The Return of Slavery

Ed.'s note: If this isn't slavery what is? 629 Pakistani women are sold, bought and traded over an eighteen month period like cattle. And these are just the known sales of human slavery between China and Pakistan. Take in all of Asia and slavery involves huge numbers of women. Slave masters today have technology at their disposal so they can inventory and track their slaves far better than 100 years ago.
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Source: ABC News

Hundreds of Pakistani girls sold as brides to Chinese men, investigation finds

December 5, 2019

PHOTO: Pakistani investigators have identified hundreds of girls and women from across Pakistan who were sold as brides to Chinese men. (AP: K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistani investigators have identified more than 600 marginalised girls and women from across the country that were sold as brides to Chinese men during an 18-month period, but efforts to help them are being frustrated, sources say.

Key points:

• Investigators list 629 Pakistani women who were allegedly sold to Chinese men
• In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking
• Officials said investigations into trafficking have slowed due to Government pressure

Investigators put together the list of 629 women from Pakistan's integrated border management system, which digitally records travel documents at the country's airports.

The information includes the brides' national identity numbers, their Chinese husbands' names and the dates of their marriages, which occurred during 2018 and up to April 2019.

The list of women was put together in June 2019, when the investigation ground to a halt due to pressure from government officials, according to sources who spoke to the Associated Press.

The Pakistani Government has sought to curtail investigations, putting "immense pressure" on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks, said Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist who has helped parents rescue several young girls from China and prevented others from being sent there.

'No one is doing anything to help these girls'

PHOTO: A report released this month by Human Rights Watch (HRW) documenting trafficking in brides from Myanmar to China, said the practice is spreading. (Human Rights Watch)

In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking.

Several of the women initially interviewed by police refused to testify because they were either threatened or bribed into silence, according to a court official and a police investigator familiar with the case.

Several senior officials said investigations into trafficking had slowed, the investigators were frustrated, and Pakistani media had been pushed to curb their reporting on trafficking.

More: 'Marry first, then fall in love'

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.

"No one is doing anything to help these girls," one of the officials said.

"The whole racket is continuing, and it is growing. Why? Because they know they can get away with it.

"The authorities won't follow through, everyone is being pressured to not investigate. Trafficking is increasing now."

He said he was speaking out "because I have to live with myself. Where is our humanity?"

"The Chinese and Pakistani brokers make between 4 million and 10 million rupees ($AU81,000 and $AU204,000) from the groom, but only about 200,000 rupees ($AU4,000), is given to the family," he said.

Please go to ABC News to read the entire article.
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In China men out number women by roughly 70 million. The idea of 70 million celibate Chinese men defies the imagination:

World in Progress: Pakistani brides tricked into sexual slavery

Too many men: China and India battle with the consequences of gender imbalance

One in 200 people is a slave. Why?

Modern 'slaves': Pakistan's bonded labourers fight back