Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles
from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Vietnam.htm
Vietnam is a source
and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for forced
labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children are trafficked
to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of
Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation.
Vietnam is a source country for men and women who migrate for work through
informal networks and through state-owned and private labor export companies
in the construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan,
South Korea, the PRC, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Western Europe, and the
Middle East, but subsequently face conditions of forced labor or debt
bondage. Labor export companies may charge workers as much as $10,000 for the
opportunity to work abroad, making them highly vulnerable to debt
bondage. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in
Vietnam. Some of these links may lead to
websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to
verify their authenticity or to validate their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims International Organization for
Migration ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The Plight Of
Vietnamese Women Nguoi Viet , Commentary, New America Media, Hoi
Trinh, Apr 02, 2005 news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=645a2f7fb0e2cede54e7d5eb73925ac6 [accessed
28 August 2011] www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/the-plight-of-vietnams-mail-order-brides/257814/ [accessed
3 March 2019] There
are, at present, around 200,000 Vietnamese women in Taiwan. Most of them are 17- and 18-year-old girls
trying to escape poverty by agreeing to marry Taiwanese men of various shapes
and sizes. These grooms may be old and crippled. Even when the girls’ families end up with
only $500 most of the brides said that they would still do it again despite
their black years in Taiwan. They
would do it for their peasant families in rural Viet Nam, leaving aside the cosmic question of how one could
practically sell oneself for a mere $500. Trafficking of men
appears in border provinces VietNamNet Bridge, September 27, 2007-- Source: VTV humantrafficking21.blogspot.com/2007/10/trafficking-of-men-appears-in-border.html [accessed
15 August 2012] Two months ago, a
woman came to Phu’s hamlet to recruit workers to
work in China with a monthly income of VND3.6 million ($220). Eight young
boys, including Phu went with the woman to China
but only Phu and another boy named Phan Van Lin
could escape from the brick kiln. “We
didn’t know that we were sold till we arrived at the brick kiln. If we didn’t
work, we would be beaten by the brick kiln owners,” he said. Trafficking of
women is popular but trafficking of men is still very strange to both the
people and state agencies. Young boys like Diu and Phu
want to denounce the woman who sold them to China but the Vietnamese laws
don’t have regulations on this crime yet. Deputy PM asks for
more focus on human trafficking prevention Vietnam
News Agency, 08/04/2007 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/606 [accessed
3 May 2012] Apart
from women and girls, men and boys are also being trafficked for forced labour overseas.
Most of the victims, who were sent across the country's borders for
prostitution or child adoption purposes, are from remote, mountainous and
underprivileged regions. ***
ARCHIVES *** Man arrested for
selling teenage girl to China Hai Binh, VN Express International, 25 December 25, 2020 e.vnexpress.net/news/news/man-arrested-for-selling-teenage-girl-to-china-4211808.html [accessed 25
December 2020] The Nghe An Province police have arrested a man for allegedly
tricking a 14-year-old girl and trafficking her to
China. Cut Van Ut, 32, of Tuong Duong District
faces charges of child trafficking. According to
investigators, he was hired by a Vietnamese woman living in China, identified
only by her given name, Van, to traffic women to her. For every woman he
sent, Ut was to be paid VND5 million ($216.24). In April last year
he met a 14-year-old ethnic Khmu girl, whose identity has not been disclosed
to protect her, in a remote commune in the central province's Ky Son District. She had dropped out
of school. Ut told her he had
contacts and could get her a job with decent wages in southern Vietnam. The
girl believed him and agreed to leave home with him. He then sent her
straight to Van in China, and she sold her to a Chinese family for VND140
million for marriage to a man in that family. Reintegration
shelter for human trafficking victims in Lao Cai Lao Cai, Vietnam News Service VNS & Vietnam News Agency
VNA, 29 December 2019 en.vietnamplus.vn/reintegration-shelter-for-human-trafficking-victims-in-lao-cai/166293.vnp [accessed 3 January
2020] Nguyen Thi Van (not her real name) from the northern mountainous
province of Lao Cai was lured across the border to
China and sold off as a wife when she was 16 years old. Three months later,
she escaped from her husband and returned to Vietnam, but it was not easy for
her back in her hometown where villagers criticised
her for going in the first place. Between 2015 and
October 2019, the province welcomed home 436 trafficking victims from China. Most of the victims
are forced to work as prostitutes for no money, while others are sent to labour in the farms or forests unpaid. Others go to work
in China legally then change jobs with the promise of higher salaries, but
end up trapped by the traffickers, according to local authorities. Vietnam human
trafficking worth billions of dollars a year Phan Anh, VN Express
International, 1 December 2019 e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-human-trafficking-worth-billions-of-dollars-a-year-4019978.html [accessed 1 December
2019] While exact numbers
are not available on profit derived from human trafficking activities in Vietnam,
the ministry has identified several transnational organ trade and surrogacy
rings in the past few years worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and these form just a part of the whole human
trafficking family, Nhan said. Vietnam has
recorded over 3,400 victims of human trafficking since 2013, over 90 percent
of them women, children and people from ethnic minority communities, said
Nguyen Xuan Lap, head of the Department of Social Issues Prevention, at the
conference. Many of them are from rural communities or poor areas, who either
work in agriculture, are uneducated or unemployed, he said. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Vietnam U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/vietnam/
[accessed 29 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Labor recruitment firms,
most affiliated with state-owned enterprises, and unlicensed brokers
reportedly charged workers seeking overseas employment higher fees than the
law allows, and they did so with impunity. Those workers incurred high debts
and were thus more vulnerable to forced labor, including debt bondage. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Illegal child labor
was reported in labor-intensive sectors, such as construction, production of
garments and textiles, bricks, fish, furniture, footwear, and leather goods,
agriculture, and some manufacturing. Local media also reported children
working as beggars in gangs whose leaders abused the children and took most
of their income. Some children started work as young as 12, and nearly 55
percent of child workers did not attend school. In the garment
sector, children as young as age six reportedly produced garments in
conditions of forced labor. The most recently available information from
government raids, NGOs, and media reports during the year indicated this was
most common in small, privately owned garment factories and informal
workshops. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/vietnam/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 10 May
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking
remains a problem in Vietnam, although the government has made some efforts
to boost antitrafficking efforts. Internationally
brokered marriages sometimes lead to domestic servitude and forced
prostitution. Male and female migrant workers are vulnerable to forced labor
abroad in a variety of industries. Enforcement of legal safeguards against
exploitative working conditions, child labor, and workplace hazards remains
poor. "Vulnerability'
To Human Trafficking: A Study Of Viet Nam, Albania, Nigeria And The UK Patricia Hynes,
Report of Shared Learning Event held in Tirana, Albania: 24-26 October 2017 [Long URL] [accessed 13
February 2022] This report
describes the first stages of an ethically-led, two-year research study into
understanding the causes, dynamics and ‘vulnerabilities’ to and resilience
against human trafficking in three source countries– Albania, Viet Nam and
Nigeria – plus the support needs of people from these countries who have
experienced trafficking when identified as potential ‘victims’ of trafficking
in the UK. Boycott "Blood
Cashews" From Vietnam Press Release, BPSOS
- Boat People SOS, June 13, 2012 www.law-forums.org/boycott-blood-cashews-from-vietnam-t70609.html [accessed 16
February 2016] [accessed 3 March
2019] At a recent hearing
before the US Congress, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang,
Executive Director of Boat People SOS (BPSOS), reported that Vietnamese
prisoners, including political prisoners, have similarly been subjected to
forced labor: "One Montagnard, jailed from 2002 through 2009, had to do this
for 7 years. His hands were injured by
the caustic resin from the cashew nuts because he was not allowed to wear
gloves." Speaking for CAMSA,
Mr. Vu Quoc Dung, Secretary General of Germany-based International Society
for Human Rights, denounces the dangerous cashew work in prisons such as the
Z30A Prison in Xuan Loc, where political prisoners
are forced each to process 32 kg of class B cashews daily. Some prisoners
have developed blindness as a result. Many have suffered injuries to their
faces and hands. Those failing to meet the assigned quota would be beaten
with a whip and kicked. Political prisoners who oppose forced labor have
reportedly been shackled and held in solitary confinement. An Analysis of
Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam and a Comprehensive Approach to Combating the Problem Charles Tucker,
University of California Davis Journal of International Law & Policy,
2010 [Long URL] [accessed 13
February 2022] The paper addresses
various multi-disciplinary initiatives that could be helpful for the
Vietnamese government to reduce human trafficking. Section I of the paper
outlines the background of human trafficking in Vietnam, examining demand
factors, vulnerability of victims, and the consequences of trafficking to
victims and Vietnamese society. Section II analyzes the existing Vietnamese
legal framework – nationally and regionally. Section III analyzes the
international legal framework concerning human trafficking. Section IV
presents the authors’ normative policy prescriptions, including legal
recommendations, anti-trafficking initiatives, and victim protection
initiatives. Section V concludes with a summary of the recommended
anti-trafficking measures. Trafficking victims
try to remake lives Monica Rhor, Associated Press AP, April 13, 2009 www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/apr/13/trafficking-victims-try-remake-lives/ [accessed
18 June 2013] nwasianweekly.com/2009/04/trafficking-victims-try-to-remake-lives/ [accessed
20 February 2018] Like dozens of
other workers from Vietnam and China, Tiep Ngo had
been lured to the Daewoosa clothing factory in
American Samoa by hollow promises of good pay. She left behind her child, her
husband and her parents and paid $5,000 for her job contract, only to be
starved, beaten and cheated of wages.
For nearly two years, Ngo labored in the stifling, overcrowded
factory, subsisting on meager portions of rice and cabbage and longing for
her family. Malaysia, Viet Nam
police to investigate human trafficking Vietnam
News Agency vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC040208 [access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/society/173551/malaysia-viet-nam-police-to-investigate-human-trafficking.html [accessed
20 February 2018] Malaysian Deputy Inspector-General
of Police Ismail Omar said that scores of young women from the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region in Viet Nam had been
enticed by promises of well-paid work as waitresses in Malaysia. The trafficking ring allegedly organised their passports and flight tickets and then
forced them into prostitution. If they
refused, they were locked up, beaten and starved, according to the report. Vietnam man
arrested for human trafficking News.com.au, Hanoi,
05 January 2008 – Source: www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23011635-23109,00.html patrick.guenin2.free.fr/cantho/vnnews08/man.htm [accessed 17 January
2011] www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2008-01-06/vietnam-man-arrested-for-trafficking-women-to-china/8986 [accessed
20 February 2018] www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-18069 [accessed
3 March 2019] The Hanoi man,
identified as Nguyen Anh Tuan, allegedly befriended the women through
internet chatrooms, then enticed them to travel to northern border areas from
where they were sent to China, the Than Nien daily
said. Most Vietnamese
women and children who fall victim to trafficking are sent to neighbouring China or Cambodia for arranged marriages or
prostitution. Human trafficking
crackdown Vietnam News Agency,
December 26, 2007 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] As many as 900
human trafficking cases involving 1,600 traffickers and 2,200 smuggled women
and children were detected from 2005-2007.
Police and border guards have also uncovered several rings that
trafficked women and children from Vietnam via Laos to Thailand, Africa or
Europe to be sex workers. Economic
difficulties, unemployment and poor education, especially in mountainous and
remote areas, were the major factors in the trafficking increase. Southern Africa:
Human Trafficking Concern for 2010 Tonya
Graham, Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service, November 29, 2007 www.genderlinks.org.za/article/human-trafficking-concern-for-2010-2007-11-29 [accessed
17 January 2011] www.pambazuka.org/human-security/human-trafficking-concern-2010 [accessed
20 February 2018] Human trafficking
is a pervasive global problem, and strong laws are vital to preventing and
prosecuting it, as well as caring for survivors. Take the case of Mary Jiang*
who left her home in Vietnam to go
and work in Taiwan, anticipating a good job with a salary that would give her
the chance to improve her life and that of her family. However, when she arrived she found the
promises were false, and she suffered inhuman treatment by her employers who
forced her to work gruelling 16-hour days. When one
of the 20 machines she worked on at once caught Jiang's hand, she waited 45
minutes before her hand was freed, suffering sever
injuries. After two days in hospital
her employers told her to sign some forms, they were taking her to a better
hospital. Once signed, they took her back to a company building and locked
her in a small, dirty room. Vietnam, Cambodia
to battle human trafficking Thanhnien News, -- Source:
HLHPN VN At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] Of the 639 human
trafficking cases in Vietnam since 2006, 1,287 human traffickers had sold
2,137 women and children overseas, according the Ministry of Public
Security. Most cases took place in the
nine provinces that share borders with Cambodia. Foundation fights
human trafficking Source:
Viet Nam News, October 22, 2007 english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/10/750696/ [accessed 17 January
2011] vina365.biz/EN/?action=News&T=Detail&gID=2&ID=11&cID=6540 [accessed 4
September 2012] vietnamnews.vn/society/169976/foundation-fights-human-trafficking.html#HQSCIbf8wkFOEssx.97 [accessed 20
February 2018] vietnamnews.vn/society/169976/foundation-fights-human-trafficking.html [accessed 3 March
2019] The HCM City
situation - Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, head of the HCM City Department for Preventing
and Combating Social Evils, said on September 20 that the city police raided
a gang who were forcing homeless children to work as beggars. Sixteen children aged 10 to 14 years were
released from the gang, who had forced these children to earn from VND200,000
to VND400,000 per day. Many of them had been badly beaten when they could not
offer the money the gangsters wanted. Foundation begins
project to end human trafficking in Viet Nam Vietnam
News Agency, 1 June 2007 vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SOC010607 [access
date unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/society/165195/foundation-begins-project-to-end-human-trafficking-in-viet-nam.html#kyCBcuD50KBo6iyI.97 [accessed 20
February 2018] vietnamnews.vn/society/165195/foundation-begins-project-to-end-human-trafficking-in-viet-nam.html#58S1hY2pUUguZG3a.97 [accessed 3 March
2019] Female students at
secondary and high school education levels as well as those young girls who
are studying at vocational training centres will be
taught about safe migration, thereby they will be able to lead a safe
livelihood when choosing to live far away from home. Many believe girls
are often trafficked by people within their own community and sometimes even by
family members, making it critical to involve communities as the first line
of defence in preventing trafficking. Many women and young girls are trafficked
as they migrate from Viet Nam to Cambodia or from rural to urban areas within
Viet Nam in an attempt to seek better economic opportunities. Vietnam Justice
Department Issues Regulations on Foreign Marriages Stop
Violence Against Women, The Advocates for Human Rights, July 30, 2007 --
Source: "Ha Noi Reins in Marriages to Combat
Human Trafficking," Viet Nam News, 19 July 2007 stopvaw.org/vietnam_trafficking.html [accessed
17 January 2011] In an effort to
combat trafficking in women and sexual exploitation, the Ha Noi Justice department has strengthened its efforts to
investigate new marriages with foreign citizens by promulgating new
regulations. Three hundred officials were informed of the procedures to
interview applicant couples and verify the authenticity of their unions. The
regulations, which are part of the National Programme
on Crime Prevention, seek to prevent fraudulent marriages that conceal human
trafficking. Forum urges
regional powers to battle human trafficking Vietnam
News Agency vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=06SOC130707 [access
date unavailable] Khiet said that for Viet
Nam, most of the victims were poor, unemployed and uneducated. "Most
come from rural areas and are lured by promises of jobs, marriage or adopting
agencies into moving to other cities in the country where they are sucked
into illegal work," she said. Vietnam’s human
trafficking plague still on the rise humantrafficking.org--
Adapted from:Thanh Nien
News, 6 April 2007 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/597 [accessed
17 January 2011] The trafficking of
Vietnamese women and children, mainly across borders with China and Cambodia,
has continued increasing as perpetrators have come to disguise their trade
more cleverly. Over the past two
years, human traffickers have sent thousands Vietnamese women and children
abroad, using cunning tricks to lure victims. Many victims are told they will
be happily married, visit lost relatives, or work and travel leisurely on the
other side. But most of the cheated
women and children are then sold to brothels, forced to work as sex slaves or
work hard labor. Protecting young
women from human trafficking in Viet Nam Steve
Nettleton, UNICEF, 7 December 2006 www.unicef.org/infobycountry/vietnam_37406.html [accessed
17 January 2011] www.unicef.org/protection/vietnam_37406.html [accessed
3 March 2019] In 1991,
Phuong was lured to the border by traffickers and taken against her will to
China, where she was dragged to a house in a small town and sold to become an
older man’s wife. “I didn’t know how
old he was or the name of the place we lived,” she said. “I lost my freedom.
I had to go everywhere with his family or else I was locked in a room. I had
to work hard. When I was tired or sick, they didn’t let me stop working. Commune fights
human trafficking Vietnam
News Agency - 08.10.06 www.naaa.it/naaa/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=619 [accessed
17 January 2011] vietnamnews.vn/sunday/features/158013/commune-fights-human-trafficking.html#cI37DSysbCJyO3ic.97 [accessed
20 February 2018] "What will you
do if a strange woman asks you to go with her to Lang Son with promises of a
good job?" a child in the jury asks of another contestant of the same
age. "I would say
no definitely," responds the other side. The community has
dedicated its time to fighting human trafficking, a
topic not discussed much in the past, with the best possible weapon: an
education. Anti
human trafficking steering committee debuts Radio
The Voice Of Vietnam, VOV News, 10/01/2006 [accessed
18 June 2013] The Steering
Committee for the implementation of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative
Against Human Trafficking (COMMIT) made its debut in Ha Noi
on Sept. 29. The committee will
focus on identifying victims and arresting criminals, building a legal
framework and national action plans, and promoting bilateral and
multi-sectoral cooperation in the fight against human trafficking. Vietnam, China
boost ties to combat human trafficking Lien Chau , Thanhnien News, August 28, 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] Trafficked young
girls have been forced into the sex trade or forced to marry older men. Vietnamese and Chinese police raided more
than 30 human trafficking gangs in July and August alone this year. Govt crack down on
human trafficking in border provinces Tien Phong, vietnamnet, 14/08/2006 hoilhpn.org.vn/NewsDetail.asp?Catid=126&NewsId=4255&lang=EN [accessed
17 January 2011]] Eight government
working groups will visit five border provinces this month to investigate
allegations of trafficking of women and children. The five provinces are Lang Son, Cao Bang, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa and Lao Cai. Vietnam youth union
boosting anti-human trafficking advocacy Thanh Nien Daily, July 21, 2006 www.thanhniennews.com/education/?catid=4&newsid=17967 [access
date unavailable] In Vietnam, human
trafficking is sometimes disguised under form of arranged marriages that
frequently result in the women becoming domestic slaves rather than
wives. Other victims find themselves
in the sex trade instead of the factory job they were promised. According to
sources from UNICEF and Vietnam's Ministry of Justice, as many as 400,000
Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked overseas since 1990.
That's around 10 percent of trafficked women and children worldwide. More co-operation
needed in war on human trafficking Viet Nam News, HCM
City, 04-07-2006 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 13
September 2011] Reviewing the human
trafficking trend in the region, Thailand’s Susu Thatun, programme manager of
the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater
Mekong Sub-region reported that nearly one-third of the global trafficking
trade of about 200,000-225,000 women and children are trafficked annually
from Southeast Asia. While in the past
women and children have been reported as trafficked victims, Thatun said that boys and men have also been identified
as victims as well into the sex trade, heavy labour,
begging, marriage, and the fishing industry. Vietnam police
reviews human trafficking fight Tan Duc, Thanh Nien News,
2006-06-28 -- Source : www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=17163 www.meetup.com/trafficking-43/messages/boards/thread/1986704 [accessed
17 January 2011] Nearly 1000
Vietnamese women and children have been rescued from being sold abroad since
last year, a conference on human trafficking held in the southern Can Tho city on Wednesday heard. VN, China battle
human trafficking Le Hung Vong, Vietnam News Agency, HCM City, 2006.06.22 vietnamnews.vn/society/154735/vn-china-battle-human-trafficking.html#3F4Avkfwxh2uaM3R.97 [accessed 3 March
2019] More than 550
Vietnamese women and children were trafficked to China in the last two years,
the Vietnamese police said yesterday in a report released at a workshop held
on cross-border trafficking between the two countries. The police said the
victims were deceived by members of organised crime
gangs in both countries who promised them good jobs in big cities in Viet Nam
or abroad. But many of them ended up being sold to brothels in China. Vietnam, Cambodia
To Crack Down On Human Trafficking Bernama, Ho Chi Minh City,
May 18, 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] Under the campaign,
part of specific activities under an agreement signed between the two governments
in October 2005 regarding cooperation in eliminating human trafficking and
helping victims, Vietnam will draw up a list of suspects and rings involved
in trafficking women and children from Vietnam to Cambodia. The Cambodian side
will define key areas, suspects and rings engaged in trafficking Vietnamese
women and children. Mekong region govts to co-op against human trafficking Xinhua
News Agency, PHNOM PENH, May 7, 2006 news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/07/content_4517342.htm [accessed
17 January 2011]] en.ce.cn/World/Asia-Pacific/200605/07/t20060507_6891299.shtml [accessed
23 June 2017]] Since the signing
of the historic COMMIT Memorandum of Understanding in Yangon, Myanmar in
October 2004, by Ministers of the six countries, the Governments have been
active in laying the foundation for a network of cooperation to stop
traffickers and prosecute them, protect victims of trafficking and assist
them return safely home, and launch efforts to prevent others from sharing
the same fate. Trafficking Battle
To Get Int’l Aid Vietnam
News vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03SOC270406 [access
date unavailable] Under a national programme on combating human trafficking, the Public
Security Ministry and relevant Government agencies would intensify efforts to
halve this crime by 2010, officials said. One-quarter of Viet
girls forced into prostitution to return home Viet Chien, The Vietnam News, Thanh Nien,
November 8, 2005 www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=10398 [Last access date
unavailable] patrick.guenin2.free.fr/cantho/vnnews05/quarter.htm [accessed
17 January 2011] factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Vietnam/sub5_9c/entry-3419.html [accessed
20 February 2018] SEXUAL SLAVERY AND
FORCED PROSTITUTION IN VIETNAM -- Vietnamese police are to join Czech
authorities to bring home 20 girls lured into the sex trade with offers of a
free trip abroad, confirmed police today. Interpol Vietnam revealed the 20
girls are among 82 girls in total forced to work as prostitutes abroad. The
82 girls include 50 who were sexually abused in the Czech Republic, 20 other
Vietnamese young women in Moscow, and 12 in Macao. Two suspects alleged to
have tricked the girls into traveling to Europe were detained by police this
week. Vietnamese women
trafficked, rescued in Czech Republic October 11, 2005 --
Source: Nguoi Lao Dong - Compiled by Thanh Hang At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] According to Czech
police, most of young women involved came from Vietnam’s northern and central
provinces of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Nghe An and Quang Ninh. They had to pay US$5,000 to $7,500 each,
tricked into thinking that they were coming to Czech on legitimate terms to
well-paid jobs, but instead were forced into prostitution. Vietnam's global
human trafficking an inhuman epidemic Andrew
Lam, San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 2005 www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/21/INGQEEA80C1.DTL [accessed
17 January 2011] But mostly, the
"Tale of Kieu" is relevant to
contemporary Vietnam because, two centuries after it was penned, it still
tells the story of the Vietnamese people. In order to save their families
from destitution, Kieu's contemporaries sell
themselves en masse -- except now they are doing so
on the global stage. "Still, if
your parents and siblings are starving, you've got to do something,"
said Thuy Le, who is in her mid-20s. "It's the right thing to do." Stopping an
'Epidemic' -- Vietnamese Priest Reaches Out to Sex Trafficking Victims Pacific
News Service, by the Rev. Nguyen Van Hung, as told to Andrew Lam, Posted: Aug
02, 2005 www.vietamericanvets.com/Page-Diaspora-StoppingAnEpidemic.htm [accessed
18 June 2013] Vietnam
signed a labor treaty with Taiwan in 1999, and that opened up a new route for
desperate Vietnamese looking for work. But it also exacerbated the
exploitation problem. Currently we are providing shelter for overseas female
workers from Vietnam who have been victims of rape and sexual assaults by
their employers, or who were tricked into prostitution and managed to escape
from the brothels. Border police
rescue 37 in anti-human trafficking drive Xinhua
News Agency, Beijing, July 13, 2005 www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/13/content_459587.htm [accessed
16 February 2016] The women were
saved thanks to a joint operation between Guangxi and Viet Nam authorities,
the release said, calling the rescue a good start to a two-month joint
anti-abduction campaign from July to September. Cambodian police
rescue 88 sex workers Australian
Broadcasting Corporation ABC Radio Australia, 26/06/2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] [scroll down] Police in Cambodia
have rescued 88 sex workers and detained the four men who allegedly coerced
them to work. Police have raided a massage parlor at a hotel in Phnom
Penh, rescuing 56 Cambodians, 28 Vietnamese and four Chinese sex workers. Vietnam To Tackle
`Matchmaking' Cody Yiu, Taipei Times, Mar 16, 2005 www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/03/16/2003246451 [accessed
17 January 2011] "It's good
news, actually, as this measure aims to crack down on human trafficking while
safeguarding legitimate matchmaking activities," a ministry spokesman
said. Human Trafficking
Issue Tackled At Ha Noi Meeting Vietnam News VNS, Ha
Noi, 31-03-2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] The six Mekong
nations will build a cooperative network and undertake measures to prevent
and combat trafficking, to prosecute human trafficking criminals, to help
trafficked people repatriate to their homelands, and to protect victims. Speaking at the conference, Viet Nam’s
Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Tinh
said it’s difficult to define the number of trafficked victims but the trend
in the world and the region is that the crime is increasing. Over 300 Trafficked
Women Rescued Vietnam News Agency www.vnagency.com.vn/newsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=29&NEWS_ID=145034 [access date
unavailable] Last year, over 300
women, who had been trafficked to China, were rescued. Also last year,
Viet Nam and China launched a joint campaign to curb cross-border human
trafficking. The two countries have set up centers for rescuing
trafficked children at the common border area. The Modern Scourge
of Sex Slavery Dr.
Martin Brass, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, September 2004 www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SOF_0904_Slavery1,00.html [accessed
17 January 2011] [Photo Caption] Cambodian policeman escorts 11-year-old
Vietnamese girl from brothel in Toul Kork red-light district of Phnom Penh: Six girls from
11-13 years of age were rescued from brothel that offered only young
children. Trafficked from Vietnam, children were rescued during sting operation
involving Cambodian Interpol and local police, led by End Child Prostitution,
Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT) The Exploitation of
Women and Children: A Comparative Study of Human Trafficking Laws between the
United States-Mexico and China-Vietnam Christina
T. Le, Hauser Global Law School Program, August 2007 www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Human_Trafficking.htm [accessed
17 January 2011] 3) ARTICLES YI WANG, TRAFFICKING
IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM VIETNAM TO CHINA: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND GOVERNMENT
RESPONSES, ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING PROGRAM IN VIETNAM (OXFAM: QUEBEC
2005). This study is the
profile overview of the human trafficking situation from Vietnam to
China. It discuses the various international
treaties the countries have or have not signed, and it also looks at the
bilateral treaties between the two countries to combat human
trafficking. Research information on the Vietnam-China cross-border
trafficking problem is difficult to come by as most sources are in Chinese or
Vietnamese. This study publication is a wonderful asset for the
researcher to understand the China-Vietnam situation and see the types of
bilateral efforts sustained in the process. Furthermore, the study
leads to specific treaties and agreements to aid the research. Attempts to prevent
human trafficking are making conditions worse for voluntary migrants The
Medical News, 5 June 2004 www.news-medical.net/news/2004/06/05/2190.aspx [accessed
17 January 2011] In interviews and
discussions with 100 Vietnamese women, only six reported having been
"tricked" into sex work. Most knew before they left Vietnam that
they would be engaged in sex work and some showed clear ambition to travel
for economic incentives and an independent lifestyle. China, Vietnam
Cooperate to Halt Human Trafficking China
Internet Information Center, June 4, 2004 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/38 [accessed
4 September 2012] The trafficking of
girls over the Vietnam-China border has been a problem since the two
countries normalized relations in 1989. In recent years evidence indicates
that the girls have been getting younger and more are being sold into
prostitution, rather than as wives as in the past. In 2002, 141
Vietnamese girls were rescued and repatriated in Dongxing
city alone, compared with just 15 in 2001. The number of traffickers arrested
rose from seven to 33 in the same period. China, Vietnam join
hands to fight cross-border trafficking of women The National Working
Committee on Children and Women Under the State Council At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] A DIFFICULT FIGHT - Yuan Guangrong, director of the Public Security Bureau of
Guangxi Autonomous Region, explains that in most of these cases, Vietnamese
women were trapped by phony promises of jobs or marriage.
"Nowadays," he says. "Traffickers often use violence to force
their victims into submission. In some cases, the victims were duped when
they were kidnapped. There are also cases in which rape or even group rape
was committed. "What's more,
he adds. "The destination for trafficking has extended from border
regions to inland provinces such as Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangsu and
Guangdong." According to the
official, most proven human traffickers are Vietnamese. More often than not,
they gang up with Chinese criminals in human trafficking, targeting
Vietnamese women who are in China without legal papers. Places like railway
and bus stations are their hunting grounds. Some women are victims of human
trafficking themselves but end up by committing the crime against other
women. Girls trafficked to
China starting to get official help Ho Binh Minh, Reuters , Mong Cai, Vietnam, Jun 24, 2004 www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2004/06/24/2003176331 [accessed
17 January 2011] Hoang Hong Tham thought she was going to China for a holiday with a
family friend. Instead, the Vietnamese
teenager was sold off in late 1999 to a Chinese farmer to be his bride. It
was the beginning of a nightmare for a young woman who didn't know the man's
language, culture and was unable to contact her family. Tham, now 23, is
among thousands of Vietnamese trafficked into China in recent years, a
lucrative trade driven in part by a shortage of women in China but also by
the promise of jobs and a better life. Women and child
trafficking reported VietnamNet , 28/Jun/2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 13
September 2011] A total of 1,758 Vietnamese
women and children were reported taken from 16 provinces and cities last
year, reported the police at a regional meeting on fighting against
trafficking of women and children held in Hanoi last week. Of that figure, 263
were juveniles, including 11 who were under 10 years old. Some 870 people
managed to return home. The women and children were sold abroad, mainly
China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, to work in the
sex industry, unwilling brides or as slaves. Desperation up close Richard
Greenberg, NBC News producer, 1/23/2004 www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038263/ns/dateline_nbc/ [accessed
17 January 2011] www.thienlybuutoa.org/PhuocThien/desperation_up_close.htm [accessed
3 March 2019] “New girls! New girls!” exclaimed Po, a
15-year-old pimp. What he meant was the girls filling the room had arrived
recently from Vietnam. Some, especially the really young ones,
age 10 and under, were sent by family members, who probably were paid a
few hundred dollars in return. Many of the teenagers, we learned, had
been tricked, believing they were coming to Phnom Penh to work as waitresses,
and now were stuck with no way to get back home. - htcp Trafficking in
Persons: Myths, Methods, and Human Rights Melanie Orhant, Population Reference Bureau, December 2001 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 13
September 2011] [see charts] To China (marriage), To Taiwan (marriage),
To Cambodia (sex industry) Vietnam jails baby
smugglers BBC
News, 31 March, 2000 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/697050.stm [accessed
17 January 2011] A court in the
northern Vietnamese province of Ninh Binh has sentenced 12 people for their roles in selling
children for foreign adoption. The judge in the
trial said the group bought more than 170 new-born babies from unmarried
Vietnamese women and desperate families in several northern provinces and
then sold them to foreigners. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/vietnam2003.html [accessed
17 January 2011] [49] The Committee
notes with concern that a significant proportion of sex workers are under the
age of 18. Furthermore, it is concerned that, although the State party
recognizes trafficking in children to be a significant problem, the number of
officially reported cases is very low. Trafficking of
Vietnamese Women and Children to Cambodia Annuska Derks,
International Organization for Migration & Center for Advanced Study,
March 1998 www.cascambodia.org/file/report/TRAFFICKING%20OF%20VIETNAMESE%20WOMEN%20AND%20CHILDRENT%20TO%20CAMBODIA-03-1998.pdf [accessed
20 February 2018] catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2831671 [accessed
3 March 2019] VIETNAMESE WOMEN
TRAFFICKED TO CAMBODIA
-- In this survey, we found that in most cases the recruitment of young
Vietnamese women for prostitution in Cambodia operates on a small-scale
level. Recruiters target one or a few girls at a time, in order to provide a
family member, friend or other acquaintance some extra women in their
brothel. The recruiters often approach poor, desperate or divorced women or
girls who are receptive to promises of well-paid work in Cambodia. A
Vietnamese woman in a karaoke shop in Kompong Som recounted that after her husband left her with her
three-year-old child, a woman in her village told her to come with her to
work in Phnom Penh. She and five other young women were brought to Phnom
Penh, where they were all together sold to a shop in Tuol
Kork. Later this woman opened her own shop using
the money she got from selling the girls. A 17-year-old Vietnamese girl
described, out of own experience, how the recruiters operate to recruit young
girls: “The people who persuade young girls to come to Cambodia are mostly
women. They are like friends, but they sell their friends. They tell the
girls that they can sell merchandise or work as a waitress... They only take
young girls, of 16 or 17 years old.” ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report 2018
Edition freedomhouse.org/country/vietnam/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 8 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking
remains a problem in Vietnam. The U.S. State Department’s 2017 Trafficking in
Persons Report noted that while the Vietnamese government was working to
identify more victims and provide guidance to local authorities to implement
an antitrafficking plan, a lack of coordination
between agencies, insufficient statistics, and inadequate funding are
significant issues in Vietnam’s fight against trafficking. Vietnamese women
seeking work abroad are subject to sex trafficking in nearby countries, and
internationally brokered marriages sometimes lead to domestic servitude and
forced prostitution. Male migrant workers are also vulnerable to forced labor
abroad in a variety of industries. Enforcement of labor laws covering child
labor, workplace safety, and other issues remains poor. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61632.htm [accessed
11 February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Some children were trafficked domestically, and others were trafficked to
foreign destinations for the purpose of prostitution. An NGO advocate has
estimated that the average age of trafficked girls was between 15 and 17
years of age. Some reports indicated that the ages of girls trafficked to
Cambodia typically were even lower. Individuals also
were convicted in cases in which parents received payments in exchange for
giving up their infant children for adoption. In addition, there was
anecdotal evidence that small children and infants were sometimes kidnapped
and sold to traffickers in China. Children also were trafficked to other
countries; in September the press reported that Vietnamese children arriving
illegally in the United Kingdom had become the victims of crime and abuse,
including being forced to work in brothels, as beggars, in crime rings, or as
drug traffickers (see section 5, Children). Mass organizations and NGOs
continued to operate limited programs to reintegrate trafficked children into
society. During the year programs designed to provide protection and
reintegration assistance for trafficking victims through psychosocial support
and vocational training, as well as to supplement regional and national
prevention efforts by targeting at‑risk populations for similar
services, continued operation in the north of the country. There were reports
that some women from Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta who married men
from Taiwan were forced into prostitution after their arrival in Taiwan.
There was reported trafficking in women to the Macau Special Administrative
Region of China with the assistance of organizations in China that were
ostensibly marriage service bureaus, international labor organizations, and
travel agencies. After arrival, women were forced into conditions similar to
indentured servitude; some were forced into prostitution. In 2002 the
government suspended the licenses of marriage mediation services and
transferred their function to the Women's Union. The services had helped to
arrange marriages between women and foreigners, primarily Taiwanese men.
Government officials noted that it continued to be difficult to obtain
information from Taiwanese officials on cases of alleged trafficking in
Taiwan. Poor women and
teenage girls, especially those from rural areas, were most at risk for being
trafficked. MPS and UNICEF research indicated that trafficking victims can
come from any part of the country but were concentrated in certain northern
and southern border provinces as well as the central province of Thanh Hoa. Some were sold by their families as domestic workers
or for sexual exploitation. In some cases traffickers paid families several
hundred dollars in exchange for allowing their daughter to go to Cambodia for
an "employment offer." Many victims faced strong pressure to make
significant contributions to the family income. Others were offered lucrative
jobs by acquaintances. False advertising, debt bondage, confiscation of
documents, and threats of deportation were other methods commonly used by the
traffickers, spouses, and employers. Individual
opportunists and informal networks, as well as some organized groups, lured
poor, often rural, women with promises of jobs or marriage and forced them to
work as prostitutes. The government stated that organized criminal groups
were involved in recruitment, transit, and other trafficking‑related
activities. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for
noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery -
Vietnam", http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Vietnam.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
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