Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Chinese police in the northern province of Inner Mongolia have arrested members of a gang of 31 people, accused of trafficking humans and, in particular, women to be sold as brides in rural areas of the country. The official state news agency Xinhua, reports that among the victims there are 11 women and children from Myanmar; who have already been returned to their country of origin.
Local sources say that five of the victims of Burmese origin were
under 18 years of age and were
returned to Myanmar police after
three months of extensive investigations on the activities of the group. The traffickers attracted women and girls with promises of
a holiday or a job, only to sell them for cash
up to 50 thousand Yuan (just over 8
thousand dollars).
The trafficking in human lives, especially women and children, is a common practice
in South-east
Asia and Myanmar. Recently even the Archbishop of Yangon,
Msgr. Charles Bo spoke
out on the issue describing it as a "virtual hell" that "shames"
the former Burma, with a modern form of "slavery",
that especially affects "women
who are exploited not only for work but also for sexual
purposes".
The phenomenon of human trafficking in women is a result of the gender imbalance in China where decades of the aberrant one
child policy promoted by the Communist
leaders in Beijing, has been applied
with
ferocity by local officials. Reports have often recounted
incidents of mass
forced abortions, or brutal cases of unborn babies being murdered even in the
ninth month of pregnancy in ways that cause terrible suffering and endanger the life of the mother.
The decision to prefer male children has led to a marked imbalance between men and women, so that today many Chinese citizens are
forced to go abroad to find a
mate. According to the latest
data, there are be at least
118 males for
every 100 females, with a steadily increasing trend.
Last September, the Chinese police launched an operation that
led to the closure of numerous websites, specializing in the sale of group tours dedicated
to men only; they
promised trips abroad, particularly to the countries of Southeast Asia, in
search of "foreign wives" to
buy and take home. A practice that has led to the exponential growth in the countries of origin of human trafficking and prostitution, even child prostitution.