Kampala, Uganda: A South Africa-based human rights organisation has called on Myanmar authorities to urgently dismantle online scam compounds allegedly holding Ugandan nationals in forced labour operations under brutal conditions.
In a statement released Thursday, May 14, the Human Rights Association accused criminal syndicates operating within Myanmar of trafficking Ugandans and other Africans into large-scale online fraud camps where victims are subjected to violence, torture and forced labour.
HRA Chairman, Mr Saad Kassis-Mohamed, said the compounds continue operating despite mounting international concern over human trafficking and organised cybercrime along the Myanmar-Thailand border.
According to the statement exclusively seen by DailyExpress, several Ugandan nationals are among thousands reportedly lured to Southeast Asia using fake job offers circulated through social media and messaging platforms.
“The recruitment model is consistent across cases: victims receive offers of well-paying legitimate employment in Thailand or elsewhere in Southeast Asia, circulated through social media and messaging platforms. Upon accepting, they are transported to the Thai-Myanmar border and trafficked across into Myanmar, where they are forced to work in industrial-scale online fraud operations under conditions of constant surveillance, physical violence, and coercion,” the statement reads.
The Human Rights Association said survivors described being forced to work long hours carrying out online fraud schemes under constant surveillance and threats of violence. “Those who refuse to participate or attempt to leave are beaten, tortured, and in some cases sold between criminal operations,” it adds.
One survivor identified as “Small Q” reportedly travelled to Southeast Asia believing he had secured a data entry job in Thailand, only to end up inside the Tai Chang scam compound in Myanmar. The victim reportedly worked shifts lasting up to 18 hours daily while being required to contact hundreds of potential fraud targets.
The second, identified as Joseph, was a journalist in Uganda before being trafficked into a scam compound in the region with the promise of a customer service job. He began filming video testimony from inside the compound to document conditions and alert the outside world. After escaping, he and other Ugandan nationals were left without money or assistance and slept on the street.
“These are Ugandan men who did nothing wrong except trust an employment offer,” Kassis-Mohamed said in the statement.
The organisation described the facility as a heavily guarded 500-acre operation allegedly linked to organised crime networks.
“These cases are not exceptional. Amnesty International documented Ugandan nationals among the survivors it interviewed following mass escapes from scam compounds in the region in January. The United Nations estimates that approximately 120,000 people remain trapped in forced scam labour operations in Myanmar alone,” the statement adds.
The Human Rights Association called on Myanmar authorities to dismantle the scam compounds, release all Ugandan nationals held against their will, prosecute criminal syndicate leaders and cooperate with the Ugandan government in repatriating victims.
The organisation also urged international judicial cooperation to help trace and seize assets belonging to operators of the scam networks.
The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the WeCare Foundation based in Cape Town and works across Africa, South Asia and the Gulf region on issues related to detention, human trafficking and human rights advocacy.
By Press time, efforts to reach out to Ugandan authorities in charge of labour and diaspora affairs were still futile with
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