Burma Human Rights Network’s report: “We also have dreams” Trafficking and Kidnappings Trafficking remains a serious issue in the camps. The situation of women trafficked for marriage, as detailed above, is a key aspect to this issue, although men also continue to be trafficked out of the camps to third countries by the same groups. Typically, men who are trafficked leave because they have become desperate for their families to survive and believe they can find work in Malaysia. Most of them understand that entering this agreement involves some degree of risk but the full extent of danger does not seem widely known. Traffickers often ask refugees to pay a sum for their journey, to be paid in two installments. Some agree to pay their remaining debt to the brokers with money they believe they’ll make once they arrive in Malaysia. This sort of arrangement has been used to trap trafficked refugees in modern slavery or as leverage to extort their families for money after they’ve left. A 30-year-old woman told BHRN about her 17-year-old son, “We had no idea before that my son would have faced that much suffering. Now, we have come to know about the suffering there, so we will never put our children in such a difficult situation ever again. My son faced many difficulties. But he is there now as it is Allah’s will for him to get asylum. I heard he is learning there. I am only 30 years old, and he is my eldest son. I have three daughters younger than him. We had forbidden him from going there, but he secretly went as he thought that we had faced hardship in Myanmar as well as in the camp for long enough. As his uncle made him greedy, he went there. I actually didn’t send my son intentionally. He just told me to pray for him when he was about to go aboard the ship with his uncle’s family. My son suffered from being adrift on the water for many days, and we gave the money when we were asked to give it in order to get my son on the shore.” A 30-year-old man described the journey of his 19-year-old sister and cousin, ‘Yes, the brokers contacted us. They used to visit us frequently before taking my sisters. They asked us to pay 2.5 lakhs kyats as a fee. So, we had to pay 5 lakhs for both my sisters. We convinced the brokers to accept 4 lakhs and 80 thousand kyats. It was asked to give 1.5 lakhs as advance for each of them. Their to-be-husbands from Malaysia remitted 3 lakhs to the brokers, so they took my sisters after getting the money. Those brokers didn’t contact us anymore, and my sisters were mistreated in different ways, notably by being left starving in the mountains for about two months. So, I am always www.bhrn.org.uk 36