INTRO A It’s like walking in a journey that has no light in it. — in MUSIC - - If you are not tortured by the local Rakhine Buddhists, you will be tortured by the army. If you are not tortured by the army, you will be tortured by the navy. If you are not tortured by the navy, you will be tortured by the traffickers. If you are not tortured by the traffickers, you might drown. If you are not drown, you might get raped. When you get to the other side now, and they ask — where have we reached? Now we just came out of one hell and we got into another hell. Group Shouting: Call: “I am Rohingya” Response: “I am Rohingya” Call “I am Muslim” Responde: “I am Muslim” Call: “God is great” Response: “God is great” “Peace be with You” TITLE: The Cost to Escape: A Brokered Marriage When Ambiya fled her homeland in Myanmar, she was a single young Muslim women with hope for a life free of persecution in Malaysia. But by the time she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, she had a Rohingya husband she had never met, who was 20-years-older than her. HARD CUT INTO VISUAL MONTAGE: VIOLENCE -> EXODUS -> BOAT AMBIYA 00:27:20-00:27:25 Even though it was not my time for marriage, we had no option except to marry me at an early age. BOAT FOOTAGE AMBIYA 00:02:18-00:02:27 My boat journey was terrible. I wasn’t given enough food and water. I was hungry and thirsty. So I had to drink seawater to survive. 00:02:28-00:02:36 When I reached Thailand, the traffickers tortured me and then sold me to different traffickers. Rohingya men have been fleeing Myanmar for so long, there’s now a gender imbalance in their homeland in Rakhine State. And human traffickers have started to capitalize on a new product they can sell: marriage. Mathew Smith When human traffickers have women and girls in their custody, holding them in captivity. In many cases they are selling these women and girls to the highest bidders. And in this way the trafficking gangs are treating this as a rather lucrative business. The buying and selling of women into these situations of marriages. Matthew Smith, the executive director of Fortify Rights, an advocacy group that monitors Rohingya refugees says widespread human rights’ violations in Myanmar are causing a dramatic increase of forced marriages for female asylum seekers. But for Rohingya advocates already living in exile, the increase in incidents of forced marriage and domestic servitude of Rohingya woman is only the latest trend leading to the common conspiracy theory that there is a systematic plan by the Burmese government to eliminate the Rohingya people. MUHAMMAD NOIR So traffickers are now given permission by the government to go and browse around to those vulnerable families and sell the dream that you know the circumstances are bad here, people cannot leave, if you leave by boat tomorrow or the day after you go to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, they are very nice places, Muslim countries. They all welcome you. They will give you food and shelter. All those are promises. When they get on the boat its a totally different story starts. Ambiya thought she was paying for safe voyage to Malaysia. But once trapped out at sea, her mother was given a choice: If they wanted to get off the boat she could sell her daughter into prostitution in Thailand or marry her to an older man looking for a bride in Malaysia. The traffickers earned just over $1000 for arranging the marriage. They got another $1000 for her sister, who was also sold. AMBIYA MOTHER 01:23:40-01:23:48 The traffickers tried to sell both of my daughters [into prostitution], so I got them both married. AMBIYA 00:16:32-00:16:36 Even though he is too old, my mother agreed for me to marry him. 00:16:37-00:16:40 And she fulfilled her promise. AMBIYA MOTHER 00:44:51-00:45:00 I thought of being saved and that we would have a bright future in Malaysia. 00:45:01-00:45:07 But even here I have been humiliated, being sold like an object. Although the arranged marriage got Ambiya and her family to Malaysia, their situation here is far from easy. Refugees like Amibya who survive the journey at sea have no identity documents and are unable to work legally. With no citizenship they have no right to education or health care. And even if they were to be deported, there would be nowhere to deport them to because the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in Myanmar 30-years-ago — before Ambiya was even born. She is stateless, living in geo-political purgatory. And she’s not the only one. Rohingya women across Southeast Asia share similar stories. AMBIYA 00:27:26-00:27:33 We left our homeland as we were in fear that the Buddhists would torture and rape us. 00:27:34-00:27:38 And despite that, we were tortured on the journey. Now, even this Muslim country is not helping us. 00:04:51-00:04:59 I can’t find any peace here either. I want to leave this world and die. MUHAMMAD NOIR Look at our life? We have been exploited and tortured every point. And until now, if you ask the people in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, there’s no future for them. Where they are going to go, how they are going to live, how their children are going to grow, where they are going to die? And it’s not only one family. Its the story of almost everyone. Matthew Smith 0:38 Its reasonable right now to be talking about genocide prevention in Myanmar, specifically in Rakhine State, The Rohingya population has been enduring widespread and systematic human rights violations. And in some cases as a direct result of state policy. So its important for the international community to be having this conversation. While the international community has largely been silent on issues directly related to the trafficking of women and girls, Mr. Noir has begun to speak out on the subject of marriage trafficking. He has become a symbol of resistance to persecution for many Rohingya refugees. MUHAMMAD NOIR We have a responsibility to remember the family members of the victims of the Buddhist. Muhamod Noor Speach: On the third of June 2012, 10 Muslim people were inhumanely killed in Arakan. They were beaten until their brains came out from their heads. Women were raped and then they pissed on their dead bodies. The Buddhists beat the women dead so they could feel inhumanely satisfied. These men and women could be one of our brothers or sisters. They could be one of our beloved mothers. OUTRO MUHAMMAD NOIR If these things keep continuing for 30 or 40 more years, I think there will be no such thing as Rohingya culture. We are slowly fading out. We are like the sunset now. Everything is shutting down on us. FIN