Myanmar/China: The plight of Christian minority girls

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Myanmar | 09 April 2019

On 21 March 2019, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report with the title: "Give us a baby and we"ll let you go - Trafficking of Kachin "˜Brides" from Myanmar to China". Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research (WWR), comments: "This devastating report highlights the situation of predominantly Christian Kachin girls and women being trafficked to China. It gives a glimpse into what is going on and breaks the silence of shame and honor. According to the report, there are many reasons why Kachin women end up going to China to earn money. In many cases the men are absent, having been conscripted for fighting, and the women are left alone as the only breadwinners. Since the rations they receive in the IDP camps are minimal, they look for other possibilities. For others - especially girls - the incentive for going to China is often the hope that they can earn money there for financing their further education. Finally, many who HRW spoke to were the eldest of many children and were thus simply expected to do everything possible to help the whole family survive."‚ Thomas Muller adds: "The desperate situation in Kachin State is aptly illustrated by the fact that some trafficked women interviewed by HRW were lured into it by their own family or by people they trusted (p. 29). Sometimes, families were not aware that they were actually complicit in trafficking. In one particular case, a woman was even trafficked by a friend she had met at a Bible school. The report reiterates on p. 68 a claim highlighted in a WWR article* back in May 2017, that the situation is made much worse by the Myanmar government"s policy of blocking aid from reaching the region, be it from the Kachin Independent Organization or NGOs. Finally, it is noteworthy that information also surfaced about men and boys being trafficked to China as forced laborers (footnote 34), showing that many things are going on under the radar in China."‚