APHR condemns Myanmar Junta’s forced conscription

Mizzima

On 26 May, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) condemned Myanmar’s junta for forcibly conscripting up to 120,000 individuals since February 2024 and expressed concerns over Thailand’s return of over 3,500 nationals, some conscripted at gunpoint. They urged ASEAN and the international community to act for the release of conscripts.

The statement is as follows.

“In their desperation to preserve power, Min Aung Hlaing and the junta is stealing a generation from Myanmar,” said Mercy Chriesty Barends, Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives and Chairperson of APHR. “They are stripping young men and women of their freedom, agency, and their right to live in dignity. This is in clear violation of international laws,” Barends added.

On 18 May, Defense Minister General Tun Aung ordered regional administrations to work with immigration offices to compile conscription lists, drawing on detailed township household records that include the birth dates and occupations of each family member and signaling a systematic expansion with roughly 13 million eligible for conscription.

Since 2024, young people have been abducted while walking home from work or forcibly taken from their homes, leaving families traumatized and communities shattered. Families are kept in the dark, forbidden from communicating, some discovering once loved ones have died in battle, others mortgaging their homes for their release.

Defectors and conscripts have testified that recruits are deployed directly to active frontlines with minimal training, used as cannon fodder and human shields, with officers shooting those who retreat. The United Nations Secretary-General also reported 2,138 grave violations against children, including forcing children, as young as 12, to join the battlefield.

Neighboring countries are worsening the crisis, with Thailand forcibly returning over 3,500 Myanmar nationals, some of whom were reportedly conscripted by junta soldiers at gunpoint, raising concerns of refoulement and human trafficking under international law.

“ASEAN member states cannot continue to look away while the junta abducts civilians and forces them into combat. ASEAN and the international community must take coordinated and principled action: condemn and hold the junta accountable, and ensure safe release and voluntary return of all conscripts to their families.” said Wong Chen, Member of Parliament for Subang, Malaysia, and Board Member of APHR.

APHR urges all neighboring countries to immediately halt deportations of Myanmar nationals and uphold the principle of non-refoulement ensuring the safety of young people fleeing Myanmar. The preservation of evidence and documentation of the junta’s human rights violations must be prioritized to support justice and accountability measures.

APHR stands in solidarity with families and communities in Myanmar grappling with the junta’s violent and oppressive regime, and calls on ASEAN and the international community to take urgent, coordinated action to stop this accelerating assault on Myanmar’s young generation.