Myanmar military courts cracks down on human trafficking, 12 sentenced to life imprisonment

According to state-run media on Saturday, Myanmar military courts have sentenced twelve people, five of whom are Chinese, to life in jail for their roles in several human trafficking cases.

The convictions are related to a variety of offences, such as the trafficking of Myanmar women into forced marriages in China and the online dissemination of sex tapes, the Myanma Alinn newspaper reported.

In one case, a military court in Yangon, the nation’s largest city, sentenced five individuals, including two Chinese nationals known as Lin Te and Wang Xiaofeng, to life in prison on July 29. They were convicted of creating sex tapes featuring three Myanmar couples and posting the footage online for financial gain in violation of Myanmar’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons law.

In a separate case, the same court sentenced a woman and three Chinese nationals, Yibo, Cao Qiu Quan and Chen Huan. The group was convicted of planning to transport two Myanmar women, recently married to two of the convicted Chinese men, into China, the report said.

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Additionally, three other people received life sentences from a separate military court for selling a woman as a bride to China, and for attempting to do the same with another woman.

In another case, a woman from Myanmar’s central Magway region was given a 10-year sentence on July 30 for planning to transport two Myanmar women to be sold as brides to Chinese men, the report said.

Human trafficking, particularly of women and girls lured or forced into marriages in China, remains a widespread problem in Myanmar, a country still reeling from civil war after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

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The persisting conflict in most areas of Myanmar has left millions of women and children vulnerable to exploitation.

A 2018 report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) — which works to prevent and respond to trafficking in northern Kachin and Shan states bordering China — estimated that about 21,000 women and girls from northern Myanmar were forced into marriage in China between 2013 and 2017.

In its latest report published in December, KWAT noted a sharp decline in the number of trafficking survivors accessing its services from 2020 to 2023. It attributed the decline to the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures caused by ongoing conflict following the army takeover. However, it reported a resurgence in 2024 as people from across Myanmar began migrating to China in search of work.

Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Kyaw, a deputy minister for Home Affairs, said during a June meeting that the authorities had handled 53 cases of human trafficking, forced marriage and prostitution in 2024, 34 of which involved China, according to a report published by Myanmar’s Information Ministry.

The report also said that a total of 80 human trafficking cases, including 14 involving marriage deception by foreign nationals, were recorded between January and June this year.