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95 Trafficking Victims Freed
Ninety-five Burmese migrants, who were trafficked into Thailand from Burma
by gangs, were freed from captivity this week when police and human rights
activists raided houses in southern Thailand. The migrants are currently
being held at a military base while Thai authorities try to round up members
of the trafficking gang.
Fifty-one men who had been forced to work on fishing boats were rescued from
Trang Province in southern Thailand on Nov. 23, while 44 women who had been
trafficked into Ranong Province to work in brothels were freed after a raid
on Nov. 27.
Nai Harry, a social worker who is involved with an anti-human trafficking
group based in Mahachai, near Bangkok, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that
after following a tip-off from one of the trafficked fishermen in Trang, his
group rescued the 51 men.
“We went early in the morning after we got a phone call from someone. We
thought there would only be a few people, but when we got there we found
there were many men on the boat who had been locked in their cabins,” he
said.
Nai Harry, who declined to name his organization because of security fears,
said the 51 victims were from the Irrawaddy delta, Pegu, Mon State and
Tenasserim Division. They were forced to work on Thai fishing boats, some
working for 18 months without pay, others working for three years without
pay. He said that the trafficked Burmese men were forbidden from going
ashore and were locked in their cabins when they were not working.
In Ranong, 44 women were rescued by the anti-human trafficking group after
the organization fixed a price to buy the women's freedom, a group member
said on Monday. Many of the women are ethnic Mon from eastern Burma.
A member of the anti-human trafficking group in Ranong said that they first
rescued 12 women who were severely ill with AIDS and who had been dumped in
a local house and left to die. The other 32 women were allowed to leave
after the group agreed a price with the traffickers.
The NGO member said 28 women were trafficked to work at the brothel last
year while the other four just arrived two weeks ago.
Naing Naing, one of the trafficking victims in Trang, told Nai Harry that he
is from Tavoy Township in Tenasserim Division. He said he was forced to work
for seven months on the boat, during which time his salary was used to pay
back his trafficking fees––some 25,000 baht (US $750).
Naing Naing said that he had requested to be set free after seven months
working on the boat, but the boat owner refused. However, he managed to
sneak ashore and telephone the anti-trafficking group in Mahachai.
According to Naing Naing, if trafficked migrants on the boat argued with the
owner they were routinely killed and thrown overboard, and some were sold on
to another fishing boat owner in Indonesia.
According to Nai Harry, the 51 fishermen were paid nothing for their labor.
The 300 baht ($9) monthly salary the boat owner paid went directly to the
trafficking broker.
Although several members of the trafficking gang have reportedly been
arrested, others escaped. Two of the brokers are said to be ethnic Mon men
from Burma. The Thai authorities are reportedly investigating the case.
Most victims said that they were trafficked by road to Myawaddy Township on
the Thai-Burmese border. They were reportedly told they would get work on a
construction site and receive good salaries.
In October, Thai police and human right activists in Mahachai raided two
brokers' houses and rescued 18 people who had been detained on a fishing
boat.
The human trafficking problem has led to an estimated 1,000 fishermen
jumping ship and living on islands in Indonesia to escape the ill-treatment
of boat captains, according to human rights activists in Mahachai.
by Lawi Weng
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