The Myanmar junta, struggling to maintain its grip on power amidst a grinding civil war, has turned to predatory recruitment tactics that critics describe as a state-sanctioned human trafficking enterprise.
Following the implementation of a mandatory conscription law for men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27, the regime has faced widespread desertion and internal resistance.
To compensate for these losses, local administrative bodies and security forces are reportedly abducting young people off the streets, using fake job offers as traps, and extorting families to meet military quotas. Reports indicate an illicit market has emerged where wealthy individuals can pay to avoid service, leaving the poor to be sold as replacements.
In one documented instance, a woman reported that her husband was sold by a local official to a different ward to fulfill a recruitment requirement. While some low-level officials have been arrested for kidnapping, the systemic pressure from the central regime to meet quotas has incentivized these abuses.
As the military continues its war of attrition against ethnic militias and pro-democracy groups, the junta is effectively forcing its own citizens into a conflict many of them actively oppose, further destabilizing the nation's economy and fueling a mass exodus of its youth.
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