I. At Sea: Abuses on Human-Trafficking Ships in the Bay of Bengal 36 When we were being transferred from the big boat to the small boat [to disembark in Thailand], I saw two dallals beating many of the men who were getting on the small boat. They would punch them and hit them with ropes. Some of the men started bleeding. The dallal’s only beat the men, not the women.68 “Naw Begum,” 40, fled an internment camp outside Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in January 2013, and witnessed shipboard beatings by the traffickers. She told Fortify Rights: “[The traffickers] had plastic pipes to beat the people, but they didn’t beat the women, only the men. If the people moved around or shouted, they went down and beat them.”69 DEPRIVATION OF FOOD, WATER, AND PHYSICAL SPACE “We only had skin and bones.” —Rohingya woman, 25, from Aung Mingalar, Sittwe The traffickers at sea deprived Rohingya “passengers” of adequate food, water, and physical space. These deprivations weakened those held captive physically and mentally and, in some cases, caused death.70 All of the survivors interviewed by Fortify Rights and the Commission testified that traffickers onboard ships denied them adequate food or, in some cases, any food. “Mohammed Khan,” 25, told Fortify Rights: We couldn’t eat anything and couldn’t drink water, and many became crazy. When we tried to go [to the upper deck of the ship] for comfortable space, the Thai [traffickers] on the boat beat us very roughly to force us back down to the bottom [of the ship]. We had to sit like this in the bottom of the boat [motions his knees to his chest]. Eight people managed the boat. They used belts to beat the people.71 “Mohammed Yunus,” 26, said: [The traffickers] just provided a small amount of rice and two chilies. If we put out our hand, they would provide us a little bit of salt. Lunch was at 11 a.m. and dinner was at 5 p.m. Sometimes they would give us a small noodle packet, but not always.72 “Ebadullah,” 25, experienced severe paralysis after traffickers nutritionally deprived him, confined him to a cramped space, and restricted his ability to stretch his legs or walk for a prolonged period at sea and on land. While recovering in Kuala Lumpur, he told Fortify Rights: “On the boat, we had to sit in a squatting position. There were a lot of people, and we couldn’t extend our legs. [The traffickers] gave us two meals of mushed rice per day.”73 Several survivors testified that the traffickers provided no food during their journey, only water. “Habiba,” a 42-year-old Rohingya woman who fled from Kyauk Pyu village in Rakhine State, Myanmar in 2012 following clashes between Muslims and Buddhists and widespread violence by Myanmar state security forces and local extremists against Muslim residents, told Fortify Rights: “[The traffickers] only provided water to me, no food. I was on the boat for 11 days.”74 68 Fortify Rights interview with #83, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 16, 2014. 69 Fortify Rights interview with #49, Bangkok, Thailand, September 23, 2014. 70 See, Section on “Killings, Deaths from Deprivations, and Suicides.” 71 Fortify Rights interview with #26, Songkhla Province, Thailand, October 6, 2013. 72 Fortify Rights interview with #121, Sittwe Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 26, 2015. 73 Fortify Rights interview with #04, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 10, 2014. 74 Fortify Rights interview with #6, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 11, 2014.