This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Myanmar junta officials tasked with drafting new recruits for the military are arresting young people and demanding ransoms of more than US$3,000 from their families for their release — and pocketing the money themselves, residents told Radio Free Asia.
If the families don’t pay up, the conscripts are forced to join the military in its fight against rebels in Myanmar’s nearly four-year civil war.
Authorities are also forcibly collecting smaller amounts of money from households under the pretext of raising funds to pay for the conscripts’ food and supplies, residents said.
The moves come about six months after the junta began conscripting young people to shore up its dwindling military ranks amid mounting battlefield losses. A law requires men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 to serve a minimum of two years, and young people have been fleeing the country ever since.
“The junta normally arrest young people in almost every village at nights, even inside the houses. Some were released with ransom money,” said a resident of Okpho township in Bago region. “In some cases, the ransom was paid 3.5 or 4 million kyat per person.”
At the time of publishing, the official exchange rate was 2,100 kyats to the U.S. dollar, while the black-market exchange rate was 4,300 kyats per dollar. So 4 million kyats would range from US$930 to US$1,900.
