Burma Human Rights Network’s report: “We also have dreams” Arranged Marriages and Trafficking BHRN spoke to several refugees who had family members trafficked overseas. The family members of women who were trafficked all said that they were being taken to another country where they could get married. Many of them said that they couldn’t afford the dowry in the camps and that an overseas marriage was a solution to this. The most common destination for women being trafficked for marriage was Malaysia but BHRN spoke to family members of women who went to India, Indonesia, and Thailand as well. The marriages were arranged by family members and plans for their travel were coordinated with traffickers or smugglers, that the families typically did not know. Often the prospect grooms were the ones who organized passage. Many of the family members who arranged these marriages expressed regret over their decision to try to smuggle their family members overseas and said they did not foresee the risks that would be involved. A 30- year-old woman told BHRN about the repeated attempts of her two sisters, ages 18 and 14years-old, to travel to Malaysia for marriage, “We have a brother who previously went. He took both sisters to get them married there. They had to return home from the boat two or three times. They suffered a lot because their clothes got torn up and there was no food on the boat. Some Indonesians provided them with clothes when they got off the boat in Indonesia, and they stayed in Indonesia for about one month. So, our brother thought his sisters would be defamed there and he somehow managed to take them to him. After one year, they found accommodation with him. They were on the boat for about six months. They suffered a lot as they didn’t even have any clothes. They suffered a lot. With the mercy of Allah, they are alive because hundreds of people who went with them died. For their survival, we prayed to Allah so much.” www.bhrn.org.uk 32