[1] Men, women, and children who migrate abroad to Thailand, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, India, and South Korea for work are often trafficked into conditions of forced or bonded labor or commercial sexual exploitation.
The military's widespread use of and lack of accountability in forced labour and recruitment of child soldiers was the top causal factor for Myanmar's significant trafficking problem in 2009.
[1] Most notably in the area of forced labour, the Government of Myanmar is not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
[14] Victims are lured by the false promise of high-paying jobs, and are trafficked through major cities like Yangon and Bangkok, and transit points like Mae Sot, Chiang Rai.
[8] They are then forced to work in industrial-scale fraud factories located in "special economic zones" along the country's borders such as Shwe Kokko.
[8] In 2023, the UN estimated that 120,000 people were trafficked into the country to work in scam call-centres; in March 2024, more 43,000 such workers were handed over to the Chinese government.
[16] Another investigation in 2024 found that up to 3,000 people had been trafficked into border areas to work in casinos; nationalities included Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Cambodian and Ethiopian.
[20][21] Furthermore, due to the vast number of people living below the national poverty line, many women are forced into illegal prostitution.
In some areas, in particular international sex trafficking of women and girls, the Government of Myanmar is making significant efforts.
Since independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar's political situation has been unstable and involved in civil conflicts, which has led to an increase in the recruitment of underage soldiers.
[22][23] The direct government and military use of forced or mandatory labor remains a widespread and pressing issue, particularly targeting members of ethnic minority groups, such as the Shan people.
Men and thousands of boys as young as 10 years old are forcibly recruited (due often to desertions) to serve in the National Army and ethnic armed groups through intimidation, coercion, threats, and violence.
Myanmar law enforcement officials generally were not able to investigate or prosecute cases of military-perpetrated forced labor or child soldier recruitment absent assent from high-ranking military officers.
The recruitment of children into the army is a criminal offence under the Myanmar Penal Code Section 374, which could culminate in imprisonment for up to a year, or a fine, or both.
[1] Myanmar made only tepid efforts to forestall international human trafficking over the past year, and made few discernible efforts to prevent the more prevalent internal trafficking, particularly forced labour and child conscription by regime officials and ethnic armed groups.
[25] In 2018 Myanmar was downgraded back to Tier 3, as the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking were never met and no efforts were made to meet them.
[35] A lack of job opportunities in Myanmar has contributed to the rise of human trafficking operations; the trade is now no longer targeting just rural areas, but is reaching the country's major cities.
Many of the 2.5 million migrants from Myanmar came to Thailand to find low-paying domestic jobs during the militaristic regime previously in place.
The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Luis CdeBaca, and Myanmar Police Chief Major General Zaw Win concurred in the need for government-civil society partnerships, health care, and prevention.
The central government did not intervene with local authorities to stop the politically motivated harassment, including lengthy interrogations, of the forced labour complainants.
[1] On February 28, 2014, Myanmar officials decided to ban Doctors Without Borders from the state of Rakhine after the organization discovered and treated 40 victims of violence between Muslim and Buddhist citizens that the government denied took place.
The United Nations stipulates that its negotiations with Myanmar to allow Doctors Without Borders into the Rakhine state are of topmost importance, as citizens lack the ability to report human rights abuses for fear of becoming victims of reprisals.