Worldconflict
Myanmar's young men live in fear of forced military recruitment
Young men in Myanmar are living in constant fear of being abducted from the streets and forced into military service as the ruling junta struggles against armed resistance groups. Leaked documents indicate that authorities have been ordered to aggressively fulfill strict recruitment quotas. Following a series of major battlefield losses and severe desertion rates, the military regime enacted a mandatory conscription law. This has led to widespread corruption, extortion, and arbitrary arrests targeting teenagers and men in their twenties and thirties.