Junta’s recruitment spreads fear as young men seized from homes and workplaces

In the early months of this year, a group of men showed up unannounced at a quiet home in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township, where a 26-year-old man was preparing for his upcoming wedding. At first, his family assumed they were relatives of the bride. Instead, they were military officials, part of the junta’s newly revived conscription drive. "That day when they came to the house, we thought relatives from the bride's side had come to call,” a close family member told Myanmar Now of that morning. “So when he came out, they showed his papers saying, 'You must serve in the military, you have to come with us.” The paper was a conscription notice under the junta’s 2024 mandatory service law, aimed at replenishing ranks amid growing armed resistance. To prevent evasion, recruiters now deliver notices and seize recruits on the spot—just as they did with the groom-to-be. In December 2021, junta soldiers were detained near Lay Kay Kaw new town, Myawaddy Township, Karen State, amid clashes with local resistance forces. (Photo: Karen Information Center) Recruitment at workplaces Recruitment now extends even to workplaces. The groom-to-be was sent to military training for three months and later died in battle in Sagaing Region, according to a local administrator who informed the family. From the moment he was taken, he had no contact with his relatives or fiancée. And like many low-ranking soldiers, his body was left or buried on the front lines. In May, five people in Naypyitaw’s Aung Zabu Ward were targeted for conscription. Three fled after receiving advance notice, but two men in their twenties were taken to military training. One, a 27-year-old who worked at the Shwekyapin vehicle workshop, was arrested directly from his workplace, according to relatives and close associates. “They asked if he was there, but we only knew him by his nickname, so we said no,” a witness told Myanmar Now. “Then he came out and said, ‘That’s me.’ They pulled out some papers and said, ‘You’ve been called to serve—come with us.’ And he went with them.” He added that the men who came for the recruit wore civilian clothes and only revealed staff ID cards when presenting the conscription notice. In response to such tactics, many young men in junta-controlled areas like Yangon, Naypyitaw, and Bago Region have gone into hiding or relocated to avoid being taken. Forced to porter The Myanmar military has been forcibly seizing people from roads for decades, forcing them to carry weapons and equipment to front-line battlefields—a practice known as "forced porter" labor. As the junta ramps up arbitrary arrests to fill its ranks, many now refer to these recruitment raids as "forced portering." An administrator in his fifties from Pyinmana Township told Myanmar Now that in areas failing to meet monthly recruitment quotas, local officials often assist in nighttime roundups. "We don't arrest people from wards that meet their quotas by-we give them exemptions," he said. "For wards that said they can't get enough people, we order the ward administrators to investigate when and what those boys do. Then they go in and call them.” In Aung Zay Yar Ward, Zeyathiri Township, Naypyitaw, a call-up notice was delivered during the day to the home of a 25-year-old man. That same evening, military recruiters entered the house, according to a relative. "The administrator and about 10 people came in to summon him,” the relative said. “There was a lot of commotion, and when they found photos showing his father was a former soldier, the officer who came to summon the young man spoke calmly and said they would put him in the rear ranks [positions away from direct combat], they talked among themselves and took him away.” In February 2024, the junta’s military forces burned down Lonegyi Village in Sidoktaya Township, Magway Region, destroying 103 of its 110 homes—part of a broader pattern of scorched-earth tactics witnessed nationwide over the past four years. (Photo: Supplied) Preparing for danger A 29-year-old government employee from Naypyitaw said he risks being conscripted even while traveling. He recalled seeing young men detained during ID checks at a toll gate in Hlegu Township along the old Yangon–Mandalay road. "That day when they checked IDs, they said: 'You're still young enough for military service. Come... meet our officer.' And when I followed, I saw about five people my age,” he said. "They only released me when I showed my civil servant card, but I don't know what happened to those who remained." Even before the coup, few wanted to join the army. And then when the military seized power in February 2021 and violently suppressed protests, armed resistance spread nationwide, making willing recruits even more rare.Some new conscripts pay others to take their place, while even junta supporters have voiced frustration over these recruitment tactics. The junta, however, regularly broadcasts videos of young people saying they voluntarily joined the army and that the military does not forcibly recruit their soldiers. Former Captain Kaung Thu Win, a junta defector, urged young people to learn how to avoid forced military recruitment, warning they risk becoming victims of the aggressive conscription. "When assigned to units, whether connecting with nearby resistance forces or going to nearby borders, there are ways to escape,” Kaung Thu said. “If you fall under the military service law, you should think ahead and plan and prepare on how to avoid being forced into the military”

Junta’s recruitment spreads fear as young men seized from homes and workplaces

In Naypyitaw and beyond, forced conscription raids intensify under the junta’s 2024 draft law, with recruits taken at gunpoint and many going into hiding to evade service

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