Sex slave report rocks embassy ( www.news24.com ) September 30, 2002


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Sex slave report rocks embassy

Marietie Louw
source : www.news24.com

Pretoria - The ambassador at the Myanmar Embassy in Pretoria plans to "take on" the police after a high- level investigation into alleged sex slavery at this embassy was revealed.

This follows a report in Friday's Mail&Guardian that a "15-year-old girl" had laid charges of sexual molestation and assault. She reportedly said she was sexually and physically assaulted at the embassy of this Southeast Asian country, formerly known as Burma.

Counsel minister Hla Myint said on Friday that the complainant was ambassador Tin Latt's domestic help.

Myint showed the woman's passport to Beeld on Friday afternoon. According to the information in it, she was born on August 22, 1982. The details in the passport list her length as 1.25m. Her visa only expires in November this year, and states that she is a domestic worker for the ambassador.

Myint said the complainant had absconded from the embassy last week. "We went to the Brooklyn police office to report it. The next we heard was when the Eesterust police phoned us to say that she was being taken to the child protection unit."

He said the embassy was "very shocked" about the course of events. "The complainant is twenty and not 15 years old. She is of very small build and looks like a teenager."

The report reads that the girl came to South Africa as an 8-year-old. Myint said she came to the country in October last year with the Myanmar ambassador.

Police suspect she is a minor

Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht, police spokesperson on international affairs, confirmed on Friday that a high-level investigation was conducted by the unit for domestic violence, child protection and sexual crimes.

"We do not want to mention the complainant's age, as it is part of the investigation. We have strong suspicion that she is a minor," said Engelbrecht. Martins-Engelbrecht said the girl was currently at a place of safety.

Professor André Thomashausen, head of Unisa's international law centre, told Beeld on Friday that foreign officials were above the law because of diplomatic immunity. "They cannot be charged and prosecuted for any crime in South Africa," he said. South Africa could only lodge a request that the specific officials be recalled to their land of birth.

A statement by the department of foreign affairs reads that the charges are regarded as very serious: "As the investigation has not yet been concluded, we cannot say what possible consequences it could hold for South Africa and Myanmar."

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