Report launch: Wednesday, 11 May 2022 16:00-17:30 ICT (Cambodia/Vietnam) | 11:00-12:30 CEST (Austria) | 10:00-11:30 BST (UK)
The number of women travelling from Cambodia to China for forced or arranged marriages has surged since 2016 and experienced a further spike since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Cambodian women in arranged marriages with Chinese men, whether originally consensual or not, report finding themselves in remote areas and abusive contexts.
China’s one-child policy, in force between 1979 and 2015, reportedly led to sex-selective abortions by families seeking a son instead of a daughter, creating a significant gender imbalance in the country. Driven by Chinese men’s search for a wife, especially in rural areas, thousands of women from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, and Myanmar are transported to China to wed. Although some travel knowing that they are to be married, others are deceived. Many report suffering violence, sex abuse and forced labour.
This event will present different perspectives on bride trafficking to China, with a focus on how the pandemic has shaped these dynamics. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) will share findings from recent research into bride trafficking from Cambodia to China. Chab Dai, a Cambodian civil society organization, and Blue Dragon, a Vietnamese civil society organization that is also a GI-TOC Resilience Fund partner, will share insights from their work with trafficking survivors, focusing on those who have entered into marriages in China.
Panelists
Chair:Lucia Bird, Director, Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, GI-TOC
Opening remarks: Sean Sok Phay, Executive director, Child Helpline Cambodia
Speakers:
Vireak Chhun, Researcher
Thi Hoang, Analyst and JIED managing editor, GI-TOC
Chan Saron, Senior programme manager of survivor restoration, Chab Dai Coalition
Le Thi Hong Luong, Anti-trafficking coordinator, Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation
Cambodia’s trafficked brides: The escalating phenomenon of forced marriage in China - GI-TOC, 2022DOWNLOAD
This article argues that many of the lessons learned and achievements made in the measurement of human rights over the past four decades are equally applicable to the measurement of modern slavery. It shows that modern slavery encompasses a signific...Read More
The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a well-known problem in Kathmandu. Having seen a decade-long proliferation in the number of venues making up the adult entertainment sector (AES), frontline organisations – including the Fre...Read More
Issara Institute recognizes worker voice as conveying the voices, experiences, and needs of workers, and channeling that voice into clear mechanisms committed to remediation and a rebalancing of power asymmetries between employers and workers. This ...Read More
The U.S. Department of Labor has prepared the 2021 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in accordance with the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA). (1) The TDA set forth the requirement that a country must implement its commitments to elim...Read More