University Policy Paper: Human Trafficking of Rohingya Muslims Crisis

This policy paper addresses the critical issue of human trafficking targeting Rohingya Muslims, focusing on their displacement from Myanmar and subsequent vulnerability in refugee camps, particularly in Bangladesh. The paper highlights the root causes of trafficking, including persecution, poverty, and desperation, which traffickers exploit by promising safe passage to developed countries. It examines the empirical problems, including the torture and displacement of Rohingya communities, and the involvement of these communities in criminal networks. The analysis reveals the violation of human rights and the challenges faced by both governmental and non-governmental organizations in addressing this crisis. The paper also analyzes the impacts of human trafficking on international relations. The paper concludes by emphasizing the urgency of addressing the situation and offering policy recommendations to combat trafficking, protect vulnerable populations, and ensure social justice. It underscores the need for international cooperation and the role of organizations like the UNHCR in providing assistance and support to the Rohingya community.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
International Relations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
The aim of the following research is to highlight on the social issue of the human trafficking. The
human trafficking of the Rohingya Muslim community has been very crucial factor for the
international politics in the recent years. The situations of the human trafficking in Bangladesh
for the Rohingya Muslim communities have been highlighted. The reason of the displacement of
this community has been discussed in this paper. The situations have been identified why the
Rohingya Muslims faced so much trouble and how their little children had been trafficked. The
human trafficking is felt to be one of the most challenging social issues in the world and it has
violated the human rights. The analysis of this situation has been made while the
recommendations have also been done on the policies to be prepared in this case.

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Introduction
Human trafficking has always been one of the deadliest social issues in the recent times
all over the world. This has become an issue of the social justice also. Lawmakers and
policymakers are trying their best to curb down this issue properly. They are looking to put an
end to this issue very soon. The over population in the world is regarded as a major reason for
this kind of disruptive social practice (Kempadoo, Sanghera & Pattanaik, 2015).
This is why the leaders of the nation also want to think about this social issue with an in-
depth analysis so they can pull out some strict policies to prevent the human trafficking. In this
paper, the human trafficking issue for the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar will be discussed. The
tortures on them by the traditional people of the country and the supreme bad conditions leading
them to suicide will be analyzed. Probable solutions to this issue will also be recommended
through the policies.
Empirical problem
The empirical problem to be highlighted here is the issue that Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar have been tortured mercilessly and all their rights have been taken awy from them.
Sometimes, they have succeeded to escape to Bangladesh as a neighboring Muslim country and
sometimes they have fallen prey to the tortures of Myanmar and its traditional Buddhist sects
(Weitzer, 2014).The Rakhine state of Myanmar is the central point of this issue and people have
been driven off the state and later became the victims of the human trafficking at different points
of time. Sometimes, it has been seen that these Rohingya Muslims have become so much
desperate and turned out to be the human traffickers themselves (Kempadoo, Sanghera &
Pattanaik, 2015).

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It has also been found from the recent research works that human traffickers have been
targeting the Rohingya Muslims because they are in such vulnerable condition. According to the
news received from the United Nations, thousands of the Rohingya Muslims had escaped from
the country to Bangladesh after the military crackdown took the ultimate brutal shape in the year
2017. The root problem for all this issue is the traditional Buddhist people in Myanmar believed
these Muslim communities to be illegal immigrants in their land (Weitzer, 2014). They occupied
the lands of Myanmar and got all the social facilities provided by the Myanmar authorities for a
long time.
They have claimed the fact that these communities have confined around tens of
thousands of camps in the Rakhine state of the country illegally. They believed that these camps
would have to be removed immediately and the rights of thes minority Muslim communities
must be taken away. According to the reports, it is very evident that around 730,000 Rohingya
Muslims had to escape to Bangladesh and they live in the refugee camps there since the
Bangladesh Government has not been able to provide them with the proper shelter and safety of
food (Weitzer, 2014).
These groups of the Rohingya Muslims are also very much afraid that they might be
killed or persecuted if they return back to the Rakhine state once again. In certain cases, it has
been found that the young boys in the different regions of Bangladesh from the Rohingya
communities are bound and blindfolded and left in the marketplace with pale and skinny
condition (Cho, 2015).
This has truly become the biggest issue regarding the Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh
who have escaped from Mynamar to save their lives and tremendous oppressive conditions. The

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overall conditions of these people are almost unthinkable to some extent. The south eastern
region of Bangladesh named Cox’s Bazar has become the one of the most crucial places for the
child trafficking of these Rohingya Muslim communities.
According to some of the news sources, it has been found that a member of the
community named Mohammad Faisal had gone vanished from the refugee camp in Kutapalong
at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh (Cho, 2015). He was a boy of 13 and his parents were afraid that
he must have been carried away through the human traffickers in the fishing vessels through the
river. Thus, these small incidents have come up to be the ultimate headache for the Bangladesh
government as well as the entire South East Asia (Chuang, 2014).
The largest refugee camp base is located at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh only where
millions of the refugees of the Rohingya Muslim community stay together in squalid and
unhygienic conditions. These shelters for the people are completely temporary settlements and
child traffickers have set their eyes on these regions. They came to this region after they had
escaped the violence of Myanmar in 2017 and set up this region for their staying. This violent
attack of the Myanmar military force had left thousands of Rohingya Muslims dead before they
could escape the country (Chuang, 2014).
The situation of these people have come to be so much pathetic that the trafficked young
girls in the region might end up with the lives of prostitutes in other countries and trafficked
young boys might have live their entire life through the forced labor. This is indeed challenging
for everyone in the society since the social justice is not exercised in these contexts. The social
contexts must be understood in this scenario (Weitzer, 2015). The gravity of the situation is very
serious indeed. The Rohingya Muslims are very poor and social discrimination has added to their

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pains of economic disparity. Many trafficked Muslims of the Rohingya community are often
reported to be indulged in the criminal scenes.
Many are found to be involved with the activities of the infamous terrorist group Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The actual problem for human trafficking lies in the fact these
people involved with criminal networks assure these desperate and poor Rohingya Muslims that
they can be provided with the escape routes to the developed countries where they will be safe
from all these pangs. This community is left with no other option than to admit to the proposals
of these persons since they will face death if they decide to stay in Myanmar only (Weitzer,
2015).
It is promised to these communities that they will be boarded in the ships that would take
them to the safer destinations. The deals are done between these persons of around 2-3000 US
Dollars (Farrell, Pfeffer & Bright, 2015). They have to pay a certain amount of this fee when
they board the ships and rest of the fee have to be given after they land in the regions like
Bangladesh, Malaysia or Indonesia. These Rohingya communities are mercilessly exploited by
the Burmese authorities and they tend to accept every proposal that is made to them (Leider,
2018).
Sometimes, they are carried to Thailand in the smaller boats. All these events are the
parts of the human trafficking process. So, it is highly evident that the world is facing one of the
biggest social justice issues in this scenario that must be taken care by the policymakers and
Mynamar authorities must understand the gravity of this scenario since it is a social justice issue
relating to the human rights (Kosem & Saleem, 2016).

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Analysis
The analysis of he scenario will have to be made in this context. The issue is clear that
the human rights are violated in this segment and people of this community have been displaced
of their positions completely (Farrell, Pfeffer & Bright, 2015). It is very urgent that both the
government and non-government organizations should queue up and take the necessary
measures. This view of the mistrust and fear has been very problematic for them to get the
needed assistance from the concerned authorities (Hodge, 2014).
The refugee agency of the United Nations must also come forward in this manner so they
can contribute to this challenge. As a matter of fact, some people have termed it as the move
made by the Chinese. However, other international organizations have completely gone against
this view and termed it as the internal issue of Myanmar (Bashar, 2018). The repatriation of these
families must be done and Dhaka Government is trying with their best efforts so they can send
most of these refugees to where they actually belong.
The UNHCR, the refugee crisis agency of the United Nations has been helping the
Government of Bangladesh to track down the families of these Rohingya communities so the
human trafficking can be stopped. Various atrocious acts like killing and rape of the Rohingya
girls had been reported in this scenario (Hodge, 2014). The overall impacts of this human
trafficking in the Rohingya community are huge in terms of the international relations. This is
definitely a heartbreaking issue and millions of people are suffering from this issue worldwide. It
is not only the case of Rohingya communities, but many minority communities in Africa have
become the victims of this human trafficking all over the world (Burke, 2017).

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The disconnected reports have been flashed and this calls for the authenticity of all these
reports. Some critics are also of the opinion to compare this issue with the modern slavery that
was abolished in America and AFtican countries centuries ago. This indeed creates a huge
impact in the minds of these communities and most of them choose to commit suicide seeing no
respite from it (Burke, 2017). The slavery in the modern age has become a completely shameful
act. The impacts of this kind of slavery will be even deeper in this situation also.
The strategies can be made only when the proper causes of this human trafficking can be
understood. In this case, the human traffickers have utilized on their prey i.e. the Rohingya
Muslim communities (Farrell & Pfeffer, 2014). They have critically utilized on the desperate
conditions of this community and their urge to move to a safer place for survival chances. This is
why the human traffickers had seized this opportunity with both the hands and tempted them
with the safe places (Kingston, 2015). This is completely unethical and they violated the human
rights completely.
The circumstances for this community were very much unfortunate and it paved the ways
for the human traffickers to fill them. These people were very much vulnerable and traffickers
their little boys and girls for trafficking (Farrell & Pfeffer, 2014). Some of these Muslim boys
and girls were even sold in the Arabian countries for higher monetary profits.
This kind of severe military crackdown never took place in Myanmar before and the
inexperience of this community had taken them to this ill fated scenario. These human traffickers
are very well trained to persuade and convince them to follow their path (Fuller & Cochrane,
2015). Most of these families in this community had been threatened for their lives in the land of
Myanmar and they found no other ways than to follow these human traffickers.

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The conditions of these people in Cox’s Bazar at Bangladesh are also very miserable. As
reported from various sources, these people had been victimized by the human traffickers and
little girls and boys were taken away from them without any pre-information (Abdelkader,
2014). Thus, most of these families in deep jeopardy and the executive branches of the
government were indulged in the blame game since they wanted to keep up their fair position in
the international relations. Therefore, there was a clear statement that the conditions of these
people were going to be worse in the future (Farrell & Pfeffer, 2014). The United Nations must
be able to come out with some clear instructions and policies so this could be evidently stopped.
However, some reasons have been identified here so the readers could actually
understand how the Rohingya Muslim communities had fallen prey to the human traffickers. The
first identified reason is poverty. Undoubtedly, the Government of Myanmar had the aim to keep
all these people of all the social facilities that they provide (Szekely et al., 2015). On the other
hand, they would degrade their social conditions so they are not able to land with any jobs in the
current scenario. This is the manner through which the human traffickers attracted the
community members and gave them the hope of employment and education for their children in
the safer and distant countries. The concept of social justice comes up in this scenario since it is
the duty and responsibility of the Government to provide them with livelihood or employment.
Otherwise, they cannot thrive in this scenario at all (Shivakoti, 2017).
Unemployment is also another issue that might have put the entire community in utter
jeopardy. The use of deception is probably the only thing that has been used by these human
traffickers to get their motive successful. This social discrimination by the Myanmar
Government has resulted in this context (Szekely et al., 2015). It has been revealed from the
former studies that these human traffickers have also aimed at deceiving these innocent people

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by paying for their transportation. The financial hardship and the homelessness have added to
this issue (Elliott, 2014). They use to give the money for the clothing and the food for all the
people. This has provided them with the opportunity for winning of their trust. This is how they
will make their strategies and steal the little boys and girls from their positions (Mahmood et al.,
2017).
The displacement of these people has been very much the limelight as to why the
situation has gone out of control. Some examples discussed in the other sections like that of
Cox’s Bazar at Bangladesh have proved that human trafficking has increased and victimized
these poor people (Brooten, 2015). The differences in the cultural practices between the
traditional Buddhist people and these Rohingya Muslims are also the reasons for this kind of
approach by the human traffickers (Elliott, 2014). The international news agencies have claimed
that the young boys of these communities are trafficked away to the Middle East in order to join
the terrorist groups. This is why the situation has deteriorated so much in the recent times. There
are some instances where the children and women are not that much valued. They have been the
soft targets in these regions (Van Reisen & Mawere, 2017).
The effects of this social issue named human trafficking have resulted in very pathetic
conditions. The victims of the forced labor have faced severe conditions during this period and
they face severe physical trauma (Rijken, 2014). The little girls of this community are sexually
exploited and they are sold to the customers. This ruins their future careers and aspirations. This
is how the situation has become very serious amidst the desperate move made by the Myanmar
Government (Van Reisen & Mawere, 2017).

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It has become extremely important that the international agencies should sit down with
all the governments in the surrounding countries and take the necessary action so the bright
future of these innocent, helpless people can be assured. The people of this Rohingya
Community are also denied of the education and health facilities. They suffer from acute mental
traumatic disorder or physical injuries that lead them towards death (Baldwin, Fehrenbacher &
Eisenman, 2015).
The issue of the ostracism is also very common among these people. It is believed that
the human trafficked people will slowly get isolated from their families and friends Jägers, N., &
(Rijken, 2014). Thus, a tremendous trauma will be on them. The individual health of these
people will definitely become very much affected. It has been seen most of the members of the
Rohingya Muslim communities in the region (Baldwin, Fehrenbacher & Eisenman, 2015). The
little boys who have been trafficked from this community are used for cheap labor and they are
often killed if they try to break away from their situations. This is indeed a very pathetic
condition for everyone indeed.
When these little children are taken away from their parents, they are promised that they
will get fair pay and proper working environment (Domoney et al., 2015). They view this
opportunity to be good enough since they will be able to support their families. This aspect leads
them to work for these human traffickers. Sometimes, this results in child labor in the mills,
factories and other places at different countries (Keo et al., 2014).
This shows how human trafficking has become such a huge issue in the recent times. The
concept of human trafficking has almost ruined the lives of men, women and children. This has
huge repercussions in the future until the governments of these concerned countries and the

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international organizations can take the proper steps (Chong, 2014). This issue has to be resolved
properly so the negative impacts can be stopped.
Policy recommendations
In this view, it is very essential that some policies or strategies should be recommended
that can be used by the concerned governments, United Nations and the non-government anti-
human trafficking organizations. Otherwise, it would be really difficult for everyone to deal with
this issue. Mass awareness campaigns must begin in this scenario so all the people in the society
could be made aware of all the negative effects of this practice. Both the majority and minority
sections of the people should note this so they can recommend some ways through which all
these practices could be stopped permanently (Chong, 2014). In order to recommend the policies,
it must be said that the human tracking should be divided into two categories i.e. labor trafficking
and sex trafficking.
Recommendation One
In the first policy regarding the sex trafficking, the anti-discriminatory laws should be
regulated by the governments. The equal rights must be established that would lead all the
countries to give proper human rights and facilities to all the girl children. It should be done
without any disparities and discriminations.
All the criminal charge sheets must be employed on all these issues. Therefore, it would
become a proper weapon for all the government officials to be very strict actions it and take all
the precautionary measures through severe punishments. In many cases, it has been perceived
that this human trafficking is mainly done to generate the higher profits. The generation of the
policies must result in the assets. These assets should look at the various propositions through