TIP IN THE MEKONG: THE EXPERIENCE OF CAN THO PROVINCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000521

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL CVIS KWMN TIP ELAB SMIG SOCI TW VM
SUBJECT: TIP IN THE MEKONG: THE EXPERIENCE OF CAN THO PROVINCE

REF: A. HCMC 456

B. HCMC 437

HO CHI MIN 00000521 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary: During an April visit by ConGen officers to
the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho, provincial police and
Women's Union officials reviewed their enforcement and education
outreach efforts to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP). The
officials demonstrated an understanding of the challenges in
combating trafficking but complained that a lack of resources
and training prevents an expansion of their modest programs.
Although accurate numbers are hard to obtain, the need is
evident: local press claims that at least 10,000 persons --
most from Mekong Delta provinces -- have been trafficked to
Cambodia in the past. Women's Union officials also discussed
their efforts to minimize the impact of the marriage of
Vietnamese women to foreigners. End Summary.

Can Tho Police
--------------


2. (SBU) In mid-April, ConGen officers traveled to the Mekong
Delta province of Can Tho to review Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
issues with police and Women's Union representatives. (Ref A
reports on the views of a Can Tho-based reporter who covers TIP
and women's issues in the Mekong Delta.) Huynh Van Hanh, Deputy
Chief of the Can Tho anti-TIP Department, and Nguyen Huynh
Trang, Vice Director, Can Tho Police, told us that since 1997,
37 trafficking victims have returned to Can Tho Province, 34
from Cambodia, one from Singapore and two from China. The women
who had been trafficked to Cambodia were forced to work as
prostitutes. Of the 34 returnees from Cambodia, five later died
of AIDS. Four left Can Tho province for elsewhere in Vietnam.
In the Singapore case, a local woman married a Singaporean man.
About five weeks after she had arrived in Singapore, her husband
locked her in a room and tried to sell her to another family in
Singapore. The woman escaped and fled to the Vietnamese
Embassy, which repatriated her to Can Tho. The other case
concerned two women who were deceived and trafficked to mainland
China. Can Tho police coordinated with central-level
counterparts in the Ministry of Public Security and with the PRC
police to return the women to Vietnam. No further details on
these cases were disclosed.


3. (SBU) The police added that since 1997, they have prevented
seven cases of trafficking involving 16 people from Can Tho and
other Mekong Delta provinces. They did not provide further
specifics.


4. (SBU) Police emphasized that they had been fighting TIP well
before the implementation in July 2004 of GVN Decree 130, which
codified the responsibilities of government agencies in
combating TIP. Since the issuance of the decree, provincial
police have been given modest new resources -- VND 30 million
(USD 1,885) in 2004 -- from the central government to fight TIP.
However, their budget is insufficient. They asked for USG
assistance to provide instruction and training to develop
anti-TIP programs. They also pointed to the need for more
information outreach and education, areas that are the
responsibility of the provincial Women's Union. (Note: the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has provided
training to police in seven project sites around Vietnam: Hanoi,
Quanh Ninh, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Tay Ninh, HCMC, and An Giang.
According to UNODC Technical Adviser Troels Vester, UNODC does
not have the funding to extend its training to Can Tho. End
note.)

Women's Union
--------------


5. (SBU) In our subsequent meeting with the Can Tho Women's
Union, Chairwoman Lu Thi Ngoc Anh and Vice-Chair Le Thanh Thuy
detailed the organization's role in combating TIP. (Note:
According to Decree 130, the Women's Union is responsible for
educational outreach to combat TIP and for providing assistance
to trafficking victims. End note.) Of the 19 staff members in
the Can Tho Women's Union, four are responsible for anti-TIP
outreach; three volunteers augment this staff.


6. (SBU) Ms. Anh said that the outreach efforts focus on women
aged 18 to 25. Women's Union representatives travel to villages
to teach vulnerable women and their families how to spot
potential traffickers and understand their tactics, such as
offering a target a well-paying job in another province or
country. According to Ms. Anh, funding for the outreach comes
from the GVN and the Asia Society.


7. (SBU) The Women's Union makes a distinction between victims
of TIP (women forced to work as prostitutes) and victims of
abusive marriages to foreigners. Although overseas marriages
are legal, the Women's Union dislikes such marriages because of
potential problems for Vietnamese women. The Women's Union
representatives cited a case in Can Tho when a woman thought she

HO CHI MIN 00000521 002.2 OF 002


was signing marriage papers with a Taiwanese man. In reality,
the woman signed a document in Chinese (which she could not
read) that obligated her to pay her husband's debts within seven
years. The representatives said they believed that the
phenomenon of Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese men is on the
decline in the province; the Women's Union claims that it is
getting better at working with families to stop their daughters
from marrying foreigners. The representatives told us they had
been instructed by the central-level Women's Union to open a
Marriage Assistance Center, similar to the one run by the
Women's Union of Ho Chi Minh City, but have not made definitive
plans yet.


8. (SBU) As part of its mission to assist victims of TIP, the
Women's Union runs a shelter that provides job training,
consulting, and health checks. The shelter opened in June 2005.
Thus far, the shelter has helped 14 victims of TIP, two of whom
are under 16 years old. Nine victims have returned to their
families. Victims spend a minimum of two months in the shelter.
The shelter has enough beds to accommodate up to 18 women.


9. (SBU) The Women's Union also provides vocational training for
at-risk poor families in Can Tho Province. Vulnerable women are
trained in cake decorating, hair styling, and sewing. We were
shown a room where 40 young women and one young man were
receiving sewing lessons. Two of the students we saw were TIP
victims from the shelter. The room contained 48 modern sewing
machines donated by the Japanese government. The students were
making school uniforms that would be given to poor students in
the province. The students are provided with food for lunch, or
10,000 VND per day to purchase lunch if they chose not to eat in
the shelter (in many cases the lunch money is saved and given to
their families). After training, the Women's Union helps place
students in factories in Can Tho, both private and state-owned.
The facility had sleeping quarters for 15 persons for those
trainees too far from home to return at the end of the day.


10. (SBU) Comment: The willingness of the police in Can Tho and
in HCMC (ref B) to engage on TIP issues is encouraging. While
attracting donor funding clearly is part of the motivation,
there is a genuine desire on the part of the police to improve
their efforts to develop and implement a comprehensive TIP
program. The need is clear: the Can Tho police assertion that
they have rescued 16 victims stands in sharp contrast to the
10,000 persons -- mostly from Mekong Delta provinces -- that
some Vietnamese recently estimated have been trafficked in the
past to Cambodia. (Note: Precise statistics on TIP are
difficult to obtain. End Note.)


11. (SBU) Comment, continued: Our interaction with the Can Tho
Women's Union suggests that provincial authorities in affected
provinces increasingly are engaged on the issue. It also shows
that they have a good understanding of the causes of TIP and
some of the steps necessary to curb it. Although modest in size
and scope, the Women's Union job training and placement program
provides alternatives for potential victims to stay at home and
not be lured to travel out of Vietnam to try to find work. End
Comment.
WINNICK