Myanmar’s military courts sentenced 14 individuals to life imprisonment in a series of human trafficking cases involving forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and the production of pornographic content, local media reported Saturday.
“The president of the military court has sentenced nine Burmese and five Chinese nationals to life imprisonment for selling Burmese women to Chinese men as Chinese wives under false pretenses of employment and filming pornographic videos,” local media source the Ayeyarwaddy Times stated.
Victims were primarily women from Yangon Region townships and Magway Region. Some were promised lucrative jobs or large dowries if they agreed to become “Chinese wives,” only to be trafficked into forced marriages or used in online pornography. Two individuals, who “lured three young couples under the pretext of employment,” were sentenced to life alongside two Chinese nationals for filming and live-streaming pornography.
In another case, 3 individuals were convicted for arranging the sale of two women from Shwepyithar Township into forced marriage “for 1.2 million kyats by promising to support their parents.” Additional life sentences were handed to four individuals for trafficking a woman to a Chinese factory under false promises of a monthly salary of 3,500 to 4,000 yuan. Separately, individuals received 10-year sentences with hard labor for falsely recruiting a woman from Aung Lan Township as a bride with the promise of earning 8 million kyats and having a child under a one-year contract.
According to a recent UN report, Myanmar is spiralling deeper into a humanitarian catastrophe due to escalating military attacks, collapsing aid access, and international funding cuts. Speaking to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 27, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk noted that “it is imperative for the military to immediately end the violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access and release all arbitrarily detained people.” The report indicated that nearly 22 million people need assistance.
A devastating earthquake in March left six million people in urgent need, yet the military intensified attacks instead of facilitating relief. “The junta has chosen to use aid as a weapon,” warned Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. He added, “I have spoken with humanitarian workers physically blocked at checkpoints and received reports of earthquake survivors evicted from shelters with no place to go.”
