Antislavery Usable Past

Chivy

2016 (Narrative date)

The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimates that on any given day in 2016 there were over 3.8 million people living in conditions of modern slavery in China. Women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa are trafficked in to forced marriage in the country for fees of up to £30,000. The gender imbalance caused by the One Child Policy and the cultural preference for male children, has caused a shortage of women which has led to the trafficking of women to be sold as brides. As a result, many women find themselves either deceived by promises of employment, sold or abducted and forced into marrying Chinese men who have paid for them.

Chivy was trafficked from Cambodia to China and forced to marry a Chinese man. Chivy tells of how escaped from her husband, going to the Cambodian consulate and the difficulties of returning home.

I got the contact details of a consulate officer from another Cambodian woman in the area. I was planning my second run. I contact the consulate officer for their advice. When I left again, I took a taxi to a bus stop in another town and I paid extra to the driver to purchase me a bus ticket. I finally managed to reach the consulate in Shanghai and the officer interviewed me. I was put up by the officer overnight. My husband was called in with my passport. He came and presented my passport to the officer. There were a police officer, the consulate officer my husband and me in the room. I was asked about my decision and motives. I wanted to get divorced and be returned. I stayed outside at day and slept at the consulate at night for about ten days. The officer asked me whether I had money to cover the flight. He asked for 2,350 Yaun and I produced the amount in cash directly. Everything was done and they informed me when I was ready to leave. There were four women returning including me. A police and a consulate officer drove us to the airport and escorted us to boarding.

Narrative provided by UN-ACT report Human Trafficking Vulnerabilities in Asia

Country

Theme

Forced marriage

Type

Narrative

Tags

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: [email protected]. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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