Entrapped, Exploited, & Enslaved: The Human Egg Farm In Georgia

On September 27, 2024 a Thai woman, by the pseudonym Na, alerted the The Pavena Foundation for Children and Women about a human trafficking operation. According to Na and Pavena, the operation was led by a Chinese gang and included the kidnapping of approximately 100 Thai women. These women were held against their will and forced to produce ova (human eggs) for the gang to sell.

Deception:

Na stated that she had been lured by a facebook job advertisement. It had claimed to pay women 400,000 to 600,000 baht (≈ 11799 USD - 17699 USD) to become a surrogate in the country of Georgia. This job would cover all expenses, including passport, travel, and accommodation costs. After applying for the job, Na and 11 other women departed together as a group, unknowing to the dangers that would ensue. The group was blindsided by the various tourist destinations they were led to while on their journey to Georgia. The group leader had confiscated the women’s passport when they arrived at their hotel in Georgia.

Entrapment & Exploitation:

The next morning, the women were taken to a compound containing four houses. Na was placed in the first house, where around 60 Thai women were already being held. Many appeared to be in poor health and pleaded to be released. The following day, Na was moved to a second house detaining 10 more Thai women. Through the movement, Na had noticed that the men were of Chinese descent.

Soon after, Na had learned from the long captured women that they were also lured by the same job prospects. However, no parents had come forward to offer surrogacy work. Instead, they were forced to go through monthly egg retrieval procedures. The eggs would allegedly be sold and trafficked for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) purposes.

The egg retrieval procedure was conducted through forced hormonal stimulation and a highly invasive medical procedure. The conditions of this procedure lacked safety protocols and medical care. It was stated by Surapan Thaiprasert, commander of the Foreign Affairs Division of the Royal Thai Police that the women “Would be injected to get treatment, anesthetized and their eggs would be extracted with a machine.”

Ransom & Rescue:

After finding out the gang’s grotesque intentions, Na and a few other women pretended to be too weak and ill to undergo the procedure. Even so, the gang would continue to trap them. Their captors threatened the women and would say that they risked arrest in Thailand if they returned home. Furthermore, the Pavena Foundation said that “Those who wanted to return home had to pay the gang between 50,000 and 70,000 baht (≈ 1475 USD - 2065 USD) to cover their travel and living expenses.”Na managed to return to Thailand on September 9, 2024 through her family transferring the ransom to the gang leader’s bank account. However, before leaving, three other women begged Na to help them escape as they were unable to afford the ransom.Upon her arrival in Thailand, the Foreign Affairs Division of the Royal Thai Police contacted Interpol which led to the rescue of the three women. They were returned home on January 30, 2025.

Recent Updates:

Despite Interpol’s intervention, there are still a myriad of women being unwillingly detained. The three Thai women detailed on February 3, 2025 in an interview that there are about 100 more women still facing inhumane treatment. The Thai, Chinese, and Georgian government are currently investigating the situation. According to Diana Thomas, CEO of the World Egg and Sperm Bank, the human trafficking ring is tied to underground fertility clinics. Additionally, desperate couples who seek these eggs are likely deceived into believing the eggs are sourced from consenting, legal, and well educated egg donors.

Bibliography:

The Nation Thailand (2025). Urgent help sought for 100 Thai women forced into human egg farm in Georgia. [online] The nation Thailand. Available at: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40045862 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2025].

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Reuters Staff (2025). Georgia, Thailand probing human egg trafficking ring. Reuters. [online] 7 Feb. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/georgia-thailand-probing-human-egg-trafficking-ring-2025-02-07/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2025].

The Express Tribune. (2025), No Title, Image, The Express Tribune, Viewed March 11 2025, <100 women kept as slaves on "human egg farm" in Georgia, forced into egg trafficking>

TRT World (2025). Illicit human egg farm in Georgia exposes dark side of fertility industry. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABnKgSV5T78 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2025].

Woldeselasse, B. (2025). Trapped in the Surrogacy Boom: Thai Women Rescued from Human Egg Farms in Georgia. [online] HRRC. Available at: https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/trapped-in-the-surrogacy-boom-thai-women-rescued-from-human-egg-farms-in-georgia [Accessed 11 Mar. 2025].