1 00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:05,400 YANG: We want to tell you up front: this next story is not suitable for children. 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,933 If your kids are in the room, please turn us off and come back in about 8.5 minutes 3 00:00:09,933 --> 00:00:14,933 when Paul Solman helps make sense of what some call the bitcoin bubble. 4 00:00:16,566 --> 00:00:20,200 Even for adults this is a disturbing story, but an important one. 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,200 Special correspondent Tania Rashid and videographer Philip Caller (ph) take us inside the dark 6 00:00:26,466 --> 00:00:28,433 world of human trafficking in Bangladesh. 7 00:00:28,433 --> 00:00:31,266 Horrific things are done to young girls. 8 00:00:31,266 --> 00:00:35,566 This the final installment of their three-part series in partnership with the Pulitzer Center 9 00:00:35,566 --> 00:00:36,666 on Crisis Reporting. 10 00:00:36,666 --> 00:00:39,233 (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) 11 00:00:39,233 --> 00:00:41,266 TANIA RASHID, PBS NEWSHOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: At a checkpoint on the main road leading from 12 00:00:41,266 --> 00:00:45,933 the camps, Bangladeshi soldiers aren't looking for guns or drugs, they are searching for 13 00:00:47,333 --> 00:00:50,433 Rohingya women being trafficked into sex work. 14 00:00:50,433 --> 00:00:55,400 The majority of Rohingya refugees are women and girls, many are poor and without a male 15 00:00:56,033 --> 00:00:58,000 breadwinner. 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,800 They are vulnerable to traffickers looking to make fast money by recruiting girls into 17 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,366 the Bangladeshi sex trade. 18 00:01:04,366 --> 00:01:08,766 Soldiers stop vehicles they suspect could be used by traffickers, and passengers are 19 00:01:08,766 --> 00:01:11,566 asked to show their national ID cards. 20 00:01:11,566 --> 00:01:15,966 According to the army officer in charge of this checkpoint, around 10 Rohingya girls 21 00:01:15,966 --> 00:01:18,233 attempt to pass every night. 22 00:01:18,233 --> 00:01:20,500 As the night goes on, the searches continue. 23 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:25,500 They look inside buses and motorized rickshaws known locally as CNGs, questioning passengers. 24 00:01:27,366 --> 00:01:29,766 UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What school did you go to? 25 00:01:29,766 --> 00:01:32,200 You, count to 10. 26 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:37,200 RASHID: Rohingyas and local Bangladeshis can have similar appearances which makes it hard 27 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,233 for the soldiers to identify who is who. 28 00:01:40,233 --> 00:01:42,733 UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Show me your cards. 29 00:01:42,733 --> 00:01:47,166 UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Where did you come from? 30 00:01:47,166 --> 00:01:49,233 Where are your ID cards? 31 00:01:49,233 --> 00:01:53,800 RASHID: The army has been stopping several CNGs on the road, and they suspect one of 32 00:01:54,966 --> 00:01:57,833 the girls in this vehicle is a Rohingya. 33 00:01:57,833 --> 00:02:02,800 UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Get out. 34 00:02:05,766 --> 00:02:06,900 Tell me the truth. 35 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:08,533 I know you are Rohingya. 36 00:02:08,533 --> 00:02:11,800 Who is leader of your block at the refugee camp? 37 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:16,800 RASHID: As it turns out , the woman right there is Bangladeshi and she's helping take 38 00:02:18,166 --> 00:02:21,933 this woman who is a Rohingya into Cox's Bazar. 39 00:02:21,933 --> 00:02:25,733 The soldiers question them and search their bags. 40 00:02:25,733 --> 00:02:30,166 They say that the Rohingya woman is being trafficked for sex work and that the Bangladeshi 41 00:02:30,166 --> 00:02:33,133 woman travelling with her is her trafficker. 42 00:02:33,133 --> 00:02:37,633 They recruit Rohingya girls and women from the camps and traffic them into Bangladeshi 43 00:02:37,633 --> 00:02:39,666 towns and cities. 44 00:02:39,666 --> 00:02:43,700 After detaining the group for a few hours, soldiers decide to send the two women back 45 00:02:43,700 --> 00:02:48,700 to the camps and keep the man for further questioning. 46 00:02:50,766 --> 00:02:55,733 Back in Kutupalong, the biggest camp, the sex trade is thriving and the influx of tens 47 00:02:57,133 --> 00:03:00,233 of thousands of vulnerable women is fuelling the business. 48 00:03:00,233 --> 00:03:05,100 Most Rohingya refugees come from insular, conservative Muslim families, and sex work 49 00:03:05,100 --> 00:03:08,000 is taboo. 50 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,933 Camp brothels are hard to spot. 51 00:03:09,933 --> 00:03:14,933 They look like ordinary shelters made of bamboo and plastic sheets. 52 00:03:16,933 --> 00:03:20,066 This woman whose name and face we conceal to protect her identity started sex work out 53 00:03:20,066 --> 00:03:25,066 of desperation to feed her two children after her abusive husband left her for another woman. 54 00:03:26,933 --> 00:03:28,933 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The food handout is not enough. 55 00:03:28,933 --> 00:03:31,800 When my kids cry for rice, where will I get it from? 56 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,800 I'm only doing this to support my family, I feel bad doing it but I have to survive 57 00:03:37,266 --> 00:03:38,900 somehow. 58 00:03:38,900 --> 00:03:41,133 RASHID: She is one of four Rohingya women working in this brothel. 59 00:03:41,133 --> 00:03:45,300 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I see one, sometimes two men per day, for 60 00:03:45,300 --> 00:03:48,366 about 20 minutes, 15 minutes to one hour. 61 00:03:48,366 --> 00:03:50,500 They give me two to six dollars. 62 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:55,366 The men come from different backgrounds, some are poor, others are rich, they are mostly 63 00:03:55,366 --> 00:03:56,766 Rohingya. 64 00:03:56,766 --> 00:03:59,300 Occasionally, I see Bangladeshi men as a clients. 65 00:03:59,300 --> 00:04:02,933 They make me do bad things to them and make me work really hard. 66 00:04:02,933 --> 00:04:07,366 When I do it, I'm so ashamed, so I only take my pants off. 67 00:04:07,366 --> 00:04:12,366 RASHID: Cox's Bazar is the nearest city to the camps, infamous for its thriving sex trade, 68 00:04:13,633 --> 00:04:15,100 fuelled by tourism. 69 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:18,166 I'm on my way to meet with a Rohingya sex worker. 70 00:04:18,166 --> 00:04:23,166 They normally travel in auto rickshaws like this one from the camps into the city center. 71 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,700 This girl is only 15 years old. 72 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:31,700 She fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh six months ago. 73 00:04:31,700 --> 00:04:34,666 We concealed her face and name to protect her identity. 74 00:04:34,666 --> 00:04:39,666 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The Myanmar soldiers grabbed hold of me, they 75 00:04:41,066 --> 00:04:45,000 beat me, tied my hands and feet and hung me from a tree. 76 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,833 Next to me, there was another woman. 77 00:04:46,833 --> 00:04:49,166 The soldiers cut her belly and vagina. 78 00:04:49,166 --> 00:04:53,000 They cut off her breasts and put them in plastic bag. 79 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,266 I started screaming and a solder bit a piece of my cheek off. 80 00:04:57,266 --> 00:05:01,066 Then they pulled me down and gang-raped me. 81 00:05:01,066 --> 00:05:06,066 Afterwards, they stabbed me and dumped my body into the river thinking I was dead. 82 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,033 I can't remember much after that. 83 00:05:09,033 --> 00:05:13,200 I lost so much blood that I was unconscious more than three days. 84 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,033 Somehow I managed to swim across the river and get to Bangladesh. 85 00:05:17,033 --> 00:05:19,100 I swam alone. 86 00:05:19,100 --> 00:05:24,033 RASHID: But life in the camps was tough, she turned to selling drugs to survive. 87 00:05:25,933 --> 00:05:29,400 After getting caught and spending two months in jail, an older Rohingya woman made her 88 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,466 an offer. 89 00:05:31,466 --> 00:05:35,200 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My friend said why don't you run away from the camps. 90 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:36,833 I know people who can help you. 91 00:05:36,833 --> 00:05:38,733 Do you want work in a garment factory? 92 00:05:38,733 --> 00:05:41,233 I said yes. 93 00:05:41,233 --> 00:05:44,933 RASHID: But her friend was actually a trafficker who recruits young Rohingya girls into sex 94 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,466 work. 95 00:05:47,466 --> 00:05:50,733 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A car picked me up from the camp and took me down the main road to 96 00:05:50,733 --> 00:05:52,833 Cox Bazar. 97 00:05:52,833 --> 00:05:55,700 Nobody stopped me at the checkpoints, as the pimps are friends with the army. 98 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:57,700 They took me to a brothel. 99 00:05:57,700 --> 00:06:02,433 RASHID: She now works seven days a week and gets $1 per client after the pimp takes his 100 00:06:02,900 --> 00:06:04,600 cut. 101 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:09,600 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw five men at the same time today. 102 00:06:11,033 --> 00:06:13,900 They are raping me the same way the Myanmar soldiers raped me. 103 00:06:13,900 --> 00:06:18,900 They pin my hands to the bed, force my legs open and thrust so hard it hurts. 104 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,800 RASHID: Her pimp gives her drugs for the pain and steroids to make her look healthy. 105 00:06:32,433 --> 00:06:37,366 Undercover filming in a Cox Bazar's brothel reveals that the recent influx of tens of 106 00:06:37,366 --> 00:06:42,366 thousands of vulnerable girls has meant that they are now full of underage Rohingya. 107 00:06:44,266 --> 00:06:47,933 I'm at a secret location at the edge of Cox's Bazar where I am about to meet with 108 00:06:50,533 --> 00:06:55,533 a pimp who traffics Rohingya girls into prostitution. 109 00:06:57,733 --> 00:07:00,966 This pimp has seven Rohingya girls that he sells. 110 00:07:00,966 --> 00:07:03,633 He says that the refugee crisis is good for business. 111 00:07:03,633 --> 00:07:07,300 UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Rohingya girls have a very Burmese look. 112 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:08,300 It's different. 113 00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:09,300 They have lighter skin. 114 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:11,500 They are prettier and taller. 115 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:15,133 Young Rohingya girls from 12 to 14 sell the most. 116 00:07:15,133 --> 00:07:16,766 Clients love fresh flesh. 117 00:07:16,766 --> 00:07:18,866 The little girls have more to give. 118 00:07:18,866 --> 00:07:23,166 RASHID: He says the easiest way to get the girls is to prey on their vulnerability. 119 00:07:23,166 --> 00:07:27,933 UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Rohingya girls arrive in Bangladesh, they don't know anything. 120 00:07:27,933 --> 00:07:30,800 They are so innocent, scared, and unaware. 121 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,300 I tell these little girls, look you have nobody, I'll marry you, but we need money to get 122 00:07:35,300 --> 00:07:37,166 married. 123 00:07:37,166 --> 00:07:39,100 Rohingya girls are easy to convince. 124 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:42,733 I have sex with all my girls, I take their virginity. 125 00:07:42,733 --> 00:07:45,200 Then I share them with the clients. 126 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,066 RASHID: What sorts of clienteles visit these girls? 127 00:07:49,066 --> 00:07:53,400 Are they Bangladeshi men, or -- who are they? 128 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,700 UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the clients are Bangladeshi tourists, but about once or twice 129 00:07:57,700 --> 00:08:01,366 month I have foreigners, white men, Americans, Europeans. 130 00:08:01,366 --> 00:08:05,000 They stay in the big hotels and keep the girls for two to three days. 131 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,666 I don't speak directly to the white men. 132 00:08:07,666 --> 00:08:12,666 Usually, a hotel manager calls me and asks me to send over photos, they are the liaison. 133 00:08:14,933 --> 00:08:19,933 RASHID: Many Rohingya women who fled violence end up in desperate situations, both inside 134 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,866 and outside the camps. 135 00:08:24,866 --> 00:08:29,866 Their precarious circumstances make them easy prey to those that seek to exploit them. 136 00:08:31,433 --> 00:08:34,933 For the PBS NEWSHOUR, I'm Tania Rashid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.