VIETNAM: INTERIM TIP ASSESSMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 003071 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/BCLTV, EAP/RSP, INL/AAE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KWMN KCRM ELAB VM OMIG LABOR TIP SUBJECT: VIETNAM: INTERIM TIP ASSESSMENT Refs: A. State 228459 B. Hanoi 2921 C. Hanoi 3021 ¶1. (U) This is the Vietnam mission's interim assessment of Vietnam's anti-Trafficking in Persons performance according to the three questions posed in reftel A. QUESTION A: PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Procuracy's new statistics office only assembles statistics on prosecutions, arrests and convictions twice per year. As a result we have only been able to review the January-June figures for 2004. We took the whole-year numbers for 2002 and 2003 and divided them in half to provide a comparison for the half-year 2004 data we received. In TIP cases involving women (disaggregated using the section of Vietnamese TIP law dealing specifically with women) that comparison showed a drop of 31 percent in the number of cases investigated; 19 percent in the number of cases prosecuted; and one percent in the number of convictions compared to 2003. In cases involving children, the comparison showed a drop of 28 percent in the number of cases investigated; 14 percent in the number of cases prosecuted; and 6 percent in the number of cases resulting in convictions. (The number of actual defendants convicted, however, rose by a few percent.) TRAFFICKING CASES INVOLVING WOMEN CY 2002 CY 2003 Jan-Jun 2004 Investigations Cases 117 128 44 Suspects 200 217 57 Prosecutions Cases 77 92 37 Suspects 125 168 55 Convictions Cases 84 85 42 Suspects 134 158 62 TRAFFICKING CASES INVOLVING CHILDREN CY 2002 CY 2003 Jan-Jun 2004 Investigations Cases 45 45 16 Suspects 66 77 18 Prosecutions Cases 33 35 15 Suspects 48 56 20 Convictions Cases 31 30 14 Suspects 49 46 24 ¶3. (SBU) Vietnam's capacity to collect accurate statistical data is limited, and its ability to analyze that data nearly nonexistent. As a result, we cannot authoritatively explain the drop in investigations, prosecutions and convictions for trafficking in persons we have identified based on the statistics supplied by the Supreme People's Procuracy. Analysis of the numbers -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Supreme People's Procuracy tells us that the smaller number of investigations and prosecutions is a sign of progress, indicating that GVN efforts to combat trafficking have been successful. We suggest the following alternative possible explanations for the decline: -- Increased awareness in Ministry of Public Security (MPS) units tasked with investigating TIP. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) believes that as understanding of TIP has improved in the key investigative units charged with combating trafficking, MPS has been able to differentiate better between trafficking and standard alien smuggling. We find this a credible explanation, because the number of convictions for trafficking has not declined along with the number of investigations and prosecutions. This tells us that MPS has become more efficient and concentrates its trafficking investigative resources on those cases likely to result in a conviction. A sustained rate of convictions in the second half of 2004 for trafficking even considering the lower number of investigations and prosecutions would support this analysis. -- Greater care taken by traffickers. UNODC also believes that the increased enforcement attention on traffickers has caused the traffickers to work harder to avoid getting caught. According to Troels Vester, UNODC program officer in charge of the USG-funded project "Strengthening of the Legal and Law Enforcement Institutions in Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Persons in Viet Nam," in previous years, before the GVN's focus on trafficking, traffickers operated with impunity and did not bother to conceal themselves or their activities. Now, Vester says, they are forced to take precautions and make it more difficult for the police to arrest and prosecute them. This may account for some of the reduction, he added. -- Inadequate data collection. MPS Colonel Hoang Van Lai (protect) noted that the statistics on trafficking investigations and prosecutions come from investigating offices throughout Vietnam, and added that the protocol for collecting and reporting the data is not well established or understood. Underreporting of investigations is likely, Lai said. By contrast, data on convictions comes from the courts, which have been reporting to the Supreme People's Procuracy for a long time. The data on convictions is likely to be more accurate, Lai predicted. Question B: National Plan of Action -------------- ¶5. (U) As reported reftel B, Vietnam has developed and issued a national action plan and has begun to implement it. Vietnamese press reported that on October 29, the Prime Minister signed a decree establishing the 11-member steering board for the action plan, to be overseen by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem. The establishment of the steering board was a key step in implementing the action plan. Question C: Protections for exported laborers -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Since 2001 there have been no reported cases from any source of Vietnamese laborers being trafficked by labor export companies or any other entity. The GVN has greatly increased the number of workers sent abroad (2004 totals are approaching 60,000) and has also reworked the laws and regulations dealing with labor export. As a result of negative publicity generated in a spate of cases in the 2001- 2003 timeframe involving unscrupulous labor export companies who defrauded workers, failed to pay them owed wages, or abandoned them overseas after the bankruptcy of the host enterprise, the GVN has stationed labor attaches in the nine top labor export receiving countries to look after the welfare of the workers and assist in resolving workplace disputes. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has increased authority over the labor export companies and has exercised that authority in cooperation with MPS to impose penalties and sanctions against labor export companies who have violated laws or regulations or otherwise cheated workers. This has included convictions and jail sentences for individuals using labor export companies to defraud workers. ¶7. (SBU) Workers have also been able to use the law to negotiate settlements from labor export companies in cases where promised jobs fell through or workers were otherwise dissatisfied. In one widely reported case in June, 2004, workers sent to Malaysia by state-owned labor export giant Interserco (under MOLISA) were able to use Decree 81 (the 2003 major modification to the labor code dealing with labor export) and the intervention of the Department of Overseas Labor of MOLISA to force Interserco to compensate them for their costs after the promised labor contract was not honored on the Malaysian side. While the main thrust of GVN efforts to clean up the labor export system has been to try to prevent fraud, these efforts have also had the effect of reducing the risk of labor trafficking. Reftel C addresses the changes in the labor export system and the effects of those changes in more detail. OTHER TRAFFICKING ACHIEVEMENTS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) In addition to the achievements on prosecution, the national plan of action and the implementation of the labor law, the GVN also signed on to the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) MOU on October 29. China, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam all participated in a regional UN-hosted conference in Rangoon and signed the MOU. Areas of practical cooperation identified in the MOU include: creation of a seamless network for repatriation and reintegration of victims between the six countries; networking of specialist police units from different countries to build cooperation in investigations and prosecutions; support for a regional training facility to build capacity for government officials to understand and combat trafficking; and improved extradition procedures. The next step in the COMMIT process is to hold a senior officials meeting to agree on a "Subregional Plan of Action" to implement the MOU. Vietnam has agreed to host that meeting in the first quarter of ¶2005. MARINE