Myanmar Regime Admits Abducting Young Men for Conscription

Myanmar’s military regime has admitted that it snatches young men from their homes and the streets to conscript them, publicly acknowledging for the first time a long-rumored practice that has sparked outrage around the world.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Min Thu told the regime’s rubber-stamp Parliament this week that authorities were “compelled” to raid homes and seize young men at checkpoints because many were fleeing their townships to avoid the draft.

The admission came in response to a question from a lawmaker from Sagaing Region’s Hkamti Township, who raised concerns over arbitrary arrests and abductions in his constituency.

Gon Wan said local administrators were illegally arresting young men and schoolboys, frightening residents and driving many youngsters from their homes.

“Arresting [young men] at checkpoints and from houses goes beyond the Conscription Law and by-laws,” he said. “Some of the detainees were identified as students. Young men are afraid to live in Hkamti town because of the arrests.”

But Min Thu insisted the raids were lawful, claiming they targeted only those who failed to report for duty. He insisted that only draft dodgers are arrested at checkpoints on roads out of town, based on lists that the authorities distribute to them.

He said Hkamti has nearly 5,000 men aged 18–35 eligible for service, with exemptions for students, only sons in families with elderly parents, and the disabled reducing the pool to about 2,000. But so far only 320 men have been conscripted there, while 16 evaded the draft.

“Action will be taken against them if they are found during overnight guest inspections and at checkpoints,” warned Min Thu, who is himself a major general in the army.

Evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine. Pretending to be sick or disabled to evade conscription is punishable by five years in prison.

The regime revived the long-dormant Conscription Law in February 2024, requiring all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve at least two years in the military—roughly 13 million citizens.

Since then, the regime is believed to have drafted around 130,000 recruits in 26 batches of 5,000. But even at this scale, the military remains overstretched, battling resistance forces on multiple fronts.

The law resulted in a mass exodus of young people, with neighboring Thailand becoming a hub for draft evaders. Last year, the regime started trying to prevent anyone eligible for military conscription from leaving the country altogether.

There have long been reports of officials and freelance operators abducting young men and even youngsters under 18 from homes, streets, and overland buses and press-ganging them into military service, but this is the first time the regime has admitted the practice.

Routine abductions have been reported in major cities like Yangon and Mandalay, where young men in some areas are afraid to go out after dark. Amid endemic corruption, many cases degenerate into outright kidnapping for ransom.