Three women arrested on human trafficking charges on Burma/China border.

Three women have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking at the Burma/China border. The women, who were in the company of other women traders, were arrested at the border gate at Muse, heading into China. The three women arrested for trafficking were Ma Cho Cho Htwe, Ma Argar, and Ma Khin Lay. Ma Cho Cho Htwe was identified as the leader of the group; she comes from Hlaing Township in Rangoon.
Burma continues to be a source country from which women, children and men are trafficked to Thailand, China, Bangladesh, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Korea, Macau, and Japan for forced labour, begging and sexual exploitation. There are documented cases of children being in forced prostitution on the Burmese border with China. The military Junta which rules Burma has a policy of discrimination against minority groups such as the Shan, Karen and Mon peoples. This has lead to people taking up unsafe migration options offered by traffickers. The Burmese government policy of using forced labour itself has lead to traffickers thriving in the country. Although Burma has passed an anti-trafficking law, unless these underlying state sponsored causes are removed, the large scale trafficking of people out of, within and to a lesser extent into Burma will continue. For more on this and related subjects, please go to www.narinjara.com