Rohingya girls trafficked into forced marriages on deadly sea routes
Families facing poverty and shrinking aid are increasingly sending daughters on "bridal journeys" that rights advocates say often end in trafficking, exploitation or death
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Rohingya girls are increasingly being trafficked into forced marriages and sexual exploitation through dangerous maritime routes linking Bangladesh’s refugee camps to Southeast Asia, as criminal networks exploit worsening poverty, aid cuts and the refugees’ lack of legal protection.
According to Global Voices, traffickers are increasingly disguising cross-border smuggling operations as marriage arrangements, convincing desperate families to send teenage daughters to men living in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia with promises of financial security and family reunification.
Many of the victims are adolescents living in the overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, where more than 1.2 million stateless refugees have few opportunities for education, formal employment or freedom of movement.
Aid workers say worsening humanitarian conditions have made girls particularly vulnerable to trafficking networks that prey on families struggling to survive.
Families are often promised that their daughters will marry Rohingya men already living abroad and begin safer, more stable lives.
Instead, many girls are transported by sea through irregular migration routes where they face extortion, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or forced labor.
Some disappear after being handed over to traffickers in transit, while others are believed to have died during the journey.
One such victim was Mahmudah, a 16-year-old from Kutupalong refugee camp whose family accepted money from a Rohingya man living in Malaysia before sending her on what they believed was a journey to join her future husband.
She disappeared after the overcrowded boat carrying her across the Bay of Bengal capsized, leaving her family without any official confirmation of her fate.
Another teenager, Fatema, fled an abusive child marriage after being promised work and safety abroad. Instead, traffickers allegedly confiscated her documents and sold her into a commercial sex network in southern Thailand, illustrating how traffickers frequently exploit women seeking to escape violence inside the camps.
The trafficking networks have expanded as humanitarian conditions in the camps continue to deteriorate.
Funding shortages have forced aid agencies to reduce services, while fewer educational opportunities and the closure of youth centers have left adolescent girls with fewer safe spaces and greater exposure to child marriage, exploitation and recruitment by traffickers.
The sea crossing itself has become one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Around 6,500 Rohingya attempted crossings across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in 2025, with women and children accounting for roughly half of those journeys.
Rights advocates say the combination of statelessness, chronic poverty, gender discrimination and shrinking humanitarian assistance has created ideal conditions for traffickers, who increasingly market forced marriages as a pathway to safety while turning vulnerable Rohingya girls into victims of cross-border trafficking networks.
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