CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Human Rights Association called on Myanmar authorities today to immediately dismantle online scam compounds where Ugandan nationals are being held against their will, subjected to forced labor and torture.
HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed stated that the responsibility for the continued operation of these compounds and the suffering of trafficking victims rests entirely with Myanmar.
Ugandan nationals are among those documented as victims of the scam compound system operating along Myanmar’s border with Thailand. The recruitment model typically involves social media advertisements offering well-paying, legitimate employment in Thailand or elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Upon acceptance, victims are transported to the Thai-Myanmar border and trafficked into Myanmar. There, they are forced to work in industrial-scale online fraud operations under constant surveillance and physical coercion. Those who refuse to participate or attempt to leave are beaten, tortured and sometimes sold to other criminal syndicates.
The HRA reviewed accounts from Ugandan survivors, including a man identified as Small Q, who was lured by the promise of a data entry job in Thailand. He was instead transported to the Tai Chang scam compound in Myanmar, a 500-acre facility that the U.S. Department of Justice has linked to a local militia group and Chinese organized crime.
Small Q was forced to work shifts of up to 18 hours, given 400 telephone numbers daily and required to meet strict engagement quotas. He described the physical and psychological coercion as making his mind go dark before he eventually escaped and returned to Uganda.
Another Ugandan national, a journalist identified as Joseph, was promised a customer service job at a supermarket. Instead, he was trafficked into a compound and forced to commit online fraud. Joseph filmed video testimony from inside the facility to document the conditions. After escaping, he and other Ugandan nationals were left destitute, sleeping on the streets before finding shared accommodation.
These cases reflect a broader crisis. Amnesty International documented Ugandan nationals among survivors interviewed following mass escapes from regional scam compounds in January 2026. The United Nations estimates approximately 120,000 people remain trapped in forced scam labor operations in Myanmar.
The facilities are fortified industrial complexes, some larger than 500 acres, surrounded by armed guards and surveillance systems that make independent escape nearly impossible. The criminal syndicates operating these compounds have not been brought to justice.
“Small Q was promised a desk job in Thailand,” Kassis-Mohamed said. “He ended up in a 500-acre fortress in Myanmar, working 18-hour shifts under threat of violence, given 400 numbers a day and told to meet his quota or face the consequences. Joseph filmed what was happening on his phone because he knew that if the world did not see it, nothing would change.”
Kassis-Mohamed added that the victims did nothing wrong except trust an employment offer.
“The authorities there have an obligation under international law to dismantle these compounds, release every Ugandan national held against their will and ensure that the criminal syndicates running these operations face justice,” Kassis-Mohamed said. “That obligation is not contingent on political will. It is a matter of law.”
The HRA specifically called on Myanmar authorities to dismantle all scam compounds operating within their territory and immediately release all Ugandan nationals held against their will, with priority given to those who have requested repatriation assistance.
The association also urged authorities to arrest and prosecute criminal syndicate leaders through international judicial cooperation, seize and forfeit the assets of these criminal operations, and cooperate fully with the government of Uganda to rescue and repatriate remaining victims.
The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the Cape Town-based We Care Foundation, which operates across Africa, South Asia and the Gulf region to protect individuals facing unjust detention, denial of medical care and due process violations.
