Former Soviet Republic of Georgia – On Jan 30, three women returned home to Thailand after escaping an alleged trafficking scheme.
The three women, who wish to remain anonymous, fell victim to ads they found on Facebook. The ads promised salaries between $12,000 and 18,000 to become surrogates. The ads also promised that expenses, passport applications, and housing would be taken care of.
The women reported that, upon arriving in Armenia, the deception continued for several days. They were taken to a hotel for three nights and taken on a tour of the area to take pictures. After this, the women traveled by train to Georgia where they spent one final night in a hotel. The following day, their passports were confiscated by the group’s leader and then taken to an isolated residential complex.
“The house I was taken to already had about 60 Thai women, most of whom were in poor health,” Na, one of the victims, recalled. “The next day, I was moved to another house where I met 10 more women… Across all four houses, there were around 100 women, and we frequently saw Chinese men in the area.”
If the women refused to comply, they were ransomed to their families for their release or threatened with imprisonment. The ransoms were reportedly up to $2,000.
To retrieve the eggs, the women were forcibly injected with hormone treatments to increase egg production and then invasive retrieval procedures. The survivors report severe health issues due to the improper and invasive medical procedures. They report feelings of distress and physical exhaustion. The women may be left with long-term reproductive damage due to hormone treatments and repeated extractions.
The eggs are believed to be circulating through the black market for use in IVF treatments. This is unfortunately not a new issue, legislature dating back to 2005 had condemned the trafficking of all human body parts- including human eggs. Thai, Georgian, and Interpol authorities are still investigating the report and hope to rescue the additional women.
Thailand has had an issue of human trafficking, with 257 people reportedly trafficked in 2024. 53 of whom were found in Thailand, but the remaining 204 were found in other countries.
According to the Asservo Project, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit dedicated to assisting in rescuing trafficked victims, an estimated $150 billion has been generated from global human trafficking. Human trafficking is not limited to just forced sexual acts, as most often believed. It can include labor or other services against an individual’s will. This means that trafficking can and will target men, women, and children. This is not an issue just in other countries, all 50 U.S. states contain reports of human trafficking, with Texas, New York, Florida, and California containing the most prevalent reporting.
If you suspect someone has been trafficked, do not be a bystander. Contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or visit their website for more information.
