Activists fight for rights of child servants

IT took three days before NGO worker Thi Thi Nwe could speak to Khin Khin Tun, 14, about the severe beating she had undergone.

The approach was the first step in a months-long process highlighting the challenges of protecting child servants in Myanmar.

The NGO worker first saw the teenager, whose back and torso were covered with livid burns, in December, but there was always someone by her bedside ensuring that no one could get close.

“When I saw her, she covered her chest with a cloth. Her back was covered with a bandage,” Thi Thi Nwe said during a recent visit to the southern city of Mawlamyine.

“Some people asked me not to talk to her because her guardian didn’t like it. Then I suspected something. It’s not right if they don’t even want any questions asked.”

When she and her colleague finally managed to approach Khin Khin Tun, the girl was scared, saying only that she had spilt boiling water on herself by accident.

When they turned to leave, the girl blurted out that her employer had attacked her in what she said were years of abuse inflicted on her and her sister.

Today her former boss, Aye Aye Soe, is on trial for grievous bodily harm after Thi Thi Nwe persuaded the girls’ aunt to press charges.

The case is a rare prosecution under Myanmar’s crumbling legal system, which provides little protection for tens of thousands of children thought to work as domestic servants.

Tackling the issue is one of the key challenges facing the new democratically elected government as it seeks to heal the country after 50 years of oppressive military rule. Many victims are too scared to complain. Authorities regularly turn a blind eye to allegations against wealthy and powerful families. – AFP