By HSET LIN Tuesday, August 24, 2010
RANGOON — Some human trafficking victims in Burma have become traffickers themselves, perhaps due to insufficient support in rehabilitation or a lack of jobs, according to Police Col. Sit Aye, the head of the police force’s Department against Transnational Crime.
Police Col. Ralian Hmong of the Committee on Combating Trafficking in Persons (CCTP) said more than 100 people who had once been trafficked into China or Thailand were found to be traffickers when police arrested hundreds of traffickers over the past few years. Lack of sufficient support in rehabilitation programs was one reason that may have driven them into the profession, he said.
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| Burmese women in a brothel in China live in fear of being arrested by police. Many were victims of human trafficking. (Photo: Than Aung/The Irrawaddy) |
“Victims are scattering all over the place, and we can't provide them more than 50,000-100,000 kyat (US $51-105) per person a month. These are difficulties we face,” said Thin Thin Myat.
Speaking at an anti-trafficking workshop last week, Col. Sit Aye said, “Burmese trafficking victims are in vulnerable situations. Women become paid-wives after being trafficked to China. In Thailand, girls are subject to prostitution, sex exploitation or slave labor in factories. As for men, many have to work on fishing boats like they are slaves.”
Thin Thin Myat said more financial and other assistance is needed to bring trafficking victims back into the mainstream.
A trafficking victim from Pegu (Bago), Aye Aye, said, “An NGO lends us 50,000 kyat ($50) each in our group. But we have to pay interest of 10 kyat on a hundred each month, and that's not cheap. I can't pay the interest this month, which means I can't borrow more. The interest rate is about the same as we borrow money outside, so their support doesn't make much difference.”
Thida (not her real name) described her experience after she was rescued: “Five girls, including myself, were trafficked and sold to a factory. When we came back, people in our ward thought we had been sexually abused. In fact, we were only exploited and not paid daily wages for our labor. But, people thought that we were sex workers so they didn't treat us equally or help us.”
Col. Ralian Hmong said lack of sufficient support has led some trafficking victims to take up the business, because they know how it works.
“They know trafficking routes,” he said. “They also know some employers and brokers as well as how to deal with them. So, when they couldn't find jobs to make a living, they took others to where they had been before by saying that they will find jobs for them there. They have become brokers in many cases without understanding that trafficking is against the law.”
According to CCTP statistics, 534 trafficking cases were investigated between 2006 and 2010, and authorities arrested 1,455 people on trafficking charges; 300 people are on a traffickers' wanted list.
The CCTP said that out of 534 trafficking cases, 79.2 percent took place in China; 9.2 percent in Thailand; 0.6 percent in Malaysia; and 11 percent in Burma.
Trafficking Victims Become Traffickers
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