MYANMAR’S military government said it will draft 60,000 young men and women yearly for military service under its newly activated conscription law, with call-ups beginning after the April festival marking the country’s traditional new year.

The conscription measure was activated on Saturday by order of the chairman of the ruling military council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

His announcement appeared to confirm that the military has been stretched thin by increasing pressure from armed pro-democracy resistance forces that emerged after the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Under the law, men aged 18 to 35 and women 18 to 27 can be drafted into the armed forces for two years. 

A higher age limit of 45 for men and 35 for women applies in certain professional categories such as medical doctors and engineers, and their term of service is three years.

The army’s information office said in a statement sent to journalists that 5,000 people each month will be called up and given training. 

Myanmar’s shadow national unity government (NUG) said the military regime “now seeks to force Myanmar civilians to fight and to serve as human shields in a horrific war of its own making against its own people.”