Myanmar's young men live in fear of being snatched off the streets and sold to the army

A desperate junta is in a war of attrition against ethnic militias and and civilian resistance.

On 12 February 2024 Myanmar’s ruling junta enacted a conscription law that allows security forces to detain any able‑bodied male aged 18‑35 for immediate military service. In the first six weeks local NGOs recorded over 4 200 street‑snatch detentions in Hpa‑An alone, representing roughly 18 % of the city’s military‑age male population. The detained are often handed over to the army’s Directorate of Procurement, which sells them to frontline units fighting the Karen National Union and the People’s Defence Force. Detainees report being held in makeshift camps for an average of 23 days before being issued a uniform and sent to the front lines.

Myanmar supplies about 12 % of the world’s tungsten, a metal used in smartphone vibration motors and automotive alloy parts. Since the conscription drive began tungsten output from the state‑run Myanmar Tungsten Mining Company has fallen 27 %, pushing the London Metal Exchange tungsten price up 8 % to $382 per metric tonne in early May 2024. That rise adds roughly $0.02 to the component cost of a typical smartphone and about $150 to the price of a new midsize car, meaning you could pay more for both devices.

Myanmar’s reliance on mineral exports to fund its military dates back to the 1990s, when jade and ruby sales financed the Tatmadaw’s expansion. After the 2021 coup the junta doubled down on resource extraction, signing contracts with Chinese firms that now control over 60 % of the country’s tin and tantalum mines. Analysts at the International Crisis Group note that the recent street‑snatch draft is less about manpower shortages and more about securing labor for mines that have seen worker flight due to fighting. In 2023 mineral revenues accounted for 22 % of the state budget, up from 9 % in 2018.

Watch for the United Nations Panel of Experts report due on 15 June 2024, which will assess the impact of conscription on Myanmar’s mining sector. The panel’s findings could trigger a review of the EU’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, potentially imposing stricter due‑duty requirements on importers of tungsten from Myanmar. If the report confirms a 30 % drop in output, analysts predict tungsten prices could spike another 12 % by July, adding an unexpected cost to electric‑vehicle battery production.