Myanmar's military junta has been using plain-clothed operatives to arbitrarily arrest young people in their teens, 20s and 30s across towns including Hpa-An in Karen state, forcing them into military service to meet recruitment quotas under a 2024 mandatory conscription law, according to leaked documents seen by BBC Burmese. The law requires men aged 18–35 and women aged 18–27 to serve at least two years, with refusal carrying up to five years in prison, and an estimated 100,000 recruits have been conscripted since early 2024 — many through coercion and extortion. Myanmar has been in civil war since a February 2021 military coup ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with the junta suffering significant losses, plummeting morale and high desertion rates that drove the conscription drive.
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