Myanmar: Authorities Must Dismantle Scam Compounds and Free Ugandans Held in Forced Labour

The Human Rights Association (HRA) today calls on the authorities of Myanmar to dismantle without delay the network of online scam compounds operating within its territory in whichUgandan nationals are being held against their will, subjected to forced labour, torture, andphysical coercion, and prevented from leaving. The responsibility for the continued operation ofthese compounds and for the suffering of Ugandan nationals held within them 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 is consistent across cases: victims

receive offers of well-paying legitimate employment in Thailand or elsewhere in Southeast Asia,

circulated through social media and messaging platforms. Upon accepting, they are transported to

the Thai-Myanmar border and trafficked across into Myanmar, where they are forced to work in

industrial-scale online fraud operations under conditions of constant surveillance, physical violence,

and coercion. Those who refuse to participate or attempt to leave are beaten, tortured, and in some

cases sold between criminal operations.

The HRA has reviewed documented accounts from Ugandan nationals who have survived these

operations. One Ugandan man, identified as Small Q, was lured to Southeast Asia with the promise

of a data entry job in Thailand. He was instead transported across the border to the Tai Chang scam

compound in Myanmar, a 500-acre facility that the United States Department of Justice has linked

to a local militia group and Chinese organised crime. He was forced to work shifts of up to eighteen

hours, given 400 telephone numbers daily, and required to meet a fixed quota of engagement

targets. He described the physical and psychological coercion he endured as making his mind go

dark. He subsequently escaped and returned to Uganda. A second Ugandan national, identified as

Joseph, a journalist by profession, was told he would work as a customer service agent for a

supermarket. He was instead trafficked into a scam compound in the region and forced to carry out

online fraud. He began filming video testimony from inside the compound in an attempt to document

the conditions and alert the outside world. After escaping, he and other Ugandan nationals were left

without money or assistance, sleeping on the street before finding shared accommodation.

These cases are not exceptional. Amnesty International documented Ugandan nationals among the

survivors it interviewed following mass escapes from scam compounds in the region in January

2026.

The United Nations estimates that approximately 120,000 people remain trapped in forced

scam labour operations in Myanmar alone. The scam compounds at the centre of these operations are not makeshift facilities. They are fortified industrial complexes, some in excess of 500 acres in

size, surrounded by armed guards, surveillance systems, and controlled perimeters from which

independent escape is effectively impossible. The criminal syndicates operating these compounds

have not been brought to justice. Without their arrest, prosecution, and asset seizure, the

compounds will continue to operate, and Ugandan nationals will continue to be recruited into them.

HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed stated: “Small Q was promised a desk job in Thailand. He

ended up in a 500-acre fortress in Myanmar, working eighteen-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.

These are Ugandan men who did nothing wrong except trust an employment offer. The

responsibility for what happened to them sits with Myanmar. 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. That obligation is not contingent on political will. It is a matter of law.”

The HRA calls specifically on the Myanmar authorities to dismantle all scam compounds operating

within Myanmar's territory; to release immediately all Ugandan nationals held against their will,

with priority given to those who have formally requested repatriation assistance; to arrest and

prosecute the criminal syndicate leaders responsible for operating these facilities, including through

international judicial cooperation; to seize and forfeit their assets; and to cooperate fully with the

Government of Uganda in the rescue and repatriation of all remaining Ugandan victims.

The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the WeCare Foundation, Cape Town, active across

Africa, South Asia, and the Gulf region. The HRA works to protect the human rights of individuals

facing unjust detention, denial of medical care, and due process violations, and engages directly

with United Nations mechanisms to advocate on their behalf. For more information, visit

wcrfoundation.com/human-rights-association.