Thai authorities have arrested over 900 Myanmar people for illegal entry in areas along the Thai-Myanmar border since February, more than half of them youths fleeing the junta’s newly enforced conscription law, according to a rights group assisting Myanmar migrants.
The junta’s shock activation of the People’s Military Service Law in February immediately rendered almost all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 eligible for conscription and triggered a mass exodus of young people to Thailand.
The junta announced the enforcement of the law on Feb. 10 amid a shortage of troops, following a series of military defeats after an alliance of ethnic armies launched Operation 1027 in northern Shan State in November last year.
Since the second week of February, the number of Myanmar youths entering Thailand illegally has increased sharply, and the number being arrested by Thai police has also surged, said Ko Min Oo of the Foundation for Education and Development (FED), an organization helping migrants in Thailand.
“According to our data collected from Feb. 15 to May 27, the number of Myanmar citizens arrested was 918. Over half of those we interviewed said they left Myanmar to avoid the military service law,” he said.
FED conducted 31 data-collection sessions in Thailand, interviewing arrested people over a period of three months at the four main Thai checkpoints on the border, in Kanchanaburi, Mae Sot, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Ranong.
However, Thailand’s more than 2,400 km-long (more than 1,500-mile) border with Myanmar is dotted with illegal crossing points that can be reached through jungle areas.
Ko Min Oo said the actual number of the arrests even at the four main Thai border entry points at which the group collected data could be higher, as some cases were likely missed or beyond the reach of researchers. At the same time, arrests have been reported in other areas as well. As a result, the overall number of arrests since February could well be in the thousands, given the long border and the number of places where people are trying to cross the border illegally.
Of the four entrance points, Kanchanaburi and Mae Sot were the most popular for Myanmar people fleeing forced conscription, followed by Prachuap Khiri Khan and Ranong.
While it is not yet able to provide a full gender breakdown of the arrestees, as of the last week of May the FED had verified that those detained included at least 300 men and 160 women.
During the four months, Thai authorities sent detainees back to Myanmar on two occasions. Although the size of the first batch was unknown, over 170 people were repatriated in the second, the group said.
“They had to pay agents [in Myanmar] at least 20,000 Thai baht each [about US$540] to cross the border to come to the Thai side. For those who are arrested, it costs them double or triple that amount [in fines and bribes to Thai police] and some are sent back to Myanmar,” Ko Min Oo added.
The military regime announced in the second week of February that it would draft 5,000 conscripts in each batch and aimed to “recruit” a total of 50,000 people per year.
The military junta forcibly recruited its first batch of conscripts in April. It is currently preparing for another intake in June.
