Human Trafficking in [Vietnam Street Children in [Vietnam] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Vietnam] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Socialist Republic of Vietnam [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Socialist Republic of Vietnam occupies
the eastern coastline of the Southeast Asian peninsula [map], and is bounded
by China (N), by Vietnam is primarily a source country for
women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced
labor. Women and children are trafficked to the People’s Republic of China
(P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and
Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women are trafficked to the P.R.C.,
Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages
for commercial exploitation or forced labor. Vietnam is also a source country
for men and women who migrate willingly and legally for work in the
construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan, P.R.C.,
Thailand, and the Middle East but subsequently face conditions of forced
labor or debt bondage. Vietnam is a destination country for Cambodian
children trafficked to urban centers for forced labor or commercial sexual
exploitation. Vietnam has an internal trafficking problem with women and
children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual
exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam is increasingly a destination for
child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the
P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2007, an
Australian NGO uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of
children by foreign tourists in the Sapa tourist area of Vietnam alone. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008
[full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** The
Plight Of Vietnamese Women There are, at present,
around 200,000 Vietnamese women in Trafficking of men
appears in border provinces 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. ***
ARCHIVES *** Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 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. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003 [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. Malaysia,
Viet Nam police to investigate human trafficking 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 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. 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 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 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 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. Trafficking of men
appears in border provinces 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. Ha
Noi reins in marriages to combat human trafficking Under the new regulations, the
Justice Department will continue to conduct interviews with applicant couples
to assess the authenticity of their relationship. Marriage registration will
be rejected if interviewees fail the verification process. In addition, authorised agencies
will investigate current marriages suspected of being cover for human
trafficking or sexual abuse. Forum
urges regional powers to battle human trafficking 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. Foundation
begins project to end human trafficking in Viet Nam 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. Deputy PM asks for
more focus on human trafficking prevention 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. Vietnam’s
human trafficking plague still on the rise 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 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 "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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Interpol Vietnamese
women trafficked, rescued in Czech Republic 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 But mostly, the "Tale of
Kieu" is relevant to contemporary Stopping
an 'Epidemic' -- Vietnamese Priest Reaches Out to Sex Trafficking Victims Border
police rescue 37 in anti-human trafficking drive The women were saved thanks to a
joint operation between Guangxi and Cambodian police rescue 88 sex workers [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' "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 The six Over 300 Trafficked Women Rescued http://www.vnagency.com.vn/newsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=29&NEWS_ID=145034 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
Plight Of Vietnamese Women There are, at present,
around 200,000 Vietnamese women in The
Modern Scourge of Sex Slavery [Photo Caption] Cambodian
policeman escorts 11-year-old Vietnamese girl from brothel in Toul Kork
red-light district of Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study 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 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 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 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 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 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. “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 [see charts]
To China (marriage), To Taiwan (marriage), To Cambodia (sex industry) 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. 1. The linked article has been taken down, moved or
restricted All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit,
and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Vietnam Street Children in [Vietnam] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Vietnam] [other countries]