More than 2,000 junta soldiers, police and conscripts defected, surrendered or were captured from January to September this year, according to People’s Goal, a group formed by defecting soldiers involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
The group said the figures include three categories—those who voluntarily surrendered, those who defected to the resistance, and those who became prisoners of war after being captured.
According to People’s Goal, the nine‑month tally includes 880 junta soldiers who defected, 135 who surrendered, and 916 who were captured. Among police, 28 defected and 16 were captured, while 56 conscripts defected and 99 were taken prisoner.
Many defections were linked to the junta’s Conscription Law, which has driven growing numbers of young men to flee military service and seek protection with resistance forces, said an officer from People’s Goal.
“In recent months, we are also seeing more cases of conscripts defecting in groups rather than individually,” he said.
Most defections were reported in Sagaing and Magwe regions in central Myanmar, the group added. In the fourth week of September alone, 14 junta conscripts defected to resistance forces.
The junta has been enforcing its conscription law nationwide, forcibly recruiting young people, training them and, in most cases, sending them straight to the front lines. Resistance groups say this has led to both individual and group defections, as well as surrenders during battle.
The regime is currently training its 17th batch of forcibly conscripted recruits at its various regional command headquarters. The Myanmar military is believed to have drafted around 85,000 individuals since enforcing the long-dormant conscription law in February last year.
Former army captain Zin Yaw, who joined the CDM after the 2021 coup, said the junta’s dependence on forced recruits is unsustainable. “These people are not joining willingly—they are being coerced. The military is training around 5,000 new conscripts each month. But if they desert or defect, and we help them do so, that manpower is lost to the regime,” he said.
Defectors who bring weapons are rewarded by resistance groups and given the option to live in liberated areas or move freely elsewhere, according to People’s Goal.
Junta troops captured on battlefields are being detained under the respective resistance groups’ prisoner‑of‑war regulations, and are punished for any crimes they are found to have committed, the group said.
