A THAI non-government organization (NGO) team urged leaders of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) to help free 90 victims of human trafficking who despite having requested assistance are still being detained and tortured by Chinese Mafia running online scam centres at Myawaddy township, just across from Thai border town Mae Sot, Amarin TV said.
Ms. Kritiya (surname withheld), a coordinator of Civil Society Network for Victim Assistance in Human Trafficking, and her team met Maj. Gen. Sowe Wa, DKBA’s deputy commander, and Maj. Gen. Soe San Aung, DKBA’s assistant commander, to follow up on the rescue of these 90 human trafficking victims who are being held at three locations as follows:
– HongTai Company, located in the Chong Kap area, where the victims, including 14 Ethiopians, three Vietnamese and 10 Chinese, had sought help. They are forced to work continuously, suffer abuse and are unable to communicate with the outside world.
– Hexin Company, located approximately 10km from Thay Baw Boe in Myawaddy, with many victims having already been rescued from this Chinese Mafia scam factory but there are others still trapped there with 20 having sought help including 14 Filipinos, one Taiwanese, one Nigerian, two Ethiopians and two Cameroonians.
They are forced to work with little or no free time and if they refuse they are detained, some handcuffed, for up to two months, deprived of showers and fed only scraps of food.
– DekoPark, located in Valley, just 4km from the Valley Bridge, where 43 victims of ongoing abuse have been identified including 26 Ethiopians, two Ugandans, three Pakistanis, one Tanzanian, two Indonesians, seven Chinese, one Nigerian and other one only identified as African.
Some have suffered limb loss and blindness with one Pakistani having lost the use of a hand. Furthermore, their relatives have been threatened to extort money.
Kritiya said yesterday’s meeting with DKBA senior officers followed a meeting on July 22 with help delayed because of fighting and floods in many Karen communities. However she received excellent cooperation yesterday with the Maj. Gen. Soe San Aung saying they had leased the area to the Chinese but disagreed with human trafficking and abusing workers and would expedite assistance according to the list provided.
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Ms. Kritiya with senior officers of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Photos: Amarin TV
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