UNDERSTANDING ABUSIVE INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES/RELATIONSHIPS MayTong Chang and Pheng Thao

Impact on Children - PSA

Patriarchy in Context

Gender Based Violence

Victim Blaming Pressures from families Ostracized by family and community Pressures to recant stories, charged with false reporting Advocates as destroying families Familial ties

Navigating Two Systems Clan System Legal System

Lack of adequate interpreters  Hmong language has little legal terminology  Interpreters and confidentiality  Interpreters not adequately interpreting meaning

Globalization, Gender and US U.S. has all the opportunities Life will be better once in U.S. Supporting families back in Southeast Asia Male power/privilege along with economic perception Passport to the world

Globalization, Gender and US Families Torn Apart

1990’s

2000’s

Abusive International Marriages/Relationships The practice of older men residing in the U.S. marrying under- age girls in Asian countries.  Age differences between years old  Men’s duplicity in declaring their true marital situation in the U.S.  Wives in U.S. coerced into divorce  Sexual victimization of young girls  Definition and term captures nuances of culture  Marriage / relationship

Abusive International Marriages/Relationships vs. Human / Sex Trafficking and Sex Tourism  Human / Sex Trafficking  Action  Illegal means  Illegal purposes  Sex Tourism  Organized via tourism industry  Laws against this act  Labels matter

Impact Young Bride/girls Forced MarriageMarital RapeSexual exploitationAbandonment/isolation Marry and dump/transnational abandonment First wife Increase of Sexually Transmitted Infections to first wives Forced legal divorceFinancial abuse Exploitation of their work in home Abandonment /isolation

Impact Children AbandonmentForcing Adult SonFinancial Abuse Adult children caring for younger half siblings No legal fatherSingle parent homes Community Whole generation of girls lost Unhealthy family dynamics Generation of young widows Family status diminishes/changes Business transactions Arrangements driven by poverty

New Unhealthy Norms  Accepted due to community support of new wife  Encouragement to marry new wife quickly  Men doing fundraisers to go overseas  Bachelors are encouraged to marry young brides overseas  Young wives being mothers to adult children  Elderly marrying the young  Poverty in Laos- women and girls’ poverty being exploited  Community’s reinforcement that being married gives you more status by telling widowed fathers and single men to marry from Laos  New economic hardships for families

What can individuals/orgs do?  Deepen knowledge about this issue  Community has been addressing GBV  Connect/work with Hmong DV/SA advocates  Lift up community driven solutions  Amplify these experiences  Create space to lift up these stories  Know that one solution is not enough  Reliefs that are set up to help may have unintended consequences

TRANSFORMING GENERATIONS MayTong ChangPheng Thao Family AdvocateOrganizer Hmong American PartnershipTransforming Generations 1075 Arcade St. Paul, MN