HIV Information for Myanmar [him] deplores human trafficking in all its forms. But WTF is "rescue" in this situation? Who is Ko Min Paing and what organisation does he work for? Who decided on HIV testing? Anyone from one of the three named villages can figure out who the women are.
[him] moderator
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World AIDS Day
Ninety Sex Workers Rescued
Kaowao: December 1, 2009
Four of the ninety sex workers who were rescued recently from human traffickers on Thailand’s border have reportedly died from complications associated with the AIDS virus. Eight others are known to be suffering from the disease, but this has not been verified, according to social workers based in southern
Thailand who work closely with the Mon Buddhist monks.
“They are distraught after learning about their real situation and are very depressed,” said Ko Minn Paing, a social worker from social foundation. “Uncle, I want to call my parents in Burma and hear their voices,” one ethnic Mon said after learning she was going to die from the disease. According to her statement, she blames the Thai human trafficker gangs who had sold her to a motel owner for contracting the disease. She spent most of the last year sleeping with motel customers where she contracted the disease. Later she returned home where she began to fell unwell after five months. She did not know until last week when she was rescued that she had contracted the HIV virus. Upon returning to Thailand the second time, she said the human smugglers didn’t care about her feeling unwell, but only separated her from the other young girls who were later sold to the motel owner at a
high price to work as sex slaves.
“We negotiated with some people from the gang involved in the sex industry in Ranong and was able to free twenty-eight girls secretly,” said a Mon Buddhist to a Kaowao reporter. Most of young Mon girls working in the sex industry are from Mudon, Thanbyuzayat (Zobbu in Mon) and Ye township, Mon state. The girls say that their parents and the human traffickers who brought them over from the border into Thailand did not know that they had previously been in Thailand working in the sex industry. Two of the HIV victims are Mon girls from Karopi (Kroak Poay) and Taungpalu (Tongphalut) villages, Thanbyuzayt (Zopbyu) township, another is from Ye township who died while talking with the monk in the hospital. The organization arranged for the girls to be brought back to their area. However, they are too afraid to return home: “We feel very sick and know that we will not live long. We cannot eat and drink because there is too much pain. We feel bad uncle,” said a girl from Ye township to the Kaowao reporter. Some girls want to go home to their native villages, but would rather die in Thailand than go back to their family. They hope to receive medical treatment in Thailand. A Thai community
organization in cooperation with members from the Mon community including Mon Buddhist monks saved the girls. They also arranged better jobs for the girls who decided not to go back to their village.
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Rescued Sex Workers Found HIV-positive
By Taing Taw, Kaowao: November 28, 2009
Twelve of fifty-eight migrant sex workers rescued from a boat landing along the Burma coast in southern Thailand were found to be HIV-positive. Most are ethnic women from Mon State, Burma, said a social worker Ko Winn Paing based in Ranong, Thailand.
“They were sold for prostitution from the hands of human traffickers and were left behind after showing HIV symptoms. We later rescued them on November 24 from a boat landing and took them to the hospital.” According to the social worker, eight are Lao Shan, an ethnic people from Mon state, and the other four are Mon and Burman. The migrants do not want to go back to their home village and instead want to live on the border where they can receive medical treatment. The community isolates those who have HIV and traditionally look down on sex workers.
Burmese Women are vulnerable to HIV infection
Thousands of Burmese women and children are lured and forced into Thailand every year by human traffickers to work in the sex industry. These numbers are expected to increase due to continued political repression in the coming months and the downtown in the world economy. Burmese women, in particular ethnic women who face language barriers back home and in Thailand, make up the bulk of the domestic workers and are targets for sexual exploitation and violence. Depending on their age, beauty and virginity they are bartered or kidnapped to work in the sex brothels.
“These women contribute significantly back home, but poverty, human rights violations, and political repression committed by the Burmese government forces women to leave their villages to find work abroad in order to support themselves and their family” said a Mon community worker. Not only are
they exploited and denied their rights as workers, but they face an onslaught in contracting the AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases.
A recent report by the UN Development Fund on Asian women, HIV vulnerability of Migrant Women: From Asia to the Arab States, says a combination of excessive recruitment fees, poor wages, and poverty push migrants into a desperate situation. The report highlighted the fact that reintegration programmes form the best defense for those suffering from AIDS and in helping the victims. Migrants with HIV who are deported back to Burma "can be
devastating for [their] health, well-being and livelihoods of migrants and their families," the report said. The idea of not being able to work abroad forces them into a vicious cycle "puts them at substantial risk of being trafficked" and over and over again.
Ajjay Chibber, the UNDP regional director for Asia, said the migrants, who suffer discrimination from the time they arrive, would become more marginalized once they contracted HIV. "If they are found to be HIV positive, they risk deportation. Once returned to their home countries, they
are unable to find work and face discrimination and social isolation," he said. According to the report, these countries should work to integrate their laws covering recruitment agencies, while putting in place "urgent reforms" in their labour laws to recognize domestic help as a formal profession.
Simultaneously, Asian countries should step up HIV awareness and prevention programmes during predeparture orientation programmes for prospective migrants. Initiatives should also be undertaken to also promote "safe and informed migration", while embassy staff and those responsible for labour relations should be taught to be more sensitive to the plight of women, especially those who test positive for HIV.
http://www.kaowao.org/dec2-2009news.php
