Chinese human traffickers are targeting poor Asian nations and have been found tricking people from poor Asian nations to migrate to China in the name of jobs and then selling them for forced marriage or prostitution or slavery and other kinds of illegal activities, reported Meta Khabar.
China has been known for the rampant human trafficking trade, which, however, is no longer limited to the walls of the country. Chinese human traffickers have extended their tentacles outside China in recent years, research and news reports have revealed, adding that there are horrific claims about such sold people being killed in China for organ harvesting.
The recent development comes from Nepal where the local authorities have arrested two Chinese nationals. Ten Nepalese were promised better jobs by these arrested Chinese nationals but were later forced to do illegal things, reported Meta Khabar.
Sharada Prasad Chaudhary, superintendent of police at Nepal’s Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau, said, “Our investigation of the rescued women and girls has shown that most of the young women taken from Nepal to China as brides are sent are forced to take prostitution.”
In 2019, too, Nepal Police arrested ten people for trafficking Nepalese girls on the pretext of marriage to China but allegedly used them as domestic workers and sex slaves. The Nepalese Embassy in China has time and again rescued Nepalese victims trafficked to China. Chinese traffickers often escape government radar as they avoid breaking rules and follow procedures.
“Although Chinese nationals take Nepalese women by following all legal processes, these women are at high risk of being used as sex slaves or unpaid labourers,” said Anjana Shakya, chairperson of the Alliance Against Trafficking of Women and Children.
Chinese traffickers carry out illegal human trade by posing as businessmen or workers of infrastructure projects China is building in different countries, reported Meta Khabar, adding that the implementation of projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has seen many Chinese nationals coming to Pakistan regularly.
Many cases of bride trafficking are reported through fraudulent marriages between girls from poor and minority backgrounds and Chinese men. These alleged Chinese traffickers entered Pakistan as businessmen of companies that did not exist. According to a report by Brookings Institute, they bought poor Pakistani girls for USD 3,500-5,000.
There are accusations that the government chose business with China over justice for the affected and vulnerable girls from marginalised backgrounds. The prosecution has been insufficient and questionable, say social activists.
While there are no government statistics, investigations by NGOs and news agencies revealed as many as 629 women especially vulnerable women from the Christian community were sold as brides to China in 2019, reported Meta Khabar.
When the issue of human trafficking by Chinese people led to an uproar in Pakistan, the authorities charged 52 Chinese traffickers in 2019. However, more than half were acquitted soon or granted bail and the opportunity to flee Pakistan.
While the Chinese government and embassies have been issuing statements against human trafficking, the world’s second most powerful country has feeble laws to stop the illegal trade. One can be imprisoned for seven years in China for buying illegal plants but buying a human attract a jail term of just three years and that too is not enforced actively.
China did not have any punishment for human trafficking until 1997.