Indigenous Women and Human Trafficking in the Mekong Region: Policy Overview and Community Response

In 2015, with the support of Oxfam, AIPP conducted an investigation into the status of trafficking of indigenous women in the Mekong region. The results served as a preliminary analysis of current government and non-government policies and the responses of the affected communities. The study engaged the perspectives of 15 respondents; from community members and civil society representatives working in the field, as well as indigenous women survivors of trafficking. This Briefing Paper introduces the root causes of human trafficking among IW in the region, including low levels of education, sparse economic opportunity, and the prevalence of undocumented status have been cited as causes of suspicious migration patterns across countries bordering the Mekong. The results highlight the complex obstacles faced by IW in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, parts of China and Vietnam, that often go overlooked in practitioner briefings and academic literature.

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