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Informal Marriages Hide Human Trafficking
By B. Bulgamaa
THE PROTECTION of rights and a positive legal environment for the victims of human trafficking who become illegally married to Asian men still does not exist yet, because of a lack of information and knowledge about human trafficking. About 20 days ago, four Mongolian women with three of their children requested from the Mongolian consulate in Erlian, China, to save them from the violence of their husbands.
They were married to Chinese men when they were introduced to each other in Mongolia, but have lived in China for over ten years now. According to reports in the Mongolian media, all of them were living in a half-starved state, they had no right to work for wages and weren’t even allowed to go outside. They were beaten brutally by their husbands and had other physical pressure applied. Some of them were unwillingly forced to have sex by their husbands. But the accused husbands are demanding the return of their wives from the consulate.
According to the consulate, the women are considered as Mongolian nationals according to the Mongolian Citizens’ Registration and Information Center database. Their Mongolian nationality was not revoked and, under law, Mongolians are not allowed dual citizenship. Moreover, their children were born in Mongolia and their surnames are given by their mothers. This is a sufficient basis for the women to return to Mongolia, in the opinion of the consulate. The consulate sent the statement to relevant official agencies in China and if the two countries agree, the police of both countries will jointly examine the case.
According to Chinese law, an individual indulging in sex trafficking would receive a punishment of 20 years in prison. There are also very strict prohibitions on a person prostituting him or herself.
Lack of information
But in Mongolia, there has been just one court case related to human trafficking because victims do not come to the police. The victims are afraid to face the police since they fear they will be doubly punished for being part of an illegal action as well as having a lack of information and knowledge about human trafficking.
The psychological damage caused human trafficking by is not understood clearly and everybody who lacks knowledge and information can become a victim. “All victims of human trafficking in Mongolia are cheated by the information of the intermediary when they first become a victim of this crime,” said B. Ganbayasgakh, Leader of The Gender Equity Center at a seminar on the issue.
The Gender Equity Center is the first organization to do comprehensive research on the issue of Mongolian victims of foreign human trafficking over the last two years. The center does local research, as well as conducting studies and taking interviews from victims in China and Macao.
“Most of the victims of human trafficking had no awareness about what sexual exploitation is and no information about human trafficking abroad. Also, the victims had not studied about the country they were being sent to and they didn’t know how they could contact the Mongolian council or where the Mongolian embassies are located in these countries,” said Ganbayasgakh.
Some Mongolian women who married Koreans have suffered from sex trafficking. According to Ganbayasgakh’s research, Mongolia’s lacks a law which protects women from becoming a sex traffic victim and protects human rights. When women are to be married to foreigners, they should return to Mongolia before the wedding to explain their new life’s conditions, she proposed. Lack of positive legal regulations for victims exposes them to have their lives ruined.
State inspectors said that the overwhelming desire of many students to go abroad and leave Mongolia, only added to the problem of trafficking. “We took a study from senior pupils of a secondary school asking, ‘Would you go abroad as a result of a person’s information or announcement by the media promising help to enter a job with a high salary?’ Unfortunately, 75 percent of them said they would directly go,” said Captain B. Otgonbayar, Senior Inspector of the State Investigation Office.
Contrasting incorrect media reports that only males run human trafficking operations, research showed that women were more involved in the selling process then men, seminar organizers said. “The intermediaries of human trafficking in Mongolia are women aged 20-45 years old. They use very detailed swindling methods to entice the girls abroad and in the some cases the parents believe them to be honest intermediaries,” said Ganbayasgakh.
Deep rooted problems
However, the problems reach far deeper into society and law enforcement officials said the laws are far from effective. “The criminal code in Mongolia is not strong enough for prosecuting human trafficking intermediaries. The Supreme Court and human rights NGOs reached an agreement to make some amendments to the criminal code and the Supreme Court should have made an explanation for this law yesterday,” said D. Amarjargal, an officer of the Human Rights and Development Center.
Captain Otgonbayar also said that enforcement officials as well as judicial sector officers had a general lack of knowledge on trafficking which made it hard for legal matters to be investigated.
Seminar participants also interviewed some victims of prostitution. “I’ve been working for this sauna for two years and I’m selling myself voluntarily here. My work is very beneficial for me and for the director of this sauna. Every person pays Tg8,000 for sauna and body massage. If customer wants an additional service from us we give them what they want – of course, that means sex,” a woman admitted on condition of anonymity. “I take half of the income from the person whom I gave the additional service to, but I don’t take a salary from my boss,” she added.
Captain Otgonbayar explained the laws on prostitution, citing that some women the police investigate say they are voluntarily partaking in these illegal activities. “Mongolia prohibits any organization from selling a person’s body for sexual activity. But most saunas are carrying out sexual services in secret. Most of the masseurs of the sauna are the girls who are allowing the sale of their bodies,” he complained.
“It is a difficult issue for the police force because the process of a restricted justice environment in Mongolia creates heavy work,” pointed out the police representatives.
The young woman said her work was only temporary until she finished her scholarly studies. “My income for a night is enough to keep me at my university. I will stop this work when I graduate university. When I came to Ulaanbaatar from the countryside I didn’t have a house here, but now I don’t need to rent any houses because I live here.”
source 2007-04-13 |
