Mizzima
The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) issued a statement on 15 February to reject the Myanmar junta’s military conscription law and call for international support to push back against it.
The NUCC is an advisory body to Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) that is fighting against the illegal military regime that grabbed power in a coup in 2021.
According to the statement: “The illegal terrorist military junta announced that the Conscription Law (2010), enacted by military dictators, will go into force on February 10. This reckless action by the junta clearly demonstrated its failure, while also creating more oppression against the people adding to their existing hardships in their daily lives. This type of oppression can be interpreted as one of the military’s tactics to commit enforced disappearance against the public members.
“The implementation of conscription law forcibly pushes the country’s youth and students into the war and uses them as human shields, which constitutes a war crime.
“Terrorist military juntas continue to perpetrate serious crimes because of the lack of international accountability mechanisms for their actions. Since the military junta is a terrorist group, it creates an unstable regional dynamic that requires immediate responses from neighbouring countries, ASEAN, and the United Nations. Therefore, we urge the international community to take effective action against military atrocities and provide humanitarian assistance to people and youths fleeing to other countries.”
In addition, the NUCC called for resistance support: “Revolutionary forces need to prepare how to handle the situation, along with consideration for their own security measures. If youths and people do not wish to be forcibly recruited by the law, they are encouraged to join the Spring Revolution by going to liberated areas and collaborating with revolutionary forces.
“The National Unity Consultative Council will collaborate with the National Unity Government and revolutionary forces, including ethnic resistance organizations, to protect people and youths in the implementation of necessary plans and arrangements,” the statement concludes.
