Fear of forced recruitment spreads among young men in Myanmar

In Hpa-An, the capital of Myanmar’s southern Karen State, a 26-year-old tuk-tuk driver said he remains vigilant while working and that relatives warn him not to take passengers too far or trust every passenger. He spoke anonymously because of safety concerns. [1][2]

Residents described avoiding going out after dark, while the driver said people he knows had been taken. These accounts indicate a reported climate of fear, but the excerpts do not establish the total number of people forcibly recruited or the circumstances of each disappearance. [1][2]

Myanmar Witness analysed hundreds of missing-person notices posted on Facebook between 2021 and 2025. It found that notices for January rose from four in 2021, before the conscription law, to 82 in 2025, after it, although the figures are not presented as a complete national count. [1][2]

The reported fear is unfolding during a civil war that began after the military removed Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021. The excerpts link the conflict and conscription concerns to worsening insecurity, but do not document a new recruitment order in the current reporting. [1][2]

A UNDP nationwide telephone survey of 7,463 households found that 18 million people were living in poverty and another 19.5 million were vulnerable to poverty. Health and living-standard deficits accounted for more than 80% of measured poverty, according to the report. [3]