Tensions in Myanmar are rising once again. On February 10, 2024, the military junta decided to enforce a 2010 law imposing compulsory military service. According to “The People’s Military Service Law,” all men aged 18-35 and all women aged 18-27 are required to serve for at least two years, with “skilled” individuals, namely doctors and engineers, to remain in service for up to five years.
The execution of this provision has been met with strong criticism by opposition parties and international experts. Journalist Sebastian Strangio reports that Linn Thant, a representative of the opposition National Unity Government based in Prague, stated that “by legalising mandatory military service, the junta effectively grants itself the license to abduct citizens, subject them to forced labor, and even use them as human shields, all while undermining the fundamental rights and dignity of the Myanmar people.” On the same page was a remark made by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at the 55th Session of the Human Rights Council – Interactive Dialogue on Myanmar, which condemned the act of the Tatmadaw regime and described it as being “extremely worrying and symbolic of the absence of the rule of law.”
The introduction of compulsory conscription is worrisome. It is a sign that the country is facing even more instability, and human rights violations are going to escalate even further. Following the announcement, hordes of young people have started to flee the country or reached out to foreign embassies, looking for asylum and a way to escape. Some went into hiding, while others resorted to joining the rebels. Additionally, there have been reports of the junta already carrying out forced enlistments by arbitrarily arresting people on the streets or even kidnapping them to make them join the army. As Türk mentioned in his speech, reports presented to the OHCHR state that “in some places, the military has abducted individuals while in others they have threatened communities with burning their villages unless their young people are made to serve.”
The situation in Myanmar has been unstable for years. In the aftermath of the seizure of power by the military junta in the 2021 coup, which overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country has faced significant instability and sustained clashes between the army and rebel groups. Since last October, the situation has become even more dire. Fighting has escalated exponentially, and with the Tatmadaw regime facing a severe and growing shortage of military personnel, the only way out of this crisis is the hasty implementation of the 2010 law.
The enforcement of mandatory military service is another attempt by the junta to claw back control of the country, even though it is highly likely that such desperate measures will have severe consequences. In the short term, this measure will only exacerbate abuses perpetrated by the armed forces, which already have a long history of press-ganging people into joining the military as minesweepers, combat porters, and human shields. In the long run, it will likely culminate in a large-scale conflict between the Tatmadaw junta and pro-democracy freedom fighters.
Türk, during his address at the Interactive Dialogue for Myanmar in early March, called “for the immediate cessation of operations in or around civilian areas, for the full protection of all civilians, for the military to release all political prisoners, and for full compliance with international human rights law.” This is a call-to-action we can all agree with. Governments throughout the globe must take all the necessary steps to end the military’s access to arms and to support all actors, such as the National Unity Government, ethnic organisations, and civil society in Myanmar, to “create a pathway to the restoration of democracy and the civilian rule.” As Türk emphasised, “This is the moment to enable the democratic movement to build an inclusive political consensus to end this human rights crisis.” The people of Myanmar have been facing these terrors alone for the last three years. Now is the time to support them in their quest for freedom and democracy.
