(WASHINGTON D.C., August 14, 2025)—On August 14, 2025, the United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor published its annual “Burma 2024 Human Rights Report,” outlining significant human rights issues. Among the issues highlighted, the report mentions Fortify Rights’s work on forced conscription. The report reads:
The human rights NGO Fortify Rights, in a July 26 news release, implicated the regime military in transnational abductions of Rohingya men as part of its mandatory conscription program. According to the release, the organization spoke with at least four men who reported being abducted by members of Rohingya armed groups operating in refugee camps in Bangladesh. One youth, age 17, said he was taken by his abductors to the Myo Tku Gyi border police headquarters in Burma, where he was handed over to Burmese regime military. Another man reported being one of a group of 11 abductees handed over to Burmese regime forces on May 3 at Tiknaf [also known as Teknaf] on the Burmese-Bangladeshi border.
On July 26, 2024, Fortify Rights published a news release in English and Burmese languages advocating for Rohingya armed groups to prevent abductions of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who end up being forcibly conscripted into the Myanmar junta military. In the news release, Fortify Rights documented how Rohingya refugees were being abducted from refugee camps in Bangladesh, transported to Myanmar, and forced to join the Myanmar junta’s military. These acts may violate the laws of war and amount to human trafficking.