Low reporting on human trafficking in Arakan State persists

10 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
10 January 2023, Sittwe

Complaints to the relevant anti-trafficking units about human trafficking among local people in Arakan State remain unreflective of the extent of the problem, according to the No. 5 Anti-Trafficking Task Force (Sittwe).

There was only one case of human trafficking reported in Arakan State in 2022, a case in which some Arakanese women were taken under the pretence that they would get jobs in China, the No. 5 force’s leader, Police Major Myo Lwin, told DMG.

“Women are easier to organise than men. The women were seduced by various methods and then trafficked. Trafficked women are forced into prostitution and are exploited during the work. Men are also trafficked, but less so,” he explained.

Police Major Myo Lwin added that two women who were convicted of human trafficking in 2022 were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Although there was only one case of human trafficking reported to the No. 5 Anti-Trafficking Task Force (Sittwe), there were other complaints made to women’s activist groups. There were four cases of human trafficking reported to the Arakan Women’s Network last year.

Some civil society organisations point out that the low number of human trafficking cases in Arakan State is only due to the lack of complaints to the relevant authorities and the lack of effective action against the reported cases.

“Complaints about human trafficking to the government are weak [small in number], and people don’t know who to turn to, and they don’t know exactly what the government does,” said Saw San Nyein Thu, chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Initiative Organization.

There were six cases of human trafficking reported in Arakan State in 2018, but not a single case was reported in Arakan State in 2019 and just one case was recorded in 2020, according to data from the No. 5 Anti-Trafficking Task Force (Sittwe).

Amid regional instability and a lack of local employment opportunities, many people in Arakan State are pushed to travel to foreign countries for work. Civil society organisations say when locals in Arakan State travel to foreign countries, there are those who travel through legal channels and those who travel through illegal channels, with the latter more likely to be trafficked.

Article 24 of Myanmar’s Anti Trafficking in Persons Law states that trafficking in women, children and youths is punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment, while Article 25 stipulates that trafficking in persons other than women, children and youths is punishable by five to 10 years in prison.