Myanmar: FORUM-ASIA condemns the military junta’s plan to expand the age limit for forced conscription

BANGKOK, Thailand (4 September 2024) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) condemns the Myanmar military junta’s plan to expand the age limit of its forced conscription policy.

We are calling on the international community to express solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

The junta’s plan to extend the age limit of forced conscription represents its desperate attempt to tighten its grip on power amid its losing streak against the growing pro-democracy resistance movement.

On 25 August 2024, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing announced plans to introduce a new “security system with public participation,” which required men aged 35 to 60 to serve as guards, with the possibility of being sent to the frontlines of fighting forces.

On 16 August 2024, the junta established the Central Supervisory Committee for People’s Security and Anti-Terrorism to organise a military training. The committee is also tasked to form branch offices at regional, district, and township levels to oversee “people’s security and anti-terrorism” groups.

The junta’s plan follows its forced conscription policy implemented on 10 February 2024. The policy activates the 2010 People’s Military Service Law, mandating men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve two years in the military, with professionals such as doctors and engineers potentially serving up to five years. Those evading service or assisting others to do so face up to five years in prison. The junta planned to conscript 5,000 individuals monthly starting in April 2024.

Civilians used for forced labor and human shields

FORUM-ASIA has condemned the junta’s forced conscription policy. The military has a documented history of using civilians as human shields as well as forcing them into hard labor.

Since the attempted coup in 2021, the military junta continues to impose forced labor and recruitment amidst armed conflict, the International Labour Organization’s Commission of Inquiry found in October 2023.

The military junta is also forcibly abducting and arresting citizens, using them as human shields, according to local news and human rights groups.

Rather than be forced to fight for a war they did not choose, the forced  conscription has pushed Myanmar’s youth to flee their homes to join the resistance movement..

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern over the reported forced detention and recruitment of Myanmar youth. UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, also noted how the junta has been intensifying its assault on civilians–utilizing powerful weapons–following its troop losses and recruitment challenges.

Call to action

FORUM-ASIA calls on the Myanmar military junta to immediately halt its forced conscription policy, abductions, forced labor, and use of civilians as human shields.

“FORUM-ASIA urges the international community, including the UN and ASEAN to thoroughly investigate the Myanmar military junta’s long list of human rights violations. The junta should be held accountable for all its crimes through sanctions and other punitive measures,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

“The international community must urgently isolate the junta and support the people of Myanmar in their struggle for justice and freedom,” Bacalso added.

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About FORUM-ASIA:

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 85 member organisations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. Founded in 1991, FORUM-ASIA works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions in Asia and beyond. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and consultative relationship with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The FORUM-ASIA Secretariat is based in Bangkok, with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and Kathmandu. www.forum-asia.org

For media inquiries, please contact:

• Communication and Media Programme, FORUM-ASIA, [email protected]

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