Nearly 300 youths forcibly recruited for junta’s 18th conscription batch in Mon State

October 20, 2025

HURFOM: Although the junta officially announced that about 200 young people were recruited for Batch 18 of its People’s Military Service Training in Mon State, HURFOM’s field documentation shows that the actual number is higher; between 280 and 300 youths have been forcibly taken. Many were arrested during intensified conscription operations in September and October, which targeted local men across the state. Among them are young people who fled their homes to avoid arrest and others who remain missing after being detained by the Junta’s forces.

The recruits were brought to the Southeastern Command Headquarters in Mawlamyine on October 17 to begin People’s Military Service Training Course No. 18 (10/2025). Senior Junta officials, including Acting Chief Minister Colonel Kyaw Swar Myint and other state ministers, attended the ceremony to encourage the conscripts.

However, residents said most of the youths were forcibly taken from homes, workplaces, and streets. “The militia group, local administrators, and police–military joint forces constantly monitor young people. They arrest them at city gates, pull them off vehicles, or even enter homes to seize them,” said one local man.

A 45-year-old eyewitness from Mudon Township told HURFOM reporters that conscription raids have become widespread in recent weeks:

“Since early September until now, Junta troops and recruitment teams have focused their operations on young people. We have seen it happening along the main roads between our township and Kyaikmayaw. Some local youths — especially students traveling toward Kyun Village — have gone missing. Parents have been visiting military camps to ask about their children. Many of those who disappeared left home by motorcycle and never came back. Soldiers and police are also arresting young men at long-distance bus gates and checkpoints, even when they have done nothing wrong.”

Parents across Mon State said village administrators are now targeting local men directly, as they can no longer find substitutes to meet the Junta’s recruitment quotas.

“There’s no safety anymore, not even at home,” said a mother from Mawlamyine. “Both day and night, people live in fear of being taken.”

Conscription training now takes place every month, and as the Junta pushes ahead toward its planned sham election, the campaign to recruit new soldiers has intensified. Those detained are rarely released; most are sent directly into service unless they can pay large bribes or have connections with military officials.

A source close to the military estimated that from Batch 1 to Batch 18, nearly 4,000 youths from Mon State have been forcibly recruited under the Junta’s People’s Military Service program. This campaign continues to devastate families and communities across the state. [Photo: MOI]

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News