国际英语资讯:Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh targeted by traffickers, exploiters: UN_时事

国际英语资讯:Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh targeted by traffickers, exploiters: UN

The ethnic Muslim Rohingya are fleeing persecution including deadly attacks and burning of villages in Myanmar, a mostly Buddhist nation.

Desperate men, women and children are being recruited with false offers of paid work in various industries including fishing, small commerce, begging and, in the case of girls, domestic work, the IOM said.

Once they start the job, they usually find that they are not paid what was promised, it said. They are often deprived of sleep, made to work more hours than was agreed, not allowed to leave their work premises and not allowed to contact their family. Women and girls are often physically or sexually abused.

The IOM said it is also aware of cases where Rohingyas have been trafficked to outside Bangladesh, and is assisting the victims, but most of the trafficking is taking place inside the country, which follows the pattern of trafficking globally.

Kateryna Ardanyan, an IOM counter-trafficking expert currently deployed in Cox's Bazar, said, "In the chaos of a crisis like this, trafficking is usually invisible at first, as there are so many other urgent needs like food and shelter. But agencies responding to this crisis should not wait until the number of identified victims increases.

"Rohingya refugees need preventive and proactive action now to mitigate risks of human trafficking, and the survivors need help, before this spirals out of control," she said.