42 trafficked Myanmar citizens repatriated from Thailand

October 15, 2009
Source: Xinhua

A total of 42 trafficked Myanmar citizens, trafficked to Thailand, have been repatriated to Myanmar's eastern border town of Myawaddy, sources with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said on Thursday.

The trafficked Myanmar people, including 30 women and three children, were handed over by the Thai Ministry of Social Welfare and Development to its Myanmar counterpart in Myawaddy last weekend, the sources said.

The returnees have been brought to Mon state's capital of Mawlamyine and are being accommodated in a vocational skill training school and after the training, they will be sent back to their respective homes, the sources added.

Meanwhile, in August this year, six trafficked Myanmar young women were saved and repatriated back from China to Myanmar across the border following a joint combating of human trafficking crime by special squads of both sides The six were handed over by the Ruili anti-human trafficking special squad of China to Myanmar's Muse squad.

A total of 13 men brokers and seven women brokers of two human trafficking gangs were also arrested in Ruili, a border town opposite to Myanmar's Muse, according to Myanmar anti-drug authorities.

According to the ministry, under the government to government system, a total of 686 victims smuggled out of Myanmar had been rescued and brought back to the country as of 2008 and they were being kept at the rehabilitation centers.

Of them, those who were repatriated back from Thailand were the majority with 344, followed by those from China with 272, Malaysia with 45, Japan, Bangladesh, Jamaica and Singapore as well as China's Macao, Chinese Taiwan, the ministry's figures showed.

Myanmar has so far set up border liaison offices in Muse with immediate neighbor of China and in Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthoung with Thailand to promote cooperation in cracking down on human trafficking at the basic level. Coordination is also being made for the move involving the UNODC and UN Inter Agency Project (UNIPA) on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

The government has so far built eight rehabilitation centers offering educational program and vocational skill training for the victims. In the latest development, Myanmar is also planning to set up a temporary care center in Muse for the victims with the help of GGA organization of Japan in November this year.