Editor’s note: Human trafficking is an impossibly complex subject. The strings that connect its causes, consequences, and culprits twist and tangle over each other giving the impression of a problem seemingly impossible to nail down, let alone solve. But nearly without exception, the poor and destitute are always on the losing end. Such is the case, too, in Southeast Asia, where staggering rates of poverty have left millions without any real choice but to surrender themselves to trafficking and exploitation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse. Lockdowns have gutted economies, leaving the hungry hungrier and the desperate even more so. As the impetus grows, anti-trafficking efforts in the region have simultaneously stalled, slowed down by movement restrictions. The result is that human trafficking runs unchecked throughout Southeast Asia, probably more than it ever has before.
In the following feature, writer Aerolynne Reed digs deep into the human trafficking situation in Vietnam, examining its roots and laying out ways to move forward.
In October 2019, 39 people were found dead inside a sealed refrigeration trailer in Grays, Essex, in the United Kingdom. Initially thought to be Chinese, these people were actually Vietnamese, hailing mostly from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in the north-central region of Vietnam. They had left their families and their homeland for a minuscule chance at a better life.
“They were treated worse than cattle,” Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, the lead investigator, told The Guardian. This tragic event is now commonly known as the Essex Lorry Deaths.
In response to this tragedy, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, then-Prime Minister of Vietnam, ordered the Ministry of Public Security, the Foreign Ministry, and the two central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh to investigate the matter, find other cases of Vietnamese citizens being brought illegally to foreign countries, and to strictly handle the violations.
The 39 Vietnamese victims in the Essex Lorry Deaths. The victims hailed from the Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in central Vietnam and were trafficked into the United Kingdom in search for a better life. (Photo: Essex Police/The Guardian.)
Yet after almost two years, and despite the sentencing and imprisonment of the people involved in trafficking crimes, and amid investigations by Vietnam and other foreign governments, human trafficking continues to thrive in the country.
According to a report by Deutsche Welle, a media organization based in Germany, the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases in the country is pushing more and more Vietnamese citizens to turn towards smuggling and human trafficking to make ends meet. Despite the country’s closed borders, people are still able to move in and out of the country through routes passing through neighboring Myanmar and China.
Michael Brosowski, co-founder of the Hanoi-based Blue Dragon Foundation, a charity that deals with child rescue and human trafficking, mentions in the article that most of the cases he’s handled involve women and girls from ethnic minorities. He also adds that there have been reports of girls being forced to work in karaoke bars, which are likely fronts for brothels.
Human trafficking is a messy, disturbing, and heartbreaking issue. But the fact that it continues to this day — and that some people willingly choose to engage in it or are left with no other choice but to resort to it — only underscores the importance and necessity of open dialogue and addressing it in the public sphere.
In the context of Vietnam, it is essential to reflect on why it continues to be so prevalent, a cancer growing seemingly unchallenged in Vietnamese society.
Human trafficking in Vietnam
The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.” They add that “men, women, and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime” and that the people who operate such practices often use “violence, fraudulent employment agencies, or fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.”
The US Department of State’s global report on human trafficking provides several facts and statistics regarding the state of this issue in Vietnam and lays out several recommendations that the country should take in order to improve this situation. In another piece from The Vietnamese, writer Jason Nguyen summarizes many of the key points and features of the aforementioned report.
In Vietnam, poverty is at the root of human trafficking. Both victims and perpetrators belong to economic and ethnic minorities and in most cases, have been left with no other choice but to turn to exploitative means just to be able to put food on the table.
To put it simply, The US Department of State classifies Vietnam under its Tier 2 watchlist; this means that the country has not met the minimum standards in terms of eliminating human trafficking but is at least trying to do so. Continued failure to act and a lack of concrete action may lead Vietnam to be reclassified as Tier 3. Countries that fall under this bracket are be barred from getting any financial assistance from the United States. Vietnamese citizens will also face heightened immigration restrictions and assets of Vietnamese officials in the United States will be frozen.
Regarding the actions Vietnam is currently undertaking to address human trafficking, Nguyen writes that the country has ramped up prosecution against human traffickers and has passed legal revisions to terminate ludicrous brokerage fees, which, if too steep, cannot realistically be paid. As a result, workers end up indebted to their employers.
Regarding specific legislation, Nguyen notes that Articles 150 and 151 of the Penal Code are specific anti-trafficking provisions that aim to dissuade would-be traffickers; both carry hefty prison sentences and associated fines.
Despite being called “sufficiently stringent” in the U.S. Department of State’s report, the implementation of these laws is not ideal. Despite filing more charges against human traffickers, the number of investigations and convictions has actually decreased. Poor data collection, inadequate monitoring, and problematic evidence collection continue to hinder Vietnam’s fight against human trafficking, despite the anti-trafficking training that personnel and state forces undergo.
The U.S. Department of State report also alleges that some Vietnamese government officials at the commune and village levels are complicit in the practice of trafficking itself. They allegedly accept bribes from traffickers, overlook signs of trafficking, and even demand large sums of money from the victims before reuniting them with their families.
As for the victims and perpetrators of human trafficking themselves, Nguyen writes that “over 60 percent of victims come from ethnic minority groups” and that both traffickers and their victims “share poor economic and educational backgrounds.” He also notes that most traffickers are also illiterate and have not finished high school.
The Borgen Project, a non-profit organization that aims to make fighting poverty part and parcel of the US foreign policy, also notes several facts that highlight the plight of Vietnamese human trafficking victims; men, women, and children are all fair game in this industry and their servitude ranges from forced labor in various physically intensive industries, such as manufacturing or agriculture, to prostitution and sex work in brothels.
Addressing the issue
The US Department of State’s global report does an exceptional job at presenting the current state of human trafficking in Vietnam. Likewise, it also provides several suggestions and recommendations that the country should prioritize to improve the situation as soon as possible. Nguyen condenses these as follows: bolster collaboration with NGOs and civil society; amend existing legal loopholes; train law enforcement officials in domestic trafficking cases; increase national funding for provincial-level authorities to assist victims of trafficking; and invite independent bodies to verify that the government has terminated forced labor in rehabilitation centers.
These suggestions are good but they mostly seem to deal with the effects and the aftermath of human trafficking itself; even preventative measures such as information campaigns and policy formation only skirt the root of the problem. They fail to get to the heart of the issue and sadly this almost guarantees that human trafficking in Vietnam will continue to exist and grow.
How then should we approach Vietnam’s human trafficking problem?
As mentioned, the victims and perpetrators of human trafficking in the country do not come from privilege nor wealth. They are not from the upper or middle classes of society, nor have they completed their formal education; some cannot even read. They come from ethnic minorities and face daily challenges that would seem alien to those blessed with the sanctity of comfort. They constantly live in extreme poverty, and due to their lack of choice, many are forced to latch onto any opportunity that comes their way just to be able to feed themselves and their families. Necessity and despair force both traffickers and their victims to do what they think they need to do, even if it means resorting to illegal and dehumanizing means.
The hopeless deceive the hopeless with promises of greener pastures and a better life while concealing the risks, dangers, and reality.
Inequality, poverty, and social disparity are at the center of this issue and if Vietnam desires long-lasting permanent change regarding human trafficking, these need to be rightfully addressed and resolved.
Granted, non-governmental organizations and volunteer groups exist and are already doing their part to help alleviate this situation. But they lack the funds, manpower, and machinery to continuously push forward to bring about definite progress. Only the Vietnamese government has an abundance of all three. And yet, the government seems content with keeping the status quo and staying at Tier 2.
Unless some form of change occurs within the government, or the human trafficking trade suddenly becomes less lucrative for those corrupt and morally bankrupt officials involved in it, more Vietnamese people face the risk of suffocating to death in a cramped enclosed space, thousands of miles away from their homes and loved ones.●
This article was first published by The Vietnamese on August 5, 2021, and is being republished here by the Asia Democracy Chronicles with their permission.
