A South Africa-based human rights organization has urged Myanmar authorities to dismantle online scam compounds and rescue Filipinos still trapped there.
Human Rights Association (HRA) warned that trafficking networks continue to operate despite regional crackdowns that freed thousands of victims last year.
The appeal comes as a Thailand-based rights group reported that more than 5,300 people remain confined in scam compounds near the Thai-Myanmar border, including Filipino nationals, more than a year after a multinational crackdown rescued about 5,000 trafficking victims from sprawling scam hubs in Myanmar’s Myawaddy area.
Rights groups say many of those still trapped are being held in areas controlled by a Myanmar militia, while large-scale scam operations continue.
In a statement, HRA called on Myanmar authorities to “dismantle without delay” scam compounds where Filipinos are allegedly being held against their will, subjected to forced labor, torture, and physical coercion, and prevented from leaving.
The organization cited United Nations findings describing the compounds as part of a humanitarian and human rights crisis. It said about 120,000 people remain trapped in forced scam labor operations across Myanmar, while criminal syndicates have continued operating after relocating from sites targeted in previous raids.
According to the HRA, the Philippine Embassy in Yangon had received 222 requests for repatriation assistance from Filipinos trapped in scam hub areas by October 2025. The group also noted that 346 confirmed Filipino trafficking victims were repatriated the following month.
About 200 Filipinos were among more than 1,500 workers who fled the KK Park scam compound into Thailand during raids in late October 2025.
HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed said those trapped in the compounds should be recognized as victims of human trafficking rather than irregular migrants.
“Filipino men and women were promised legitimate jobs, transported across an international border, locked in fortified compounds, and forced to commit fraud under threat of torture,” he said.
“These are not irregular migrants who took a risk. These are trafficking victims held in industrial-scale facilities operating with the knowledge and, in many cases, the active support of armed actors on Myanmar’s territory,” he added.
He said Myanmar authorities have an obligation under international law to dismantle the scam compounds, release those being held against their will, and bring those responsible to justice.
“Raiding one compound while dozens more continue to operate is not accountability. It is a performance,” Kassis-Mohamed said.
The HRA also called on Myanmar authorities to cooperate with the Philippine government in rescuing and repatriating the remaining Filipino victims, while arresting and prosecuting the criminal syndicates behind the operations and seizing their assets.
