Human trafficking in Myanmar

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Human trafficking is a major and complex societal issue in Myanmar, which is both a source and destination for human trafficking. Both major forms of human trafficking, namely forced labor and forced prostitution, are common in the country, affecting men, women, and children. Myanmar's systemic political and economic problems have made the Burmese people particularly vulnerable to trafficking. [1] Men, women, and children who migrate abroad to Thailand, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, India, and South Korea for work are often trafficked into conditions of forced or bonded labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Economic conditions within Myanmar have led to the increased legal and illegal migration of citizens regionally and internationally, often to destinations as far from Myanmar as the Middle East. As of July 2022, Myanmar remained on the lowest tier (Tier 3) of countries in the Trafficking in Persons Report. [2] The border regions of Myanmar, including Shwe Kokko, are known human trafficking destinations. [3]

Contents

Types of trafficking

Labour trafficking

Men are subjected to forced labour in the fishing [4] and construction industries abroad. The military's widespread use of and lack of accountability in forced labour and recruitment of child soldiers is the top causal factor for Myanmar's significant trafficking problem. [1] Most notably in the area of forced labour, the Government of Myanmar is not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Forced to commit fraud

Myanmar is an emerging destination for international labour trafficking, especially along its border areas. [5] Victims include nationals from throughout Asia, including China, [6] Hong Kong, [6] Malaysia, [6] Taiwan, [7] Thailand, [8] India, [9] the Philippines. [10] Victims are lured by the false promise of high-paying jobs, and are trafficked through major cities like Yangon and Bangkok, and transit points like Mae Sot, Chiang Rai. [5] They are then forced to work in industrial-scale fraud factories located in "special economic zones" along the country's borders such as Shwe Kokko. [5]

Sex trafficking

Women of Myanmar who migrate to Thailand, China, and Malaysia for economic opportunities are coerced into prostitution. Some trafficking victims transit through Myanmar from Bangladesh to Malaysia and from China to Thailand and beyond.

Exploiters traffic girls for the purpose of prostitution, particularly in urban areas. [1] Furthermore, due to the vast number of people living below the national poverty line, many women are forced into illegal prostitution. In some areas, in particular international sex trafficking of women and girls, the Government of Myanmar is making significant efforts.

The Government of Myanmar reported some progress in law enforcement efforts against cross-border sex trafficking during the reporting period. Myanmar prohibits sex and labor trafficking through its 2005 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, which prescribes criminal penalties that are sufficiently stringent, deterrent and condign with those prescribed for rape. The recruitment of children into the army is a criminal offence under the Myanmar Penal Code Section 374, which could culminate in imprisonment for up to a year, or a fine, or both. [1]

Progress

Since the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons began publishing the Trafficking in Persons Report in 2001, Myanmar has never advanced above the "Tier 2 Watchlist" rank. In 2017, it was upgraded to Tier 2 Watchlist. [11] In 2018 Myanmar was downgraded back to Tier 3, as the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking were never met and no efforts were made to meet them. However, in stark contrast to 2017, more traffickers have had been prosecuted and convicted and more victims identified. Also, as measures against the recruitment and use of child soldiers, more resources have been allotted to raising people's awareness of the issue. [12]

Trafficking in Persons Report rankings
YearRanking
2001Tier 3 [13]
2002Tier 3 [13]
2003Tier 3 [13]
2004Tier 3 [13]
2005Tier 3 [13]
2006Tier 3 [13]
2007Tier 3 [14]
2008Tier 3 [14]
2009Tier 3 [15]
2010Tier 3 [15]
2011Tier 3 [15]
2012Tier 2 Watch List [15]
2013Tier 2 Watch List [15]
2014Tier 2 Watch List [15]
2015Tier 2 Watch List [2]
2016Tier 3 [2]
2017Tier 2 Watch List [2]
2018Tier 3 [2]
2019Tier 3 [2]
2020Tier 3 [2]
2021Tier 3 [2]
2022Tier 3 [2]

Military involvement

The military of Myanmar engages in the unlawful conscription of child soldiers, and continues to be the main perpetrator of forced labor inside Myanmar. Since independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar's political situation has been unstable and involved in civil conflicts, which has led to an increase in the recruitment of underage soldiers. In 2002, Human Rights Watch reported in "My Gun was as Tall as Me: Child Soldiers in Burma" that Myanmar was the world's largest recruiter of child soldiers. Not only political instability, but also the country's poverty favour the recruitment of children. [16] [17]

The direct government and military use of forced or mandatory labor remains a widespread and pressing issue, particularly targeting members of ethnic minority groups, such as the Shan people. Military and civilian officials systematically used men, women, and children for forced labor for the development of infrastructure and state-run agricultural and commercial ventures, as well as forced portering for the military. Those living in areas with the highest military presence, including remote border areas predominated by ethnic groups, are most at risk for forced labor. [1] Military and civilian officials subject men, women, and children to forced labor. Men and thousands of boys as young as 10 years old are forcibly recruited (due often to desertions) to serve in the National Army and ethnic armed groups through intimidation, coercion, threats, and violence. Children of the urban poor are at particular risk of involuntary conscription; UN reports indicate that the army has targeted orphans and children on the streets and in railway stations, and young novice monks from monasteries for recruitment. Children are slapped with jail if they do not agree to join the army, and are sometimes physically abused. Children are subjected to forced labor in tea shops, home industries, and agricultural plantations.

In December 2009, the military of Myanmar reported that it dismissed a captain from the military via court martial and sentenced him to one year of imprisonment in a civilian jail for child soldier recruitment – the first ever criminal conviction of a military official involved in child soldier recruitment. In the same case, an additional two privates were sentenced to three months' and one-month military imprisonment, respectively. Myanmar law enforcement officials generally were not able to investigate or prosecute cases of military-perpetrated forced labor or child soldier recruitment absent assent from high-ranking military officers. [1] The government also reported investigating, prosecuting, and convicting some internal trafficking offenders, though there was only one reported criminal prosecution of a member of the National Army for his role in child soldier cases. The government continued to incarcerate six individuals who reported forced labor cases involving the regime to the International Labour Organization (ILO) or were otherwise active in working with the ILO on forced labor issues. [1]

Government response to human rights

While forced labor is widely considered the severest trafficking problem in Myanmar, authorities reported that most trafficking cases investigated and prosecuted involved women and girls subjected to forced marriage or intended to be subjected to forced marriage. The Myanmar regime rules arbitrarily and often tyrannically through its unilaterally imposed laws, but rule of law is absent, as is an independent judiciary that would respect trafficking victims’ rights. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Myanmar's military government, has not acknowledged the prevalence of human rights issues within their country, specifically human trafficking. No one has been held accountable for the serious crimes committed by government security forces. These crimes include forced labor, conscripting underage children, and personal, including sexual violence. [18]

Corruption

The Myanmar regime reported investigating 155 cases of trafficking, prosecuting 410 individuals, and convicting 88 offenders in 2009, an increase from 342 reported prosecutions in 2008; however, these statistics included 12 cases of abduction for adoption, which are not considered “trafficking” by international standards. Additionally, court proceedings are not open and lack due process for defendants. While the Myanmar regime has in the past been known to conflate illegal migration with trafficking, leading to the punishment of consensual emigrants and those who assist them to emigrate, the police reported some efforts to exclude smuggling cases from human trafficking figures during the reporting period, and improved their transparency in handling cases. [1] Nevertheless, limited capacity and training of the police coupled with a lack of transparency in the justice system make it uncertain whether all trafficking statistics provided by authorities were indeed for trafficking cases. Corruption and lack of accountability remains pervasive in Myanmar, affecting all aspects of society. [1] Police can be expected to self-limit investigations when well-connected individuals are involved in forced labor cases. Although the government reported four officials prosecuted for involvement in human trafficking in 2009, the government did not release any details of the cases.

ILO and international cooperation

Myanmar law enforcement reported continued cooperation with Chinese counterparts on cross-border trafficking cases, including joint operations, as well as general cooperation with Thai authorities. [1] In 2009, the ILO continued to receive and investigate forced labor complaints; 93 cases were submitted to the Myanmar government for action, an increase from 64 cases in 2008; 54 cases remain open and are awaiting a response from the government. Despite a report of a child labor case involving as many as 100 children on an agricultural plantation near Rangoon, the regime did not report any efforts to investigate the allegation.

Many minors from Myanmar work in Thai border towns, particularly the town of Mae Sai. Drivers who smuggle illegal workers into Thailand go to villages to recruit minors, and then transport them to the border. In one such case found in a survey, a girl was deceived by a driver, and sold into prostitution. Between 20,000 and 30,000 women and girls from Myanmar are estimated to be working in the prostitution industry in Thailand. As illegal immigrants, they are often arrested and deported back to Myanmar. About 50 to 70 percent of the prostitutes are HIV positive. [19]

In other cases, children from Myanmar were tricked during their recruitment, and not paid for the jobs they were promised. It is believed that the children from Myanmar make up the largest sector of foreign working children. Minors also participate in the fishing industry and work in Bangkok, though this is not as common. The ethnic minorities from Myanmar working in Thailand were also found to have the lowest education in all minor workers surveyed, at about 1.3 years, and Burmese were found to have only a slightly higher education level, on average roughly four years. The minors from Myanmar that work in Thailand usually left for economic reasons. [20]

A lack of job opportunities in Myanmar has contributed to the rise of human trafficking operations; the trade is now no longer targeting just rural areas, but is reaching the country's major cities. Many of the 2.5 million migrants from Myanmar came to Thailand to find low-paying domestic jobs during the militaristic regime previously in place. These migrants often lack basic education and access to social security benefits. [21]

Conversations between the US and Myanmar have been more frequent in recent years. The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Luis CdeBaca, and Myanmar Police Chief Major General Zaw Win concurred in the need for government-civil society partnerships, health care, and prevention. The latest reports from Washington indicate that the US feels improvements are underway. [21]

Prosecution of victims

Victims of forced labor cases are not protected from countersuit by regime officials. During the reporting period, 17 complainants and their associates in a series of forced labor cases involving 328 farmers in Magwe Division were prosecuted and imprisoned by local authorities for their role in reporting forced labor committed by local government officials.

Myanmar courts later released 13 of the individuals, but four complainants remain jailed. The central government did not intervene with local authorities to stop the politically motivated harassment, including lengthy interrogations, of the forced labour complainants. Such unaccountable harassment and punishment discouraged additional forced labor complaints. [1]

On February 28, 2014, Myanmar officials decided to ban Doctors Without Borders from the state of Rakhine after the organization discovered and treated 40 victims of violence between Muslim and Buddhist citizens that the government denies took place. The United Nations stipulates that its negotiations with Myanmar to allow Doctors Without Borders into the Rakhine state are of topmost importance, as citizens lack the ability to report human rights abuses for fear of becoming victims of reprisals. For victims of human trafficking, Doctors Without Borders is often the only access to health care. [22]

Protection

The regime did attempt to protect repatriated victims of cross-border sex trafficking to China and Thailand, though it exhibited no discernible efforts to protect victims of internal trafficking and transnational labor trafficking.

In forced labor cases, some victims, notably 17 individuals in Magwe Division, were harassed, detained, or otherwise penalised for making accusations against officials who then pressed them into forced labour.

The government reportedly identified 302 victims, most of whom were victims of forced marriage rather than explicitly trafficking victims, and reportedly assisted an additional 425 victims identified and repatriated by foreign governments in 2009, including 293 from China and 132 from Thailand.

The regime did not identify any male trafficking victims. Victims were sheltered and detained in non-specialised Department of Social Welfare facilities for a mandatory minimum of two weeks, some of which even lingered for months given authorities could not find an adult family member to take the victim home.

While in government facilities, victims had access to counseling, though it was often substandard, but had fettered access to social workers. There were no shelter facilities available to male victims of trafficking.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were sometimes allowed access to victims in government shelters, but the regime continued to bar NGOs from operating shelters for trafficking victims.

The regime did not have in place formal victim identification procedures. While the government reported that it did encourage victims to assist in investigations and prosecutions, it did not appear to provide financial support or other assistance to victims as incentives to partake in the prosecution of their traffickers.

The regime liaised with the ILO (International Labour Organisation) on the issue of the military's conscription of children, contributing to the return of 31 children to their families.

However, some children remain serving in the Myanmar Army and in ethnic militias. The government appears unmoved by the predicament, and has hardly assessed the scope of the problem. The regime did not permit UNICEF access to children who were released through the government's mechanisms for follow-up purposes. Additionally, some child recruits have been prosecuted and sentenced for deserting the military and are languishing in prison. [1]

Prevention

Myanmar made only tepid efforts to forestall international human trafficking over the past year, and made few discernible efforts to prevent the more prevalent internal trafficking, particularly forced labour and child conscription by regime officials and ethnic armed groups. The government spearheaded awareness campaigns using billboards, flyers, and videos during the reporting period, with state-run television airing a documentary on human trafficking produced by the MTV EXIT Campaign. The Burmese government reportedly formed three new anti-trafficking units back in 2009, and reported a 40 percent overall increase in spending on prevention efforts. During the reporting period, the government signed Memoranda of Understanding with China and Thailand on trafficking in persons. The regime sustained partnerships with Mekong region governments and the UN in the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT), and hosted the COMMIT Senior Officials Meeting in January 2010. [1]

A 2018 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) found that thousands of women and girls are trafficked from Myanmar to China to be forced into marriage and childbirth. [23] [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but have been inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.

According to the United States Department of State, "Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking." Thailand's relative prosperity attracts migrants from neighboring countries who flee conditions of poverty and, in the case of Burma, military repression. Significant illegal migration to Thailand presents traffickers with opportunities to coerce or defraud undocumented migrants into involuntary servitude or sexual exploitation. Police who investigated reaching high-profile authorities also received death threats in 2015.

Uganda is a source and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Ugandan children are trafficked within the country, as well as to Canada, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Karamojong women and children are sold in cattle markets or by intermediaries and forced into situations of domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, herding, and begging. Security companies in Kampala recruit Ugandans to serve as security guards in Iraq where, at times, their travel documents and pay have reportedly been withheld as a means to prevent their departure. These cases may constitute trafficking.

Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked to the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women are trafficked to the P.R.C., Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages for commercial exploitation or forced labor. Vietnam is also a source country for men and women who migrate willingly and legally for work in the construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan, P.R.C., Thailand, and the Middle East but subsequently face conditions of forced labor or debt bondage. Vietnam is a destination country for Cambodian children trafficked to urban centers for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Vietnam has an internal trafficking problem with women and children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam is increasingly a destination for child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2007, an Australian non-governmental organization (NGO) uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreign tourists in the Sa Pa tourist area of Vietnam alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking</span> Trade of humans for exploitation

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.

Sex trafficking in Thailand is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kingdom of Thailand. Thailand is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sex trafficking. The sexual exploitation of children in Thailand is a problem. In Thailand, close to 40,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be in the sex trade, working in clubs, bars, and brothels.

Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. A significant share of Bangladesh's trafficking victims are men recruited for work overseas with fraudulent employment offers who are subsequently exploited under conditions of forced labor or debt bondage. It also includes the trafficking of children – both boys and girls – within Bangladesh for commercial sexual exploitation, bonded labor, and forced labor. Some children are sold into bondage by their parents, while others are induced into labor or commercial sexual exploitation through fraud and physical coercion. Women and children from Bangladesh are also trafficked.

Belgium is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries, where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture sites, fruit farms, construction sites, and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report, the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa ; some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied, vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium, which are run by Belgian managers, to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country, but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.

Botswana is a source and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Parents in poor rural communities sometimes send their children to work for wealthier families as domestics in cities or as herders at remote cattle posts, where some of these children are vulnerable to forced labor. Batswana girls are exploited in prostitution within the country, including in bars and by truck drivers along major highways; it does not appear, however, that organized pimping of children occurs. In the past, women reported being forced into commercial sexual exploitation at some safari lodges, but there were no similar reports during this reporting period. Residents in Botswana most susceptible to trafficking are illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, unemployed men and women, those living in rural poverty, agricultural workers, and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Some women from Zimbabwe who voluntarily, but illegally, migrate to Botswana to seek employment are subsequently subjected by their employers to involuntary domestic servitude. Botswana families which employ Zimbabwean women as domestic workers at times do so without proper work permits, do not pay adequate wages, and restrict or control the movement of their employees by holding their passports or threatening to have them deported back to Zimbabwe.

Rwanda is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Rwandan girls are exploited in involuntary domestic servitude within the country; some of these children experience physical or sexual abuse within their employer's household. Older females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board, eventually pushing them into prostitution to pay for their keep. In limited cases, this trafficking is facilitated by women who supply females to clients or by loosely organized prostitution networks, some operating in secondary schools and universities. Rwandan children are also trafficked to Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries in the region for forced agricultural labor, commercial sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude, sometimes after being recruited by peers. In Rwanda there have been reports of isolated cases involving child trafficking victims from neighboring countries. Unlike in past years, there was no indication in 2009 that the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) duped or recruited Congolese men and boys from Rwanda-based refugee camps, as well as Rwandans from nearby towns, into forced labor and soldiering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea</span>

Papua New Guinea is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude; trafficked men are forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children, especially young girls from tribal areas, are most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sell girls into forced marriages to settle their debts, leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude, and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage are often forced into domestic servitude for the husband’s extended family. In more urban areas, some children from poorer families are prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines are subjected to forced prostitution, and men from China are transported to the country for forced labor.

Peru is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Several thousand persons are estimated to be subjected to conditions of forced labor within Peru, mainly in mining, logging, agriculture, brick making, and domestic servitude. Many trafficking victims are women and girls from impoverished rural regions of the Amazon, recruited and coerced into prostitution in urban nightclubs, bars, and brothels, often through false employment offers or promises of education. Indigenous persons are particularly vulnerable to debt bondage. Forced child labor remains a problem, particularly in informal gold mines, cocaine production, and transportation. There were reports the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, recruited children as soldiers and drug mules. To a lesser extent, Peruvians are subjected to forced prostitution in Ecuador, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the United States, and forced labor in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. Peru also is a destination country for some Ecuadorian and Bolivian females in forced prostitution, and some Bolivian citizens in conditions of forced labor. Child sex tourism is present in Iquitos, Madre de Dios, and Cuzco. Traffickers reportedly operate with impunity in certain regions where there is little or no government presence. In 2006, International Labour Organisation estimated that there were 33,000 people in conditions of forced labor in the Peruvian Amazon, primarily in the regions of Ucayali, Madre de Dios, Loreto, Pucallpa, Atalaya and Puerto Maldonado.

Iraq is both a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Iraqi women and girls, some as young as 11 years old, are subjected to conditions of human trafficking within the country and in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, and possibly Saudi Arabia for forced prostitution and sexual exploitation within households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Ghana</span>

Ghana is a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. The nonconsensual exploitation of Ghanaian citizens, particularly children, is more common than the trafficking of foreign migrants. The movement of internally trafficked children is either from rural to urban areas, or from one rural area to another, as from farming to fishing communities.

Malaysia is a destination and a source and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced prostitution and for men, women, and children who are in conditions of forced labour.

Burundi is a source country for children and possibly women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. Children and young adults may also be coerced into forced labor on plantations or small farms in southern Burundi, or to conduct informal commerce in the streets. Child labor is very common in agricultural fields where major exports, like tea and coffee, are harvested. Forced labour of children and adults is also very common in mines due to a large market for valuable stones and ores. Many trafficking victims can be found in mines in the northern area of Burundi, especially around Cibitoke. Some traffickers may be family or acquaintances of victims who, under the pretext of assisting underprivileged children with education or with false promises of lucrative jobs, subject them to forced labor, most commonly as domestic servants. While there is little evidence of large-scale child prostitution, “benevolent” older females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board within their homes, and in some cases eventually push them into prostitution to pay for living expenses; extended family members also financially profit from the commercial sexual exploitation of young relatives residing with them. It is most common for the trafficking of victims to remain internal within the country or to extend only to the surrounding countries. Male tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates exploit Burundian girls in prostitution. Businessmen recruit Burundian girls for commercial sexual exploitation in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, and recruit boys and girls for exploitation in various types of forced labor in Tanzania. Unlike in past years, there were no reports of forced or voluntary recruitment of children into government armed forces or rebel groups during the reporting period. If the trafficking of Burundians does extend externally, it is most common for them to be sent to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe.

Chad is a source and destination country for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. The country's trafficking problem is primarily internal and frequently involves parents entrusting children to relatives or intermediaries in return for promises of education, apprenticeship, goods, or money; selling or bartering children into involuntary domestic servitude or herding is used as a means of survival by families seeking to reduce the number of mouths to feed. Child trafficking victims are primarily subjected to forced labor as herders, domestic servants, agricultural laborers, or beggars. Child cattle herders follow traditional routes for grazing cattle and at times cross ill-defined international borders into Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Nigeria. Underage Chadian girls travel to larger towns in search of work, where some are subsequently subjected to prostitution. Some girls are compelled to marry against their will, only to be forced by their husbands into involuntary domestic servitude or agricultural labor. In past reporting periods, traffickers transported children from Cameroon and the CAR to Chad's oil producing regions for commercial sexual exploitation; it is unknown whether this practice persisted in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in China</span>

China is a main source and also a significant transit and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour and forced prostitution. Women and children from China are trafficked to Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America, predominantly Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. Women and children from Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, former USSR, North Korea, Romania, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Ghana are trafficked to China for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.

Equatorial Guinea is principally a destination for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and possibly commercial sexual exploitation. Children are believed to be recruited and transported from nearby countries, primarily Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, and Gabon, and forced to work in domestic servitude, market labor, ambulant vending, and other forms of forced labor, such as carrying water and washing laundry. Most victims are believed to be exploited in Malabo and Bata, where a burgeoning oil industry creates demand for labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women may also have been recruited and transported to Equatorial Guinea from Cameroon, Benin, other neighboring countries, and from China for forced labor or forced prostitution. In October 2009, the vessel Sharon was detained in Gabon with 285 immigrants aboard, including 34 children identified as trafficking victims destined for Equatorial Guinea. Reports that women of Equatoguinean extraction were trafficked to Iceland for commercial sexual exploitation during the last reporting period have not reappeared.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Southeast Asia</span> Human trafficking

Human trafficking in Southeast Asia has long been a problem for the area and is still prevalent today. It has been observed that as economies continue to grow, the demand for labor is at an all-time high in the industrial sector and the sex tourism sector. A mix of impoverished individuals and the desire for more wealth creates an environment for human traffickers to benefit in the Southeast Asia region. Many nations within the region have taken preventive measures to end human trafficking within their borders and punish traffickers operating there.

References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Trafficking in Persons Report" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. July 2022.
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  5. 1 2 3 Hunt, Luke (2023-02-07). "Focus on Human Trafficking Shifts From Cambodia to Myanmar". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
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  12. ↑ "2018 Trafficking in Persons Report - Burma". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trafficking in Persons Report" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. July 2010.
  14. 1 2 "Trafficking in Persons Report" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. July 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trafficking in Persons Report" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. July 2016.
  16. ↑ "Child Soldiers in Myanmar: Role of Myanmar Government and Limitations of International Law". Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs. 6 (1): 372–397. June 2018. ISSN   2168-7951.
  17. ↑ "The Persistent Problem Of Child Soldiers In Myanmar". The Perspective. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  18. ↑ "Human Rights Watch". Human Rights Watch. July 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Lim, Lin Lean (1998). The Sex Sector. ILO. ISBN   9789221095224.
  20. ↑ "Trafficking in Children into the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A Rapid Assessment" (PDF).
  21. 1 2 Lipes, Joshua. "Myanmar Pledges to Tackle Human Trafficking Through International Collaboration". Federal Government Document and Publications. ProQuest   1433382131.
  22. ↑ Editorial Board (17 March 2014). "Myanmar's Deadly Medicine". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "Estimating Trafficking of Myanmar Women for Forced Marriage and Childbearing in China - China". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
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