Why U.S. should not rely on ASEAN for combating human trafficking
The ASEAN members recently held a meeting to combat human trafficking. Earlier this month, ASEAN further celebrated its new establishment of Commission for human rights. Some people received this news with the hope for change in combating trafficking in the region.
Both Thailand Burma are active members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in particular, when dealing with their anti-human trafficking.
According to an NGO report released in Aug. 2009, the atrocity committed against Burmese human trafficking victims could have never been worse than what it currently is. Rather, the anti-human trafficking effort and the international cooperation among the ASEAN member nations only raise a skepticism that it is nothing but a political alliance among the member nations.
ASEAN's anti-human trafficking efforts: the hypocrosy of Thailand and Burma revealed
The new report regarding ASEAN meetings amplify the significant roles of Thailand and Burma in its leadership to combat human trafficking in the Southasian region. In 2002, Thailand was chosen by the 'Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to 'host a joint meeting between the European Union and ASEAN. In Dec. 2004, Thailand further linked with ASEAN to stamp out human trafficking. By then, Thailand already signed an anti-human trafficking agreement with its neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and China. In June 2009, the 9th ASEAN senior officials meeting was held in Burma. The meeting was intended to discuss transnational crime, including human trafficking.
Thailand' unwarranted ASEAN leadership- atrocity unveiled
According to no where else to go , an NGO research paper released in Aug. 2009, countless Burmese human trafficking victims testify against the atrocities of Thai nationals. Some of the offenders involved corrupted Thai law enforcement individuals.
1. Testimonies involving forced marriage
[My 18-year-old friend was sold] to a retired Thai policeman as a wife. Daw Than was paid 20,000 baht and gold weighing 45.5 g by the Thai policeman for selling him Ma Cho...He rented a house for her to live in with him and later she gave birth to a daughter. After the birth of their daughter, he abandoned Ma Cho and the child because he had wanted a son. With no money or other possessions she had to work outside to earn a living; she had to work as a hard laborer to pay rent for the house and for enough food to survive.
The wife couldn’t have a baby and after I had worked there for five months, I asked her when my debt would be paid, and she said that if I wanted to pay it all off I could have a baby for them. I didn't’t agree to do this, but the woman got her husband to rape me. I got pregnant and when I was due to have my baby they wouldn’t take me to hospital; instead they took me to a small clinic so the birth would be more secret. I gave birth to twin baby boys on February 19th, but the boss and his wife only allowed my babies to stay with me for 10 days. After 10 days, the two babies were taken from me and I wasn’t allowed to see them anymore.
2. The testimonies involving police corruption
On March 10th, 2008, Maharchai police raided that factory. The polices didn’t want to raid the factory even though they knew the employer abused and took advantage of the workers, because the employer had connections with corrupt members of the police force, however the NGOs put pressure on them and they had to follow up on the husband’s tip.
After being arrested for two weeks, they called me out with another two girls and promised that they would free us from jail and also provide us with jobs cleaning dishes at a restaurant. They sent us to a houseboat hotel and three policemen came and picked up us by motorbike. We didn’t understand Thai and we didn’t know what they said to us...
One policeman forced me to have sex with him although I refused; he was so strong and I couldn’t do anything to keep him off of me. He forced me to have sex in different ways and I was in a lot of pain. I was afraid and cried.
Burma's unwarranted credibility as a host of ASEAN meeting
According to the researhc, "No Whereelse to Go", Burmese military regime is not only the root cause behind the sex trafficking of Burmese women and children but also the sources of the exacerbation.According to no where else to go, the military regime's economic mismanagement and high tax are two driving factors for the Burmese victims to flee the country. The research also states that the victims are hesitant to report cases against police corruption involving human trafficking because the close connection between the military regime and the many NGO representatives would only bring the victims themselves under the accusation of taking part in the human trafficking ring. Therefore, many victims' reports remain unreported. The Burmese military regime, according to the report, is in charge of a large percentage of aids and social welfare programs, which will only worsen the current situations of trafficking victims.
Reliance on ASEAN cooperation on combating human trafficking is foolish
Nor should anyone trust Burmese or Thai governments to rectify the situation for human trafficking victims. Certainly, Foreign aid therefore is not a solution, either. Rather, the ultimate solutions lie on the drastic changes on many policy mechanisms in both countries. For Burma, the military regime must address the root causes of the rampant human trafficking in the country by improving education system and job opportunities for women, lowering unreasonably high tax rates on rural population, etc. In Thailand, corruption among the law enforcement individuals must be dealt with dire consequences. Also, its immigration policy should protect the fundamental rights of migrant workers in the country as much as Thailand's economy benefited tremendously from the cheap labors of migrant workers.
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