You do not stay out after dark if you're young and able-bodied in Hpa-An, the capital of Myanmar's southern Karen state. In recent months this has become conventional wisdom. "I worry, but I have to go out to work," says the 26-year-old tuk tuk driver, who asked that his real name be omitted out of fear for his safety.
"My family call me all the time and remind me not to drive passengers too far; to be careful who I take as a passenger... I have to be vigilant all the time. "People are panicked and frightened," he explains.
"Some people I know have been taken." Locals say plain-clothed members and supporters of the Myanmar junta have been roaming the streets of Hpa-An, arbitrarily arresting people in their teens, 20s and 30s and forcing them into military service. According to leaked documents seen by BBC Burmese, authorities have been ordered to aggressively fulfil the military's recruitment quotas across jurisdictions, bolstering the junta's ranks as it endures a war of attrition against ethnic militias, pro-democracy groups and civilian-led resistance movements. Zaw Min is the only one among his siblings who is at the age of recruitment.
Many other "kids" his age have fled, he says – to Thailand, or the homes of relatives further afield. Those who remain are often under strict instructions from their parents: be home before dusk. Myanmar has been locked in a bloody civil war since February 2021, when its own military launched a coup d'etat and ousted democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Three years later, following a string of humiliating losses, plummeting morale and soaring rates of desertion, the junta enacted a mandatory conscription law that required all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve at least two years under military command. Those who refuse face up to five years in prison. The enactment of the law "represents one of the most severe and impactful actions taken against the entire civilian population since the military coup", according to Maj Naung Yoe, military affairs official at the Myanmar Defense and Security Institute (MDSI) and a former military officer who defected and joined the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement.
Hpa-An is the latest to be caught in a dragnet that's already ensnared an estimated 100,000 young recruits over the past two-and-a-half years – many of them via coercion, extortion and abductions. "Security forces track young people's movements to arrest them, force them into service under the pretext of statutory military eligibility, extort money through threats of detention, and arrest individuals during guest-list inspections," Naung Yoe says. The BBC contacted the Myanmar government's Central Body for Summoning People's Military Servants regarding incidents mentioned in this story, including the forced recruitment of conscripts and reports of abductions allegedly carried out in recent months.
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