In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking in the biggest such case so far. In China, grooms are still expected to give their bride’s family a dowry. Click here to subscribe for full access. *Names have been changed or shortened to protect the individuals. "The source countries need to increase their efforts at resolving ... push factors such as gender inequality and poverty," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Shop your household essentials from Shopee Mart! “I wanted to support my parents … I am poor and I was very curious to see China. Louise is among thousands of young girls and women, mostly from Asian countries, who have been trafficked into marriages with Chinese men. “Insofar as there remains demand in China – [due to] the country’s gender imbalance and the expensive demands of local Chinese brides – bride trafficking and other forms of human trafficking are unlikely to be stamped out completely, despite the raids and crackdowns,” says Yeophantong. “With the Asia-Pacific accounting for half of the world’s internet use, social media and online platforms are facilitating human trafficking and exploitation on an even wider scale … [It] can be used to lure women and girls, as well as for coordinating their transport,” Yeophantong says. The expert says some women are aware of the risks, but feel they don’t have a better option. Women and girls from Myanmar are increasingly being trafficked as “brides” to China. Louise eventually got married in February last year through a marriage agency, although she is unsure about the legality of the arrangement. About Disparate charges in bride-trafficking case; Underage girls among brides back from China ; Brides to China in want of new aisle; Four jailed over Chinese bride plot ‘China brides’ rescued from Phnom Penh guesthouse. Last year, demonstrators urged the Kyrgyz government to check Chinese citizens’ work permits, cancel the country’s debt to China, and some even called for a ban on Kyrgyz women marrying Chinese men. Lau Thi My, a Vietnamese woman, who was duped into a trafficking ring in China, sits outside her house in Meo Vac, a mountainous border district … This means that the country does not meet the minimum requirements for attempting to eliminate trafficking, and the government makes few efforts to stop it from happening within China, and between China and neighboring countries. Even being rescued is no guarantee of getting their lives back. Brokers typically earn $3,000 to $4,000 for each trafficked woman. The investigation was soon shut down over Pakistani officials’ fear that the inquiry would anger China and threaten Chinese investments into the cash-strapped country. “U.S. “But we have also seen women who have been trafficked for 20 years,” the advocate says. Report: Myanmar, China failing to stop ‘bride’ trafficking. In addition to traditional hotspots in nations such as Vietnam and Myanmar, the practice seems to be emerging in new areas, alongside the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s multibillion-dollar drive to knit together Eurasia and Africa in a myriad of economic pacts and infrastructure projects. Singapore’s hawker culture has been recognized by UNESCO, but there are questions about its sustainability. The Chinese government’s main response for many years seemed to be simply to ignore growing allegations about authorities’ complicity in these crimes. That may be changing. This is achieved by labelling the child with a particular condition from which they insist the child receive medication, and or, some form of … “It’s their boyfriend, a relative or sometimes someone they met online who was offering a factory job in China. It is impossible not to feel sorry when the heart-breaking stories of young women who became victims of bride trafficking were revealed publicly by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in March and in The New York Times in August 2019, drawing attention to these human and gender rights violations going on in Myanmar's Kachin and Shan states in relation to China. The announcement comes as confirmed COVID-19 infections continue to spike across the archipelago. But “my parents were told by an agent [a local broker] that he was rich and had businesses in China … The idea of sending some money back home pushed me to marry him.”, Sana had not met her husband before the marriage ceremony, which was held in her house. [Analytics] Bride trafficking, a hitch on China’s Belt and Road. Once they learn Chinese language and culture, their marriages are fine.” The expert asked the participants to, “Tell your government the Chinese government is doing very good things for Myanmar women.”. Anti-Chinese sentiments have also been on the rise in Kyrgyzstan. Speaking critically of the government has often resulted in police harassment and arrest. Bride trafficking to China has been very lucrative to Chinese and Pakistani brokers, who make between C$33,000 to C$86,000 per ‘bride.’ Traffickers often target impoverished families from marginalized Christian communities, promising high-wage jobs across the border to their daughters. Trafficked brides heading for China The ASEAN Post Team. Government officials, who requested anonymity, said this was because such stories might fuel anti-Chinese sentiment in Pakistan – where thousands of Chinese are working on multibillion-dollar projects as part of the belt and road plan. “Women have this perception from seeing Chinese men who come to work in their country. It was recently reported that COVID-19 related unemployment is causing an increase in bride trafficking from Cambodia to China. PHNOM PENH (THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION) - The trafficking of Cambodian "brides" to China has risen sharply this year with mass job losses caused by … Police rescued six would-be Chinese brides from a guesthouse in the capital’s Prampi Makara district and arrested their alleged trafficker on Tuesday. Things got worse six months later, after her husband took her to a clinic where they found out she was not pregnant. Yeophantong says more systematic data and research are needed to establish a direct connection specifically between growing Chinese investment overseas and the increasing number of women trafficked as brides into China. The woman said her relatives had been successful in China and she offered to take Louise there, too. 10 were underage. Human Rights Watch documented extensive bride trafficking in Myanmar, where hundreds of women are transported to China only to be sold to Chinese grooms for about $3,000 to $13,000. 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She was oblivious to what was going on, “until I arrived in some district and saw Chinese characters. “In fact, I became willing to marry Mr Liu, as I was already living in hell in Pakistan.”, Sana, now 19, used to live with her parents and two other sisters near Faisalabad, in the eastern province of Punjab, in a house without a proper sewerage system. “The concern here is that we will continue to see human and sex trafficking, as well as other types of transnational crime, become increasingly integrated within the region,” Yeophantong says. Louise was living from hand to mouth while helping her aunt sell noodle soup in the Laos capital of Vientiane, which sits on a curve of the Mekong River. “In particular, the [belt and road strategy] could create new modalities for trafficking in drugs, wildlife and people,” read a piece published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. China is one of the largest investors in Central Asia and a key trading partner for the region, which has grown in strategic significance under the belt and road project, as dozens of projects linking East to West continue to spring up. They are also orphaned, unemployed and short of alternatives … They then decide to go to work in China [after meeting a broker].”. On the anniversary of the death of Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, the fight for human rights in China continues. It drives more young women and girls abroad to support their families, according to two charities that help victims. Once purchased they may be held prisoner and pressured to produce babies as quickly as possible. A decade after the J-20's maiden flight, a look back at China's fifth generation stealth fighter – and how it changed PLA watching forever. “I’m content as I am back in Pakistan,” Sana says. Credit: Rod Waddington/CC By 2.0 by Tharanga Yakupitiyage (united nations) Friday, March 22, 2019; Inter Press Service; UNITED NATIONS, Mar 22 (IPS) - This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. “I did not have any money, could not eat what I prefer to eat and I had to follow my husband’s family.”, Louise, whose husband took her to Hebei province in northern China, was forced to stay in the house. She says that Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan and Vietnam have all become source countries for the trafficking of women and girls for sale in China as brides. Many bachelors from rural areas resort to mail-order-brides from Southeast Asian and other neighboring countries, which has fueled a sinister business of bride trafficking in China. In Myanmar, Human Rights Watch, an activist who had participated in a study tour to China for Myanmar women’s rights groups. China’s former “one-child policy These women and girls are typically tricked by brokers who promise well-paid employment across the border in China. And all of the affected countries have complicated relationships and deep power imbalances with China. A more expansive Chinese foreign policy after 2021 will have political and economic implications for its Western Hemispheric partners. Louise grew up more than 3,000km from Sana, a young Christian woman from Pakistan, but they shared the same motivation in marrying a Chinese man. When Louise landed in bustling Guangzhou, she was received by a Chinese broker who took her to a house where men would meet her, sizing her up as a would-be bride. It is the most concrete figure yet for Pakistani women caught up in trafficking schemes since 2018, but the investigators’ aggressive drive against the networks seems to be waning. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency. 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