Gender imbalance: Cambodian ‘brides’ being trafficked to China

Beijing [China], August 28 (ANI): Lured by the promise of well-paid jobs, Cambodian women are being trafficked to China only to be sold as brides as Beijing grapples with a huge gender imbalance.
Recently, the story of a Cambodian woman, who was being trafficked to China and was forced to marry a local man, shocked the global community. The women were promised lucrative jobs, only to be sold as brides as the coercive and abusive ‘one-child policy’ has resulted in an acute gender imbalance.
Notably, China’s one-child policy, which came into existence in 1980, remained till 2016 and has shown insufficient change after which the ruling Communist Party allowed two children per married couple and later on three children, according to Hong Kong Post.
The result of acute gender imbalance has led to an increase in the cases of trafficking of women and girls.
The trafficking of Cambodian “brides” to China started rising sharply in late 2020 with mass job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had forced more young women and girls abroad to support their families, according to charity organizations which said that over the past decade, tens of thousands of women from Southeast Asia have been sent to China by criminal networks promising lucrative jobs, only to be sold as brides – some to abusive men – as China grapples with a huge gender imbalance.
Cambodian women and girls were trafficked to China via Vietnam which has become a transit country for women headed to China. Cambodian women who have returned from China often described experiences of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, confinement, torture and forced labour.
According to the publication citing available information, the Cambodian women trapped in forced marriages in China–where tens of millions of men are unable to start families and are willing to pay upward of 10,000 US dollars for a foreign bride–is not new.
After the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh became stricter in assessing visa applications of young, single Cambodian women, traffickers changed their route to avoid action by the police. Rather than flying from Phnom Penh to Shanghai or Beijing, women are now trafficked overland, passed from broker to broker, until they reach the north of Vietnam. The final leg of their journey is a clandestine boat trip around the border or a back-route car ride across it.
Meanwhile, China’s Supreme People’s Court had stated in its annual work report that it would impose the death penalty on human traffickers. The government departments announced a series of moves and campaigns early this year.
The Ministry of Public Security announced that it was starting a year-long campaign targeting the trafficking of women and children, saying that it would mobilise “everything within its power” to tackle the issue. It would mainly focus on the homeless and the mentally challenged. Representatives to China’s Parliament and its political advisory body have suggested ways to beef up the law. But these measures failed to restrict or reduce the numbers of trafficking of women. (ANI)