NEWS- Gangs kidnap women from Burma

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Subject: NEWS- Gangs kidnap women from Burma and China and take them to Thailand

Gangs kidnap women from Burma and China and take them to Thailand

"INTERNATIONAL SEXUAL SLAVERY"  ,by Youngik Yoon.*

    Introduction 417 
    I. METHODS OF PROCURING WOMEN 419 

        A. KIDNAPPING 419 
        B. THE SELLING OF A WOMAN BY HER FAMILY 421 
        C. THE PROMISE OF A JOB 423 
    II. REASONS FOR TRAFFICKING FOREIGN WOMEN 425 
    III. DOMESTIC LAWS 426 

        A. BRAZIL 426 
        B. CHINA 427 
        C. UNITED STATES 428 
    IV. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT 429 
    V. NEGLECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT AND INEFFECTIVENESS OF
DOMESTIC LAW
    ENFORCEMENT 432 
    VI. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS 433 

        A. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT 433 
        B. INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY 434 
        C. SEIZURE OF CRIMINALS' ASSETS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW 435 
        D. SPECIFIED HARSH PENALTIES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW 435 
    Conclusion 436 

Introduction

This article examines the trafficking of women from one country to
another for forced prostitution. Each year,
many women are kidnapped, sold to "pimps" in foreign countries, and
forced into prostitution. Many others
are lured into foreign countries with promises of high paying jobs, but
are forced into prostitution once they
arrive. These women become virtual sex slaves. Some are even chained to
their beds in brothels to prevent
their escape. Fn1 Additionally, in most instances, organized crime is
heavily involved in the international sex
slave business. Fn2 

While sexual enslavement may occur domestically, this article focuses on
the international aspects of sexual
captivity. The international problems tend to be more disturbing to most
individuals because these women
are powerless to escape and may be forced to endure the slavery until
they die. Sexual slavery can be
particularly fatal today due to the global epidemic of AIDS, as these
enslaved women are forced to have
unprotected sex with a large number of men every day. Fn3 

While a large portion of these captive women in foreign countries are
from poor Third World countries, any
woman, regardless of her age, race, or economic class, can be kidnapped
and forced into prostitution in
another country. Fn4 This article begins with a discussion of the
methods of procuring women for use as
prostitutes. Second, it examines the reasons why foreign women are
selected. Third, the laws of various
countries prohibiting the traffic and enslavement of women as
prostitutes, including those of China, Brazil
and the United States are discussed. Finally, this article focuses on
the international prohibitions against
trafficking women from one country to another for the purpose of forcing
them into prostitution. 

While international law provides a sound principle that seems to be
universally accepted, it is impossible to
enforce because it lacks any mechanism to do so. This article proposes
the creation of an international
criminal court and law enforcement agency to manage the problems of
international sexual slavery. While
the creation of a permanent international criminal court has long been
suggested by legal scholars, such a
court has never been established because of the disagreement between
various nations over certain
issues. Fn5 After the court's creation, the international community
could eventually extend the jurisdiction of
the court after it has been successful in handling the international
sexual slavery cases. Finally, this article
proposes harsh penalties seizure of property and stiff jail sentences
for procurers and violators. 

I. METHODS OF PROCURING WOMEN 

Women who become the victims of international sexual slavery are
procured by kidnapping, purchase, or
with fraudulent inducements for jobs and a better life. 

A. KIDNAPPING

One popular way to procure women for international prostitution is to
simply kidnap them in one country and
bring them to another. While many incidents of kidnapping and forced
prostitution are reported, there is a far
larger number of unreported cases because the women who are kidnapped
have great difficulty in escaping
and reporting the crime. In fact, French police report that every year
at least several thousand teenage girls
are reported missing from Paris. The police believe that these girls
have been abducted into Arab countries
for prostitution, but they have no evidence to prove it. Fn6 Also,
people have claimed to have actually seen
auctions in Africa, where abducted white women from Europe were being
sold to Arab customers. Fn7 This
section details some of the incidents of kidnapped women who were able
to escape and report their abuse. 

The following is the reported experience of one French woman who had
been held as a prostitute slave for
several years in Africa: 

Veronique had been a prostitute for several years when her pimp
kidnapped her four children, held them
hostage, and threatened to kill them if she did not obey him and follow
the arrangements he made for her to
go to Dakar [Senegal]. Fearing for her children's safety, she went.
There, she was enslaved in a brothel for
two years, during which time there was no opportunity to leave the
premises, let alone escape. When the
ships came in, she was forced to take on up to 100 men a day. After two
years of brutal beatings and the
horrific demands made on her body, she became seriously ill and was
taken to a hospital. There, she
confided her story to a doctor, who took pity on her. He contacted the
police and helped to arrange for her
escape. Upon returning to France, she sought refuge with Le Nid, a
French refuge for prostitutes. She
contacted the authorities and testified against her pimp. He was found
guilty and imprisoned, and
Veronique's children were returned to her. Fn8 

In Asia, much of the prostitution business is run by gangs, who kidnap
women from Burma, Laos, Vietnam,
and China. These gangs export the kidnapped women to Thailand, and force
them into prostitution at
massage parlors, go-go clubs, hotels and shacks. Fn9 It is estimated
that more than forty-thousand women
and girls from Burma alone have been kidnapped and shipped to Thailand.
Fn10 

When twenty-five Burmese women were kidnapped by gangs in Burma and
forced to work in Thailand as
prostitutes, Thai police raided the sex den and rescued these women.
Subsequently, the women were
deported to Burma after they all tested HIV-positive. Upon their return
to Burma, Burmese health officials
injected the women with cyanide to "prevent the spread of the [HIV]
virus." Fn11size="1"> In fact,
according to a social worker in Burma, the Burmese government routinely
executed women who return from Thailand with the AIDS virus. Fn12 

The problem of international sexual captivity is not primarily Asian. In
Brussels, the daughter of a Dutch count
was kidnapped, along with other European girls, and taken to Zaire to
work as a prostitute. Fn13 

In the United States, federal officials state that women are
systematically transported to the United States,
and "forced to serve as labor camp prostitutes in return for food." Fn14
U.S. officials further report that
organized crime syndicates are behind this international trafficking of
women. Fn15 

Kidnapped women generally suffer terrible abuses. They are most often
under-fed and denied medical care.
Those who become sick are often killed by the brothel owners. Fn16
Recently, a number of captives burned
to death when a fire broke out in their brothel, and they could not
escape because they were chained to their
beds. Fn17 One kidnapped woman was lucky enough to escape to the local
city hall, but she was found and
murdered by brothel thugs. Fn18 

B. THE SELLING OF A WOMAN BY HER FAMILY 

In addition to kidnapping, women are also sold into sexual bondage by
their families. This happens most
frequently in poor Third World countries. In most cases, those who are
sold are young girls. Fn19 For
example, some Indian parents sell their daughters to Arab men for less
than three hundred dollars because
they receive cash and no longer have to provide their daughter with an
expensive dowry. Fn20 In Thailand,
some parents sell their daughters when they are mere babies, and the
buyers raise them like livestock.
Fn21 Many of the buyers have sold their own daughters. Fn22 When the
girls reach a certain age, they are
then re-sold into the prostitution circuit to serve foreign tourists.
Fn23 A Thai woman, who founded a school
for these types of girls, said, "It happens quite often. The kids know
that they have to go to Bangkok at a
certain age. They know that these people are not their real parents."
This woman is working to find these
children foster homes, despite continuous threats from gang members.
Fn24 

The Dallas Morning News published a story of Thai girls who were
kidnapped and sold. Fn25 While this
story involves the domestic sale of a girl, it gives an idea of how
insensitive authorities in Third World
countries are to the plight of escaped sex slaves, even when the victims
are their own citizens: 

In the remote hilltop villages of the Akha, pigs and poverty share the
narrow dirt lands with bamboo and
thatch homes. Dau came from one such village, from the rice fields, a
poor family, and an opium-addicted
father. The offer came when she was 12 or 13 - a job in a restaurant
that turned out to be a brothel. When her
resistance was beaten out of her, the customers were brought to her,
five to seven of them on the first night.
Her fee was six dollars. She got none of it. The first time Dau escaped
from the brothels, she and two other
girls from her village climbed through a bathroom window and went to the
police. "They tried to convince us
to return to the brothel", she says. When the girls refused, the police
delivered them to their original
kidnapper, who promptly sold them to another brothel. The second time,
Dau and her friends made it home.
But the brothel agent brought police to threaten their families with
arrest unless they repaid him for the girls'
value. The girls continued to run until they found a village whose
leader took them to the New Life Center in
Chianing Mai. The Center, supported by American Baptist and Swedish
churches, operates three homes for
girls who have survived prostitution, or who are at risk of being sold
into it. Fn26 

In these poor Third World countries, some parents say they sell their
children because they think prostitution
is better than starvation. Fn27 

C. THE PROMISE OF A JOB

Another method of procuring women for forced prostitution in a foreign
country is by false promises of work.
Many foreign prostitutes in Japan seem to have been brought to Japan by
this method. Yeko Takeoka, a
Japanese lawyer, and Sister Naoka Iyri, a nun, testified before the
Human Rights Commission of the United
Nations in 1989 that, among the approximately three -hundred thousand
women working in Japan,
ninety-three percent had been promised jobs as entertainers, but ended
up being used as prostitutes. Fn28 

White American women are among the foreign women forced into
prostitution in Japan. Fn29 One Japanese
organized crime syndicate uses West Coast talent agencies to place
advertisements to lure these women to
Japan. The agencies advertise jobs of seemingly legitimate productions
and shows in Japan. Some of the
women who respond to the advertisement are selected, and they are
contacted by an "agent". They are
promised a specific salary, told where and when they will be performing
in Japan, and given pre-paid plane
tickets. However, upon arrival, the women are met by a different agent,
who informs them that he has bought
their contracts from their former "agent". The women's passports and
other identification documents are
taken away, and they are forced to work as prostitutes. Fn30
Unfortunately many Americans are unaware of
this growing problem. 

To increase their legitimacy, Japanese gangsters, called Yakuza, have
made inroads into the lawful
business world. Fn31 This tends to increase their power and ability to
participate in the international
prostitution business. Japanese gangs may even have some link to
American organized crime. Fn32 The
collaboration between Japanese and American organized crime "families"
makes it difficult to stop the
Yakuza's traffic of women without some type of cooperation between the
countries. 

Even Mexican women are lured into the United States with the promise of
employment, but upon arrival in the
U.S. they are forced to work as prostitutes. Fn33 Most of them were
promised jobs as barmaids, but ended
up as sex slaves for Mexican migrant workers. Fn34 

The Dallas Morning News reported one Chinese woman's terrifying
experience of being kidnapped to
Burma under the false pretenses of employment: 

When she [Fong] was 16, a monk visited her village in southern China. He
said she could make two
hundred dollars a month as a sales clerk in a Burmese border town - a
huge sum of for a girl who
sometimes went hungry. Instead of the wonderful new life, after a three
day trip to the Thai-Burma border,
she was sold to a brothel agent for six hundred dollars. When she saw
the money change hands, Fong said
she was terrified. But she didn't know where she was, she had no money
and she did not even speak Thai.
Fong was taken to a Bangkok teahouse where a Thai man paid her owner two
hundred and eighty dollars for
the privilege of taking away her virginity. "I almost fainted. I almost
killed myself," she says. Her value as a
virgin spent, Fong was shifted to a massage parlor at the beach resort
of Pattay. There, she joined 30 to 40
other girls in a glass room wearing numbers, so that customers could
choose among them. The brothel
owner bought her clothes. The other women "trained her," she says, how
to dress, how to give a man a bath,
how to do the required things, step by step, so that her skills became
her job. Like most women in locked
brothels, Fong received no money, except tips. Pimps guarded the doors.
If she refused to have sex with
drunken customers, she was beaten . . . . One of the few excepted
excuses for refusing sex was that a
woman was having her menstrual period. But when Fong tried to stretch
that excuse for more than a few
days, she says, the massage parlor owner would make her take off her
underwear so he could see if she
was telling the truth. Fong managed to escape after six months. By bus,
she made it back across the country
to Mae Sai. But, before she could cross into Burma, one of the army of
procurers found her and sold her to
another brothel. "Being recaptured was almost as terrifying as her first
customer," she said. Eventually, a
Taiwanese customer paid the owner of the second brothel four hundred
dollars to free her, and sent her to
the Chinese embassy in Bangkok." Fn35 

Filipino women are also enslaved as prostitutes in other countries.
Aurora Javante de Dios, an expert on the
slavery of Filipino women, said, "Slavery now is more sophisticated,
more globalized, and more technical
than ever. Women can be recruited for domestic jobs, and end up as
prostitutes in Japan and the Middle
East. Slavery is now integrated into our countries' economies." Fn36 

II. REASONS FOR TRAFFICKING FOREIGN WOMEN

Why are foreign women sought as sex slaves when it may be more difficult
to obtain them than the country's
own women? First, the demand for prostitution within a country may be
greater than the number of domestic
women who are willing to be prostitutes. While Thailand has one of the
largest number of prostitutes in the
world, the demand is disproportionately high because a large number of
foreign men from affluent countries,
like Japan, South Korea, Australia and the United States, actually come
to Thailand on organized sex tours.
Fn37size="1"> This may explain why gangs kidnap women from Burma and
China, and take them to Thailand, even though Thailand already has one
of the largest prostitute populations. 

Another reason for using foreign women as prostitutes is that it is much
more difficult for enslaved women to
escape from a foreign country rather than their own country. Women
brought into the country, more than likely
than not, do not know the language and are very unfamiliar with their
surroundings. 

Foreign women are also more attractive targets because the kidnapping
gangs usually know the local
authorities and can easily bribe the local police and judiciary. Fn38
Local police are also far less
sympathetic to foreign women. 

Furthermore, prostitution clients seem to prefer foreign women. In
Japan, men are obsessed with having
sex with Caucasian women, especially blondes. Fn39 Therefore, blonde
women are the most sought-after
prostitutes in Tokyo. Fn40 There is great financial incentive for the
Japanese crime syndicates to deliver
Caucasian women to the prostitution market. Fn41 

III. DOMESTIC LAWS

This section examines how different nations treat the subject of
trafficking women for prostitution.
Specifically, the laws of Brazil, China, and the United States are
reviewed. 

A. BRAZIL

Brazilian law forbids the trafficking of women, which is defined as "the
importation of women into Brazilian
territory for the purpose of engaging in prostitution, or the assisting
of their departure from Brazil, for the
purpose of engaging in prostitution abroad." Fn42 Additionally,
Brazilian law provides harsh penalties for this
crime and even harsher if convicted of selling minor women. Fn43 Those
convicted of trafficking women who
are over eighteen of age are sentenced to jail for a minimum of three
years to a maximum of eight years.
Fn44 Those convicted of trafficking minor females under the age of
eighteen can be sentenced for a
minimum of four years to a maximum of ten years. Fn45 Also, if threat,
violence or fraud was used, the
perpetrator can be sentenced for up to twelve years. Fn46 

B. CHINA

While Chinese law does not specifically address the issue of trafficking
women abroad, there are provisions
which prohibit the kidnapping and sale of women domestically, which can
be applied to the international
trade of women for prostitution. Fn47 Relevant provisions provide as
follows: 

Article 36. It is prohibited to abduct and sell or kidnap women. It is
prohibited to buy abducted or kidnapped
women. The People's Governments and Departments concerned must adopt
prompt measures to rescue
abducted, sold or kidnapped women. After abducted, sold or kidnapped
women are returned to their
hometown, no one shall discriminate against them, and local governments
and departments concerned
should do a good job in helping them to be restored to normal lives. 

Article 37. Both working as a prostitute or visiting prostitutes are
prohibited. It is prohibited to organize,
coerce, lure, keep or introduce women to work as prostitutes . . . .
Fn48 

Unlike the laws of other countries, Chinese law also specifically
prohibits the discrimination against women
who have been victims of sexual slavery and returned home. Fn49 The
Chinese Communist government
takes a very harsh stance against individuals convicted of kidnapping
and selling women. Fn50 For
instance, when four individuals were convicted of leading a gang that
had kidnapped seventy-four Chinese
women, the Chinese government sentenced the criminals to death. Fn51 In
a country where the average
wage is only about thirty dollars per month, the gang reportedly made
twenty-five thousand dollars just from
the trade of human flesh. Fn52 

C. UNITED STATES

American law also prohibits kidnapping a person for the purposes of
prostitution, but does not specifically
address the problem of international sexual slavery. Fn53 The U.S.
Constitution and various federal and
state statutes specifically prohibit slavery. Fn54 The Thirteenth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
absolutely bars slavery and involuntary servitude. Fn55 The United
States Code, sections 1583 and 1584,
forbids kidnapping and slavery: 

Section 1583. Whoever kidnaps or carries away any other person, with the
intent that such other person be
sold into involuntary servitude, or held as a slave; or whoever entices,
persuades, or induces any other
person to go on board any vessel or to any other place with the intent
that he may be made or held as a
slave, or sent out of the country to be so made or held, shall be fined
not more than five-thousand dollars, or
imprisoned not more that five years, or both. Fn56 

Section 1584. Whoever knowingly and willfully holds to involuntary
servitude, or sells or brings within the
United States any person so held, shall be fined not more than
five-thousand dollars or imprisoned not more
than five years, or both. Fn57 

While the American laws seem to be more lenient to criminals who are
convicted of enslaving women than
the laws of either China or Brazil, the various states have criminal
statutes which can be harsher than the
federal statutes. Fn58 Additionally, the federal government can charge
the kidnappers with additional crimes,
such as rape, which can result in a more severe punishment. Fn59 

IV. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT

International law also addresses the issue of forced prostitution.
Various treaties and conventions
absolutely forbid the kidnapping of women for the purposed of forcing
them into prostitution, whether the
women were kidnapped internationally or domestically. Fn60 In fact, the
prohibition against prostitutional
slavery has long been a part of traditional international law, even
before any formal agreements were made
between nations. Fn61 

Additionally, there have been a number of international treaties
specifically addressing this international
problem. The first such agreement was the International Convention for
the Suppression of the White Slave
Traffic of May 18, 1904. Fn62 Signed in Paris on May 4, 1910, and going
into effect on August 8, 1912, the
Convention forbids the traffic of women for an immoral purpose. Fn63
Initial signatories of the Convention
included Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, German,
Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Sweden. Fn64 Later, the Convention was
accepted by many other countries,
including China, Japan, and Turkey. Fn65 

The second international agreement to treat the subject was the
International Convention for the
Suppression of the Traffic of Women and Children. Fn66 Signed by
approximately sixty countries in 1921, the
treaty prohibited people from procuring, enticing or leading away a
woman, or girl of full age, for immoral
purposes, to be carried out in another country. Fn67 

The next multilateral treaty was the International Convention for the
Suppression of the Traffic in Women of
Full Age, which was signed in Geneva on October 11, 1933. Fn68 This
convention imposed a duty on the
signing countries to prohibit, prevent, prosecute and/or punish those
engaged in such practices. Fn69
Twenty-six countries, mostly European, signed this agreement. Fn70 

In 1950, the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons
and the Exploitation of the Prostitution
of Others was signed by more than sixty countries, including Japan,
Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait. Fn71 The most
comprehensive and detailed convention to that date, this treaty
consolidated the ideas expressed in the prior
three conventions. It prohibits individuals, or countries, from
procuring, enticing or leading away, another
person for the purposes of prostitution. Fn72 It even prohibits the
prostitution of a person with the consent of
that person. Fn73 The convention also requires countries to punish any
person who keeps, manages, or
knowingly finances, or takes part in the financing, of a brothel. Fn74
Additionally, it requires the signing
countries to punish people who knowingly lease or rent a building or
other facility for the purpose of
prostitution. Fn75 

On a different level, the convention also provides that aliens shall
have the same rights and privileges as
citizens, in cases where injured persons are entitled under domestic law
to be parties to proceedings
regarding any of the offenses referred to in the treaty. Fn76
Accordingly, a woman who was kidnapped and
forced into prostitution in a foreign land would be able to bring suit
against her capturer and pimp in that
country, if the same kind of action could be brought by a citizen of
that country. 

The signing countries also agreed to make it an extraditable offense to
kidnap or entice someone out of his
or her own country for the purposes of prostitution. Fn77 This means
that when a woman of country "A" is
kidnapped by nationals of country "B" to be used as a prostitute in
country "B", country "A" can ask country "B"
to extradite the kidnappers to be prosecuted in country "A". 

The agreement also requires countries to take necessary measures for the
supervision of employment
agencies, in order to prevent women and girls seeking employment abroad
from being exposed to the
danger of forced prostitution. Fn78 

V. NEGLECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT AND INEFFECTIVENESS OF
DOMESTIC LAW ENFORCEMENT

While the various international conventions provide an elaborate
framework aimed at the prevention of the
traffic in women for forced prostitution, these agreements are not well
adhered to by those countries who
endorsed them. Corruption in law enforcement groups and the lack of
governmental interest in the plight of
these enslaved women make it almost impossible to enforce the treaty. 

In Thailand, for example, police corruption is the toughest obstacle in
solving the problem of forced
prostitution, regardless of whether the women are citizens or
foreigners. Fn79 Not only are the police paid to
ignore and protect the brothels, but often, some of the police officials
own their own houses of prostitution.
Fn80 Dr. Saisuree Chitikul, a former Cabinet member who is now a
government consultant on women's and
children's issues, said "The lower ranks collect [bribe money], divide
it up, put it in envelopes, and give it to
the higher ups. Its's a feeding system, from the roots up . . . [The
police] can't do anything about it because
they are part of it." Fn81 

Similarly, while the traffic of women to Japan for prostitution purposes
is a significant problem in the United
Sates, American law enforcement agencies have made little effort to
solve the problem. A policeman,
assigned to investigate the traffic of women to Japan, said, "After
seven years, I'm frustrated. I can't do
anything to stop it, the Feds can't do anything, and the State
Department doesn't want to do anything." Fn82
Women continue to be victims of forced prostitution in foreign lands,
and the criminals go unpunished. 

VI. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

While there are already world-wide agreements that ban the traffic of
women from one country to another,
these prohibitions have little effect. Fn83 The reason for such
non-compliance with fundamental
international law is that there is no international enforcement agency
or organization to carry out the
prohibitions. Creating an international law enforcement agency to deal
with this international problem, and
an international criminal court system to try those engaged in such
crimes, is one solution. Further, the
international law should require the seizure of property of the
violators, and specify and apply harsh penalties
upon them. 

A. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT 

The creation of an international criminal court system has long been
suggested by legal scholars as a way
to deal with such international problems, such as the trafficking of
women abroad for prostitution. Fn84
However, since the countries could not agree on certain major issues,
such as jurisdiction, the definition of
terrorism, funding, etc., such a court has never been created. The
international community must set aside
their differences and agree that the court will take jurisdiction over
the most important problems in the
international arena which the countries can agree upon. Since most
countries are in agreement that the
kidnapping and sale of women and forced prostitution are violative of
international law, the proposed
international criminal court should have jurisdiction to enforce the
conventions and punish the violators.
Then, when the court has been more widely accepted, and the problems
have been ironed out, the court's
jurisdiction can be extended to other criminal matters. The details as
to the selection of judges, the court
structure, and the funding of the system, can be negotiated between the
countries. For example, countries
can select judges for the international court from current or former
judges of their country. 

B. INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY 

An international law enforcement agency must also be created to enforce
the decisions of the international
criminal court. Since international sexual slavery involves the
trans-national traffic of women, law
enforcement from one single country cannot effectively deal with
organized crime that is linked
internationally. Instead of enforcing international law, the current
international police organization ineffectively
gathers crime statistics from the international community. Fn85 

Under the proposed system, nations contributing to the agency could
select from their own enforcement
agencies candidates to compete for a position in the new agency. This
proposal ........