A/HRC/60/20 Mandalay Regions had the highest number of reported incidents. In one emblematic incident, on 14 February 2025 in Kan Gyi village, Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, members of an anti-military armed group killed a Catholic priest in the Our Lady of Lourdes church with a sword after accusing him of being a military informant. Responding to OHCHR, the National Unity Government reported that the “alleged perpetrators were detained by PDF Battalion No. 5 in Shwebo District” and that it had established an ad hoc court to investigate the killing. At the time of writing, the court has not issued a sentence. 25. Other reported cases included the deaths of and other abuses against individuals detained by anti-military armed groups, the extensive use of landmines, seizures of land and the violent suppression of peaceful protests against the extraction of natural resources. Complaints were also received with respect to areas under the control of the National Unity Government, including several allegations of corruption and instances of abuse of power by local security forces. D. Other human rights and associated protection concerns 26. Beyond such incidents, civilians, especially ethnic minority communities in areas where pervasive fighting continued, remained exposed to multiple human rights violations, abuses and associated protection risks, including through conscription and forced recruitment, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, sexual violence, the denial of humanitarian assistance, particularly during natural disasters, food insecurity and the spread of communicable diseases due to a lack of services and inadequate living conditions. Also of serious concern was the increase in reports of trafficking in persons in relation to scam centres. Such centres are reportedly enabled by entrenched impunity, rampant corruption and a weakened rule of law since the military’s seizure of power. Further investigation and analysis of the impact on the civilian population of the transnational criminal networks that run the centres are needed. 27. Waves of military conscription, which have to date forced an estimated 65,000 young people into military service, have exacerbated protection concerns, causing widespread fear, displacement and negative gender and socioeconomic impacts. Many families increasingly have had to rely for their livelihood on mothers, wives and daughters, who undertake exhausting, low-paid labour in the absence of their husbands and sons – the traditional breadwinners.9 28. During the reporting period, fear of conscription led many to flee to areas outside of military control and abroad, while fear of retaliation uprooted whole families, disrupting livelihoods and social cohesion. OHCHR received reports of the military entering villages, rounding up men and arbitrarily arresting them, then releasing those above the conscription age while detaining others, who were either taken to military bases or forced into portering and other duties. Interviewees reported cases of the military threatening or extorting civilians to pay between 7 and 10 million kyats ($3,300–4,700) to avoid conscription or to secure the release of relatives apprehended for conscription. Mental health impacts on conscripts were also reported, with many feeling that their futures had been stolen, as they had been prevented from pursuing educational or professional opportunities. 29. Concerns for civilians were exacerbated by instances of forced recruitment by ethnic armed organizations in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine States. Interviewees described anti-military armed groups organizing recruitment drives and imposing household quotas for recruits, coupled with punishments for families or communities that refused to comply. Although such policies appeared primarily to target people sharing an armed group’s own ethnic identity, several incidents were reported where individuals from other ethnicities had been forcibly recruited to satisfy recruitment targets. 30. Food insecurity continued to increase, linked to armed conflict, economic instability and natural disasters. An estimated 15.2 million people, nearly a third of the country’s population, were projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, a sharp 9 6 See https://ndburma.org/the-enlistment-of-women, p. 10.