checkpoint in Ann, a key gateway to central Myanmar. In February of last year, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group allied with the AA, announced a law requiring all Ta’ang nationals aged 16 to 35 to enlist. In January, Myanmar’s military amended its conscription law to prohibit anyone eligible for military service from going abroad without prior permission. The regime has faced unprecedented resistance since seizing power in February 2021, prompting it to begin enforcing a decade-old conscription law three years later.

Arakan Army bans young people from leaving Rakhine State

The move comes two months after the group’s imposition of conscription in the state

Subscribe for full access

Beyond Beijing’s reach, a new resistance alliance takes shape in Myanmar

Between resistance and the ballot box: Assessing the second phase of Myanmar’s junta-controlled elections

‘Our souls are in Myanmar’: Voices from a refugee camp

Under fire and deep in debt: The reality facing Myanmar’s farmers

Few Russians travelling to Myanmar, despite visa exemption

Myanmar military-linked politician urges ICJ legal team to ‘unzip their pants’ in crude TikTok video

Mass jailbreak in Karenni State sends POWs fleeing into Thailand

Over 300 journalists, including 30 in Myanmar, behind bars near end of 2025: watchdog

Death toll rises in airstrike on Kyauktaw detention site

KIA set to fully resume rare earth mining in captured ‘special region’

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles