Recent days have seen chaotic scenes across Myanmar following the junta’s announcement of mandatory military conscription. A stampede outside a passport office in Mandalay killed two people, while long queues have formed at embassies as young Burmese seek to flee the country.
The military government, which seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021, has suffered significant battlefield losses to armed resistance groups. The UN estimates that around 2.6 million people have been displaced and thousands killed in the ensuing civil war.
Under the conscription law, originally introduced in 2010 but only now being enforced, all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve at least two years. The regime later said women would not be included “at present”, and that the first 5,000 recruits would be called up after the April Thingyan festival.
Young activists view the law as an attempt to crush the pro-democracy movement. “It is nonsense to have to serve in the military at this time,” said Robert, a 24-year-old activist. “If we serve, we will be contributing to their atrocities.”
Many are taking desperate measures to avoid conscription, including queuing for days to get visa applications processed or considering entering the monkhood or early marriage. Evasion carries a prison sentence of three to five years, but exemptions exist for religious orders, married women, and the medically unfit.
Justine Chambers, a researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, argued that the conscription drive is a sign of the junta’s weakness. “Some will manage to escape, but many will become human shields against their compatriots,” she warned.
