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. 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 as the Middle East. The border regions of Myanmar, including Shwe Kokko, are known human trafficking destinations.
, Myanmar remained on the lowest tier (Tier 3) of countries in the US State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report. US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
Myanmar ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in March 2004. United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave Myanmar a score of 8.5 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting that Rohingya people in Rakhine were heavily targeted by traffickers. Organised Crime Index website, Myanmar: 2023
Types of trafficking
Labour trafficking Men are subjected to forced labour in the fishing and construction industries abroad. The military's widespread use of and lack of accountability in forced labour and recruitment of child soldiers was the top causal factor for Myanmar's significant trafficking problem in 2009. 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. Victims include nationals from around the world, including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, India, the Philippines, African countries and Brazil. 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. 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.
In 2023, the UN estimated that 120,000 people were trafficked into the country to work in scam call-centres; in March 2024, more than 43,000 such workers were handed over to the Chinese government. BBC website, China Repatriates Hundreds of Scam Factory Workers from Myanmar, article by Jonathan Head and Lulu Luo dated March 1, 2024 The Ugandan government also repatriated 23 citizens. New Times Rwanda website, Uganda brings back 23 citizens rescued from human traffickers in Myanmar, article dated May 24, 2024
Another investigation in 2024 found that up to 3,000 people had been trafficked into border areas to work in casinos; nationalities included Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Cambodian and Ethiopian. Radio Free Asia website, Chinese Scammers in Myanmar move trafficking victims to casino in rebel territory, article by Saw Kyaw San dated March 25, 2024
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, and ‘birth trafficking’, particularly for Chinese families.Human Rights Watch website, Myanmar: Women, Girls Trafficked as ‘Brides’ to China, article dated March 21, 2019United Nations Women website, Tackling human trafficking in Myanmar, article dated January 3, 2019 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 were trafficked from Myanmar to China to be forced into marriage and childbirth.
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.
Child soldiers 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.
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. 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. 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.
In 2022, it was noted that government forces were still using soldiers.
Legal actions (2009) The Government of Myanmar reported some progress in law enforcement efforts against cross-border sex trafficking during 2009. 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.
Protection (2009) 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 that 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, and 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.
In 2009, some children remained serving in the Myanmar Army and in ethnic militias. The government appeared unmoved by the predicament, and had 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 were prosecuted and sentenced for deserting the military and were placed in prison.
Prevention (2009) 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.
Corruption