A/HRC/39/CRP.2 sons,731 exceptions to this requirement were sometimes permitted in special circumstances, 732 for example when a person had to take care of his elderly parents. One source provided the following information on the recruitment process: If there are two brothers then one must join the TNLA. The “person in charge” from the TNLA would inform the village administrator about who should join. At the beginning of 2011, the TNLA started to collect the names of people who should join the TNLA. The understanding was that the next time they came back he would need to join. The TNLA would collect names once every two years.733 337. Other sources stated that the policy was stricter, and each household had to provide one person to serve and join the TNLA, with no opportunity to object.734 For example, one woman mentioned that the TNLA recruited her 26-year old son by force in 2016, in Namhsan Township, Shan State. The village administrator, under the orders of the TNLA, selected her son for recruitment. He has not returned to his home, more than two years later: My son did not want to join the TNLA to fight. He hid for years in a monastery to avoid forced recruitment but when he returned to the village to visit us, he was caught. Since my son was recruited, I have not heard from him. I always check Facebook to see if I will recognise him in a post, either dead or alive.735 338. Another victim of forced recruitment shared with the Mission that he was forced to participate in the TNLA military training, but managed to escape during a religious festival. He fled because he wanted to take care of his mother. But he said that he was not able to return home to his village, because the TNLA would catch him, and he therefore went to Yangon and eventually fled the country.736 339. According to one witness, the MNDAA also required one member of each household, normally young men, to join their ranks. The witness mentioned that he was one of two brothers and he had to hide from the MNDAA because he did not want to be recruited. He eventually fled the country because he feared both the MNDAA recruitment and the Tatmadaw.737 Another witness mentioned that he fled the Kokang Self-Administered Zone because he feared being recruited by the MNDAA. He said, “I was afraid to be recruited by the Kokang Army [MNDAA] so I decided to flee to Lashio. I wanted to go back home to Kokang but I was told that the MNDAA would be looking for me.” 738 340. Accounts received indicate that the KIA may also have maintained a “voluntary” recruitment policy which in practice amounted to forced recruitment. The KIA sent letters to many households, including to those in IDP camps, requesting a member of each family to voluntarily join the KIA. 739 However, according to one source, many civilians understood recruitment to be obligatory. 740 One interviewee stated that, “After receiving the letter from the KIA, my father decided that my eldest sister would join”. 741 Another source mentioned that, “The KIA sent us a letter asking us to join voluntarily. They came very often and asked us to join but I had no interest in becoming a soldier. I have too many family responsibilities and I do not like shooting guns.” 742 Another source gave information that indicated the manner in which the “voluntary” policy was enforced: The KIA recruited soldiers from my town. If we did not go voluntarily, we would be arrested and forced to go. When the war started again in 2011, the KIA told former 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 PI-015, PI-095, PI-096, PI-101. PI-101, QI-088. QI-088. PI-072, PI-096, PI-112. PI-097. QI-088. QI-092. PI-015. PI-033, QI-094, QI-096. QI-081. QI-096. QI-094. 85