Almost 3,600 Burmese were arrested in Thailand in more than three months after the conscription law was issued

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In more than three months after the Military Council promulgated the Militia Conscription Law, nearly 3,600 undocumented Myanmar nationals who arrived in Thailand have been arrested, according to migrant workers.

This law, which was drafted during the time of former dictator U Than Shwe, was approved and implemented by the current leader of the Military Council on February 10, 2024. Therefore, the young people who are covered by that law are running away from the road.

Therefore, in February, nine hundred people were arrested because they did not have a legal residence permit when they arrived in Thailand. A thousand in March He said 1,100 were arrested in April and nearly 600 were arrested until mid-May, bringing the total to nearly 3,600. This number is Thai authorities, Royal Thai Army Thai Border Guard According to the statements of the Thai ambassadors and reports from the Thai news media, labor activists said.

"Those responsible, when questioned by the security team through an interpreter, said that they were elderly men and women who fled because they were afraid of Myanmar's conscription law. "

Among those arrested were children, Chairman of the Joint Action Committee for Burmese People's Affairs, U Moe Ning, told RFA.

"In the past three and a half months, there are around 3,600 Myanmar people who crossed the border illegally. Those responsible for them, when the security teams questioned them through an interpreter, they told me that they were old men and women who fled because they were afraid of Myanmar's conscription law. Lately, there are also children with them."

U Min Oo, head of labor at the Thailand-based Foundation for Education and Development (FED), told RFA that the risks are high for those who are repatriated.

"Repatriation is too dangerous for those who have fled. The Thai government is very weak in thinking about the danger to those people if they are sent back."

U Moe Yeung criticized that sending back those who were captured is like turning the other side and giving soldiers to the military council.

"If we talk about the military service law that is being implemented from the beginning, we have poured gasoline on the fire. We consider that it has turned around and recruited soldiers."

The Telegram channel of the Ministry of Information under the Military Council announced on March 20 that it was false news that young people were leaving the border and foreign countries due to the military service law.

RFA also contacted the Thai embassy in Yangon in Yangon to inquire about the Myanmar nationals arrested on the Thai side, but as of the morning of May 27, RFA has not yet received a reply.

Last May 13, Thailand The Chiang Mai District Immigration Department announced that 27 Myanmar nationals living in Chiang Mai without documents were detained.