"UWSA, Myanmar Regime Accused of Trafficking Scam Workers to Rare Earth Mines", 20 May 2026, The Irrawaddy

Chinese-owned rare earth mines operating under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in eastern Shan State are recruiting trafficked Burmese scammers as slave labour, the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) reported on Monday.

The three Burmese workers were transferred by regime police and handed over to UWSA soldiers in uniform, who transported them to the mine, the SHRF stated, [...].

[...] used as forced labor at the mine and kept isolated from the regular workforce.

The SHRF stated that the collaboration between Chinese scam syndicates and mine operators to traffic Burmese youth for forced labor exposes not only a failure in local regulation, but the wholesale handover of local land and resources to “criminal-linked foreign investors” focused solely on profit.

The UWSA denied the SHRF’s claims.

“These are groundless accusations intended to attack the organization,” UWSA spokesperson U Nyi Rang told The Irrawaddy, insisting it was cracking down on cyber-scam operations in its territory and would do the same against any human enslavement brought to its notice.