Burma is not doing enough to stop the flow of human trafficking—especially of women and children—according to a US State Department report “Trafficking in Persons" released on Tuesday.
Increasing numbers of ethnic Burmese girls and women have been leaving Burma in hope of finding work since the 1990s, the report said.
"With economic conditions in Burma worsening, this trend has continued and now ethnic females appear to be trafficked in significant numbers both within the country and to neighboring countries," the report said.
The annual US government report surveys the global effort to combat human trafficking.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Malaysia were added to the worse countries list for the first time, along with other permanent offenders such as Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
The report said Burma does not even conform to the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, which the report calls a form of “modern day slavery.”
“The military regime and its civilian officials have direct involvement in trafficking for forced labor and the unlawful conscription of child soldiers,” the report said.
Aye Aye Mar, the director of Social Action for Women in Mae Sot, a border town in Thailand, said, “It is common to see Burmese people, especially children age 5 to10, being trafficked into Thailand.”
The Burmese NGO assists displaced Burmese women and children who are being trafficked or people who are in a crisis situation after having fled from their country out of fear for their lives.
Aye Aye Mar said many Burmese parents are unaware of human trafficking and have made wrong decisions by allowing traffickers to take their children. She said parents of lost children come to her seeking help almost every day.
Recently, The International Labour Organization's deputy regional director, Guy Thijs, told The Nation newspaper in Bangkok that “many child workers are still trapped here in Thailand by vicious human traffickers.”
Burmese children have been trafficked to neighboring countries for sexual exploitation, forced labor and as indentured street beggars, according to the US report.
Children from Burma's rural areas are trafficked into larger cities to work at menial labor.
A Rangoon journalist told The Irrawaddy it's common for child laborers to be smuggled into the city from rural villages to work in teashops, food stalls or markets.
Increasing numbers of ethnic Burmese girls and women have been leaving Burma in hope of finding work since the 1990s, the report said.
"With economic conditions in Burma worsening, this trend has continued and now ethnic females appear to be trafficked in significant numbers both within the country and to neighboring countries," the report said.
The annual US government report surveys the global effort to combat human trafficking.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Malaysia were added to the worse countries list for the first time, along with other permanent offenders such as Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
The report said Burma does not even conform to the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, which the report calls a form of “modern day slavery.”
“The military regime and its civilian officials have direct involvement in trafficking for forced labor and the unlawful conscription of child soldiers,” the report said.
Aye Aye Mar, the director of Social Action for Women in Mae Sot, a border town in Thailand, said, “It is common to see Burmese people, especially children age 5 to10, being trafficked into Thailand.”
The Burmese NGO assists displaced Burmese women and children who are being trafficked or people who are in a crisis situation after having fled from their country out of fear for their lives.
Aye Aye Mar said many Burmese parents are unaware of human trafficking and have made wrong decisions by allowing traffickers to take their children. She said parents of lost children come to her seeking help almost every day.
Recently, The International Labour Organization's deputy regional director, Guy Thijs, told The Nation newspaper in Bangkok that “many child workers are still trapped here in Thailand by vicious human traffickers.”
Burmese children have been trafficked to neighboring countries for sexual exploitation, forced labor and as indentured street beggars, according to the US report.
Children from Burma's rural areas are trafficked into larger cities to work at menial labor.
A Rangoon journalist told The Irrawaddy it's common for child laborers to be smuggled into the city from rural villages to work in teashops, food stalls or markets.
