Delving into forced labour in scam compounds in the badlands of Myanmar’s Kayin State

Mizzima

Much of the illegal scam centre activity that takes place in Myanmar goes on unseen behind high walls in compounds in the “badlands” of this crisis-ridden country.

This is the case in Payathonzu, an easy to ignore neighbourhood in Kayin State, territory that is torn between the ethnic armed organizations (EAO) and the Myanmar military junta, the latter currently clothed in civilian garb and claiming it is working to tackle the scourge of scam centres.

Recently, theMyanmar Justice & Empowerment Network (MJEN) published its “Forced Labor Enclaves and Online Scam Compounds in Payathonzu” report, which came out on May 18, 2026 and is worthy of attention.

Described as a public advocacy document and evidence dossier, the report focuses on the Payathonzu area of Kayin State and seeks to document alleged human-rights violations, human trafficking and online forced-labour operations along Myanmar’s border regions.

MJEN says the report is intended to provide international humanitarian organizations, civil-society networks and European policymakers with evidence that can support coordinated efforts to protect vulnerable people trapped inside the compounds.

The report’s central concern is the existence of guarded facilities that MJEN characterizes as “forced-labour and online-scam compounds”. It argues that their location along border infrastructure corridors is significant because such areas can provide criminal networks with access to regional communications systems while making the facilities more difficult for conventional international humanitarian organizations to monitor. According to the report, the geographic position of these facilities allows non-state criminal networks to exploit communications infrastructure while remaining relatively hidden from traditional oversight mechanisms – much of the abuse going on behind closed doors.

To document the suspected facilities, MJEN says it combined public open-source information with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis. The organization mapped localized facility clusters and village-tract boundaries in the Payathonzu region using the EPSG:32647 coordinate standard, corresponding to WGS 84 / UTM Zone 47N.

The resulting GIS map is presented as a geographic reference showing the distribution of identified hubs and their relationship to surrounding administrative areas. MJEN presents this mapping work as part of an effort to create geographically precise evidence that can be used by humanitarian and human-rights organizations for further investigation and verification – given the international drive currently underway by regional and worldwide authorities to crack down on this profitable and disruptive illegal industry.

The report supplements the geographic analysis with what MJEN describes as localized on-site visual documentation. Its field documentation teams collected photographs intended to assess living and working conditions inside the guarded centers. MJEN says these images show heavy fencing, restricted-access gates and specialized guard facilities. The organization interprets these physical characteristics as evidence of a high degree of movement restriction and says that the infrastructure structurally impedes workers from freely leaving the facilities.

The documentation is further supported by geographic index points recorded in UTM and Military Grid Reference System formats. MJEN identifies the underlying dataset as “TPP_Tactical_Points_Log_2026” and says the coordinates have been indexed to facilitate international human-rights verification.

The report includes a series of documentation points, together with a designated “Compound Area A-1” identified as a high-priority compound location. The listed points contain MGRS references and UTM Easting and Northing coordinates, with field-log annotations indicating that the locations were recorded through MJEN’s documentation process.

Satellite imagery also forms part of the report’s evidentiary presentation. MJEN refers to high-resolution satellite intelligence imagery showing localized compound clusters and key operational hubs that it associates with “regional non-state armed actors”. The report places this imagery alongside strategic military and operational grid mapping and raw field documentation logs. Taken together, these materials are intended to provide multiple forms of geographic evidence rather than relying solely on written testimony or photographic observations.

MJEN also emphasizes the protection of those involved in gathering the evidence. It states that visual materials were scrubbed of metadata in accordance with international protection standards and to preserve the anonymity of local human-rights defenders involved in the collection process. This reflects the security risks faced by local documentation teams operating in conflict-affected border areas.

The report concludes with recommendations directed particularly toward the European Union, German ministries and allied non-governmental organizations.

MJEN calls for stronger corporate supply-chain audits and enforcement of Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act to help ensure that European telecommunications and technology components do not inadvertently support remote facilities involved in these activities. It also recommends technical-development grants for local human-rights documentation teams so they can expand their use of GIS and open-source information to identify and document trafficking networks.

Finally, MJEN calls for greater multilateral diplomatic engagement, including stronger cross-border telecommunications regulation by neighbouring states, with the aim of preventing internet connectivity from being provided to unverified border industrial parks.

Overall, the report presents Payathonzu as an important area for further international scrutiny of alleged forced labour, trafficking and online-scam operations. Its approach combines GIS mapping, field photography, satellite imagery and geographic coordinate records to identify suspected facilities and document their physical characteristics.

MJEN’s broader argument is that documenting these compounds is only one part of the response: international organizations, governments, technology companies and local civil-society groups must also cooperate to improve verification, restrict infrastructure that may facilitate the compounds, strengthen supply-chain accountability and protect vulnerable people and local investigators. The report therefore seeks to turn localized documentation into a basis for wider international advocacy and policy action.