ActionAid Takes on Human Trafficking
Armed with a commitment to lift their families out of the turmoil of poverty and the hope of a better life in a foreign land, women have left Vietnam for work and marriage in Taiwan and Cambodia. For many, however, their new home and lives has become a nightmare.
Through group discussions and in-depth interviews with ActionAid, several women recounted experiences of trickery, fraudulent marriages, and abuse. Two women, both around 20 years old, went through formal marriage registration in Vietnam to Taiwanese “husbands.” Once they arrived in Taiwan, however, unknown men forced them into prostitution. Soon they found themselves working as sex workers from 3 p.m. until 6 a.m., serving three to five clients a day at different hotels.
By the age of 16, another girl had worked in two brothels in three years in Cambodia. Locked up when she wasn’t working, she was forced to give 50 percent of her income to the brothel owners. Another woman, a Vietnamese bride in Taiwan, said that at times her husband’s family refused to let her have contact with the outside world.
Unfortunately, these experiences are not isolated occurrences. The Vietnamese government reported 21,038 missing persons cases in 2008, with many believed to have been sold into prostitution. In the same year, there were 6,684 reported survivors of human trafficking with 2,579 later returned to their homes. According to the 2008 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on Vietnam, the average age of trafficked girls is between 15 and 17 with several cases involving much younger girls.
Even after returning home, many survivors of trafficking are unable to reintegrate into their communities.
“They always worry that people know about their past and look down on them,” explains Le Thuy Hanh, an ActionAid International officer. The discrimination not only comes from the community but sometimes their family as well.”
The reasons for trafficking children and women are varied and complex. Although available, legal channels of migration are often costly and difficult processes, in part because of the lack of strong border controls and the lure of job opportunities in other countries.
Still, the problem of human trafficking is deeper than simple deception. Many trafficking survivors decide to migrate voluntarily, feeling that it is their responsibility to sacrifice in order to provide for their families.
“It is important to understand that many women are exercising agency when they decide to migrate and interventions should be developed to support them before their departure and at their destination points so they can assert their rights,” says ActionAid Vietnam Country Director Phan Van Ngoc.
Community member of the Hoa Thinh Villiage, My Hoa Commune in southern Vietnam participate in an awareness raising workshop. ActionAid is working throughout the country to educate locals and the government about perils human trafficking.
Copyright © Jack Picone/ActionAid
To combat the problem, ActionAid is providing these crucial interventions. Working with partners, ActionAid operates monthly awareness meetings in local villages to inform women of the dangers of trafficking. In skills training courses, women learn ways to support themselves through weaving, design, sewing, basket making and by producing goods that are then sold at the local market. ActionAid is also collaborating with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Vietnam Women's Union and several other organizations to assist in the legal inspecting of reintegrating returnees and their children into Vietnamese society through identity card and household card registration.
ActionAid also conducts research to ensure that its programming best responds to the needs of trafficking survivors. In a 2005 study entitled, “Combating Cross Border Trafficking of Vietnamese Women and Children,” the organization conducted interviews with trafficking survivors in Southern Vietnam, China and Cambodia.
Knowledge gleaned from the study can already be seen in ActionAid’s on the ground work with trafficking survivors. While most programs have focused on helping survivors in their home countries, ActionAid found a need for an all-inclusive program addressing the needs of trafficking survivors at their departure point, at their destination and once they return home.
The 2005 study was just the first step in a three-phase approach to addressing human trafficking. Having recently completed the second phase of its initiative to combat human trafficking, ActionAid continues to forge ahead in its efforts to acquire knowledge and develop the necessary resources to best address the needs of the women and children it serves.
Learn More About ActionAid's Work in Vietnam
