Locals claim that a militia operating under the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) has been forcibly recruiting members from villages across multiple southern Shan State townships to fight against anti-junta resistance groups.
The military started a series of renewed assaults on southern Shan State in April, searching for guerrilla fighters and their bases. Armed forces operating under the PNO have been described by the resistance as fighting alongside the Myanmar army during clashes in the region, an allegation which the PNO has denied.
Anti-coup guerrilla groups have, since early this year, been active in Aung Ban, Kalaw, Nyaungshwe, Pindaya, Taunggyi and Ywangan townships in collaboration with defence forces based in neighbouring Karenni (Kayah) State.
Conscription into a PNO-aligned militia has allegedly been taking place in these areas since May, as well as in the townships of Lawksawk, Loilem, Mawkmai and Namsang, and the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone in Hsihseng, Hopong and Pinlaung.
Members of local resistance forces have gone as far as to accuse the PNO of forming chapters of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee in the region: militias of plainclothes junta allies typically trained and armed by Myanmar’s military council, which have been implicated in brutal assaults on villages in central and northwestern Myanmar.
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‘Money and men’
Locals described to Myanmar Now scenarios in which militia members affiliated with the PNO had arrived in their villages and demanded financial contributions as well as setting a quota of men to enlist in their forces.
One source said that the militia carried out such an attempt in Hopong Township’s Yankin village in early May, calling for 13 villagers to join their group and a payment of 30,000 kyat (US$16) from each household at a time in which many families in the region have little to no income.
The recruits were reportedly selected at random through a drawing in which every man under the age of 45 was required to submit his name.
Those who were chosen but did not want to serve were required to sign a contract stating that they would find a replacement, the local source explained.
“It’s very hard for people who are poor, as they are asking for not only money but also men,” he said, adding that larger villages were required to put forward as many as 15 men.
The militia also reportedly called a meeting of administrators from at least 20 communities in Nang Toke village tract in Pinlaung Township on June 15 to discuss plans to form smaller chapters, according to another local who attended the event.
“They said during the meeting that the purpose [of the recruitment] was not to fight in other regions but to protect one’s own village,” the individual said.
Five men from Nang Toke were allegedly selected to undergo one month of combat training, after which they would be required to teach other villagers to fight.
Another local from neighbouring Pin Som said that youth in his village were opposed to their mandated involvement in the militia.
“They don’t agree with this at all. They don’t even want to stay in this community anymore,” he explained, adding that some were planning to seek work across the border in Thailand to avoid conscription.
He confirmed that recruiters had demanded the payment of 30,000 kyat from every family in his village tract and that it had caused significant financial hardship.
“There are some families that couldn’t pay that amount of money. They had to borrow from the village’s own funds to pay it off,” he said.
When contacted by Myanmar Now, PNO officer Lt-Col Khun Aung Than admitted to having asked for financial contributions from locals.
“We need money to protect our own villages,” he said, but did not elaborate.
Concerning the allegations of forced recruitment, he stated that it was mandatory for men between the ages of 18 and 35 to undergo combat training and learn martial arts.
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Allegations of collaboration
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) and its allies have told Myanmar Now that the PNO has been seen fighting alongside the junta forces during battles.
Accompanied by the Pekhon People’s Defence Force and other local guerrilla groups, in early May the KNDF attacked a military outpost near Hti Ri village in Nyaungshwe, near the township border with Pekhon. They reported that the location was manned by both junta and PNO personnel, and that some 15 troops were killed and five taken prisoner.
The PNO’s Lt-Col Khun Aung Than rejected the allegation that his group was collaborating with the military, but did not deny the presence of PNO members at the outpost.
“It is true that we were with the military personnel as it is inside our territory. We have never trespassed into anyone’s territory but we will attack whoever trespasses into ours,” he said.
The PNO was founded in 1949 but was restructured into a militia after its leadership signed a ceasefire with an earlier junta in 1991. It is currently headed by Aung Kham Hti, who is known to have close ties to the military.
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Many more deaths
On December 3, the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force captured four junta troops from LIB 108, the unit responsible for the Moso killings. However, it has yet to confirm whether the soldiers in its custody were among those who took part in the incident.
Moreover, even if they could shed some light on the events that led to the deaths of dozens of innocent civilians more than a year ago, the soldiers’ testimonies would have limited legal value, according to Bo Bo.
“We can’t make the captured soldiers testify because they are prisoners of war, which means that they would not be testifying of their own free will. In other words, their testimonies can be influenced and so cannot be used in court,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement released on December 23, IIMM head Nicholas Koumjian said that the human rights body continues to collect data on war crimes committed by the military all over the country in order to hold the perpetrators accountable.
According to Thae Mar, there have been many more deaths over the past year. “The things that have happened this year were unspeakably horrifying,” she said.
Less than a month after they were forced to flee Moso, residents of the village experienced renewed terror when they were hit by a junta airstrike while sheltering at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Three people, including two young sisters, were killed in that attack.
Being constantly hounded by the regime has taken a severe toll on the lives of the Moso villagers, at least five of whom have died due to their psychological trauma, according to Thae Mar.
“I just want this year to end so we can get past this chapter of our lives,” she said as 2022—the worst year of her life—drew to a close.
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The Myanmar Pou Chen garment factory singles out and fires labour union members believed to have organised a 2,000-person strike
Myanmar Pou Chen labour union chair Phyo Thida Win, who was among the dismissed workers, said that the offer of re-employment did not accommodate the workers’ initial demands for paid overtime, guaranteed days off, and manageable production targets. Officials instead reportedly only offered to compensate the employees for the period in which they were laid off.
“We were asked to sign a contract that said we were satisfied and would not negotiate further. We cannot accept that,” he told Myanmar Now. “They did not accept any of the terms we proposed. It seemed like we were being made to simply accept their conditions, so I didn’t sign and I left.”
He was among 17 employees who refused the offer; the remaining nine accepted the compensation before then resigning. With negotiations having effectively failed with the factory officials, the workers said that they would next relay their demands to Adidas.
Phyo Thida Win added that the officials in question had also refused to allow the union to join a Work Coordination Committee (WCC), problem-solving mechanisms which in theory must have equal representation between employees and employers but have been described by union leaders as “notorious for working in favour of the employer.” The junta requires complaints to be filed with WCCs before the issues can be considered by the regime labour ministry.
Shortly after the February 2021 military coup, which was widely protested by the labour movement, the junta declared trade unions and workers’ rights organisations to be illegal. Factory employees began forming WCCs, however, labour rights activists noted that the members selected to represent the workers typically were those who had positive relations with the employers, rather than those with a background in advocacy. At Myanmar Pou Chen, for example, union members were barred from entering the selection pool of candidates to serve on the committee, Phyo Thida Win said.
Factory officials did not respond to Myanmar Now’s requests for comment on the negotiations with the employees in question.
Demands to raise the minimum wage at Myanmar Pou Chen were initiated on August 14 to compensate for the soaring of basic commodities in the aftermath of the February 2021 coup. Workers at factories throughout Yangon have also reported an uptick in verbal and physical abuse by their supervisors during this time, and the termination of social security benefits.
In 2015, under the government led by former general Thein Sein, the minimum wage was set at 3,600 kyat for an eight-hour work day, then valued at approximately $2.70. The minimum wage was raised to 4,800 kyat in 2018 under Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government, worth around $3.60 at that time.
Laws dictate that Myanmar’s daily minimum wage should be reviewed every two years, but at the time of reporting, the current rates had not changed in nearly five years. Although the military has been amending and abolishing a range of laws since their seizure of power, they have not made changes to statutes concerning minimum wage.