2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 2 of

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 HANOI 000180 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, G-ACBlank, INL, DRL, PRM, EAP/MLS, and EAP/RSP, USAID/ANE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB VM SUBJECT: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 2 of 3 HANOI 00000180 001.2 OF 008 ¶B. Punishment of Sex Trafficking Offenses As described above, the Penal Code of Vietnam states in Article 119 that those who commit acts of trafficking women for the purpose of prostitution shall be sentenced to between five and twenty years of imprisonment. Article 120 provides sentences of between ten and twenty years of imprisonment for trafficking children for purposes of prostitution. There were numerous high-profile sex-related TIP convictions reported by the GVN and in the media, during the reporting period. Penalties typically ranged from five to twenty years. For both of these, courts typically agreed with the prosecution's recommendations that the maximum penalty be imposed. ¶C. Punishment of Labor Trafficking Offenses Traffickers of individuals for labor exploitation are prosecuted in Vietnam under Penal Code section 275 and face penalties of between two and twenty years in prison depending on the severity of the crime. These cases are typically more difficult to prosecute and often involve foreign perpetrators. Penalties for violating the 2007 export labor law include a range from fines, restrictions on operations, and loss of license for export labor recruitment companies. ¶D. Penalties for Rape/Forcible Sexual Assault GVN penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault range from six months in prison to capital punishment. Capital punishment is reserved for cases in which: the victim is killed, seriously disabled or infected with HIV/AIDS; the perpetrator is a participant in a gang rape; or, the perpetrator has raped more than one person. With the exception of the potential of the death penalty or life in prison in the circumstances mentioned above, the penalties for rape/sexual assault and for trafficking in persons are similar. ¶E. Law Enforcement Statistics In 2006, the GVN established a specialized anti-TIP police unit, a division of the MPS Criminal Department, to focus on trafficking. This unit continued to register significant successes in the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of traffickers. Government sentencing has consistently handed down 20-year sentences, the maximum under the GVN Penal Code. All sentences have a review process. The NSC reported in early 2008 that from 2005-2007, there were 900 official cases of TIP, involving the trafficking of 2,002 women and children. For 2008, the NSC reported 375 TIP-related cases, involving 980 victims and 710 suspects. Investigations were officially opened on 330 of the 375 cases; the remaining cases were either dismissed or await further review for various reasons (lack of evidence, reluctance of victim or witness to testify, initial inquiry found no criminal activity, etc.). Vietnamese courts convicted 424 individuals on trafficking charges in 2008 out of approximately 580 arrests. This is up from approximately 300 convictions in 2007. One of those convicted received the highest sentence of life imprisonment, 38 individuals received the sentence of 15 - 20 years in prison, over 130 others received 7 - 15 years of imprisonment, and more than 180 received 3 - 7 years in prison. These statistics largely do not capture export-labor related cases. Post does not have reliable data on the number of cases which only received suspended sentences or fines but, as the GVN regularly tells post, human traffickers are all prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and this appears to be the case although sentencing may vary from province to province. As in other criminal cases in Vietnam, defendants are not accorded strong rights in the courtroom. While convictions were up, the 375 cases investigated represented a slight decrease compared with last year; however, we do not believe this represents a significant overall trend. In general, the level of TIP investigations and prosecutions in Vietnam has increased since 2005, reflecting an overall increase in the GVN's capacity to identify cases, as well as a dramatic improvement in the training of local officials. Several TIP rings were broken up during the reporting period and several Vietnamese traffickers were convicted. Prosecutions also HANOI 00000180 002.2 OF 008 continued to rise. High-profile cases included: -- In southern Tay Ninh province, police busted four trafficking rings, arresting 11 suspects and rescuing 15 women from December 2007 to July 2008. Traffickers planned to take the victims across the border to Cambodia, where they would then be sent to Singapore and Malaysia to be sold into prostitution. Police investigations for these cases are still in progress. -- In June 2008, a trafficker from An Giang province was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while in HCMC, two traffickers were sentenced to 10 and 12 years, respectively, for trafficking 28 women to Malaysia via an illegal marriage brokering business. The HCMC traffickers charged clients approximately USD $350 in brokerage fees, then sold them to brothels in Malaysia for USD $1,500-2,000. -- In November 2008, HCMC and Tay Ninh authorities working together arrested a ring of nine traffickers who had trafficked around 100 women to South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan in the past three years, and the investigation is ongoing. The victims, age 18-25, were from the Southern provinces of Tay Ninh, Long An, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Can Tho city. -- In December 2008, the Can Tho People's Court sentenced five traffickers to vary sentences of 5 to 17 years in prison for trafficking over 18 young women from the Mekong Delta area into prostitution in Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore. Each victim's family was paid USD $800, with an additional USD $400 for referrals. Upon arrival in Malaysia, the victims were forced to sign promissory notes of USD $4,400 and work as prostitutes in local bars. ¶F. GVN Training for Law Enforcement Officials From 2003 to 2007, MPS worked in close cooperation with the UNODC on a multi-year, multi-phase anti-TIP program to strengthen law enforcement institutions in Vietnam and provide anti-TIP training and manuals to hundreds of GVN Border Guard Command officers, MPS police officers, judges, prosecutors. MPS and Border Guard Command training academies and Court Training Schools now include information on TIP. In December 2008, the Asian Regional Trafficking in Persons (ARTIP) project, funded by the Government of Australia, conducted a training seminar for justice and law enforcement officials and began a project working with MPS, MOJ and related law enforcement and legal institutions to continue training GVN officials following the end of the UNODC anti-TIP training program in 2007. Several GVN institutions and NGOs maintained regular cross-border training programs with China and Cambodia. UNICEF continued to train elements of the Vietnamese Border Guard Command on methods to identify and combat trafficking in children and procedures for re-integrating child victims, many of whom suffer from shock and various medical conditions when they return. The VWU has worked steadily with local authorities and courts in many Vietnamese provinces on public education programs designed to increase the identification and prosecution of traffickers, as well as with the Border Guard Command on how to assist and process victim returnees. Using the new GVN interagency training materials published in August 2008, the NSC conducted nine training courses for approximately 500 local officials to date. 5,000 copies of the training manual have been widely distributed at provincial and district levels and additional training is planned in 2009. A legal handbook has also been developed for and praised by GVN judges and prosecutors. The NSC is currently in coordination on another training manual on protection of victims and the legal process. ¶G. Cooperation with Other Governments The GVN is committed to implementing its commitments under international agreements, and in 2008 continued to step up its transnational cooperation in combating TIP. The GVN actively implemented anti-TIP MOUs with Cambodia (signed October 2005),China (signed May 2006),and Thailand (signed March 2008). Police workshops and exchanges with China continued during the reporting HANOI 00000180 003.2 OF 008 period, and Malaysian and Vietnamese police agreed in principle on greater joint ant-TIP efforts. In December 2008, the GVN began discussions with China for a bilateral agreement and began exploring a draft agreement with Laos in early 2009. Vietnam has agreements with China, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos on procedures for repatriating victims. While a working relationship with Malaysia exists, there are no formal procedures in place. Several GVN officials lamented the lack of formal cooperation with Malaysia, citing delays and difficulties with Malaysian authorities in the formal identification and repatriation of Vietnamese victims. Chinese and Vietnamese border authorities now meet monthly to exchange information, coordinate actions to prevent cross-border smuggling of women and children, and assist victim returnees. However, some communication and identification problems with returning victims at the Chinese border remain. MFA consular officials noted that Chinese officials sometimes dump groups of people on the border for Vietnamese officials to identify and determine whether they are returning TIP victims, returning illegal migrants, or belong to some other category. The VWU regularly collaborated with several women's federations in bordering Chinese provinces, Taiwan, Cambodia and Singapore, holding workshops and training sessions. Other highlights of international anti-TIP activities during the reporting period included: -- The GVN worked closely with ILO and UNIAP on COMMIT-related obligations, training and information campaigns and the national anti-TIP training manual. -- The GVN coordinated with international NGOs and victim advocate organizations in drafting the new comprehensive TIP law. -- The GVN worked closely with ILO on workshop and campaigns on labor recruitment and worker protections. -- Vietnam played an active role in the ASEAN Regional Taskforce to Prevent Child-Sex Tourism and the ASEAN Regional Education Campaign aimed at protecting children from child sex tourists. The GVN is preparing to host a National Roundtable of interested partners to discuss the ASEAN Five Year Plan in Hanoi in March 2008. ¶H. Extradition of Foreign Nationals Vietnam can and does expel and extradite foreigners who are charged with trafficking in other countries, even in the absence of extradition treaties, but only on a case-by-case basis. The Supreme People's Court and the MPS complain that one of the biggest problems in the anti-TIP fight is weak mutual legal assistance (MLA) between Vietnam and destination nations and an inability to arrest traffickers based outside of Vietnam. The MOJ reports that it only has a few extradition agreements with other countries and MLA treaties with 18 countries. UNODC has attempted to assist the GVN in this area, but requirements remain largely unmet. The GVN works with INTERPOL as needed. There were no trafficking-related extraditions in 2008. MOJ officials note that Vietnam does not extradite its own citizens anywhere for any purpose, in accordance with the 1998 Citizenship Law. ¶I. Evidence of GVN Involvement in or Tolerance of TIP The Mission has no information or indications that high-level officials are participating in or condoning trafficking in Vietnam. Because organized trafficking networks in Vietnam are relatively ad-hoc and trafficking is typically conducted by small organizations or by individuals, concentrations of TIP-related wealth -- and thus opportunities for systemic corruption -- are relatively rare. However, Vietnam suffers from endemic corruption overall and corruption of GVN officials presumably plays a role in individual trafficking cases. As in smuggling in general, local officials at border crossings and checkpoints reportedly receive small sums to "look the other way." Further, while cases of local-level trafficking-related corruption rarely appear in the press, NGOs and international organizations believe it is not uncommon. GVN officials noted that law enforcement becomes more difficult in HANOI 00000180 004.2 OF 008 cases where a family relationship exists between the authorities and the traffickers. This is particularly true at the commune and village level, where dense and complicated family relationships tend to prevail. The fact that many traffickers are people who return to their hometowns from overseas further complicates law enforcement. MPS contacts noted that the professionalism and capabilities of law enforcement in rural areas are usually lower than in cities and towns. ¶J. GVN Steps to Counter Official Involvement in TIP MPS officials stated that a combination of internal administrative punishments and legal prosecution would be used to combat any official corruption or participation in trafficking. The NSC confirmed that there have been no cases of corruption specifically involving TIP investigated or prosecuted to date, but MPS officials noted that there may have been cases in which convicted traffickers also had some official capacity, especially at the local level. Those cases would be contained in the aggregate indictment, prosecution, and arrest statistics under Articles 119 and 120. The GVN does not analyze that data to determine if any of the individuals involved are public officials. The new Anti-Corruption Law, which went into effect in June 2006, is designed to further root out official corruption and enjoys widespread public support and official backing from the Prime Minister's office, but has yet to be tested in relation to a trafficking case. ¶K. Legal Status of Prostitution Prostitution is subject to penalties in Vietnam and brothel owners, procurers (pimps),prostitutes and customers are all subject to arrest. Brothel owners and procurers face jail time under the Penal Code while prostitutes and customers are typically given administrative punishment, imposed by local authorities without the involvement of prosecutors or courts. Prostitutes can be sent to rehabilitation centers, while customers face fines. Customers, including foreign customers, who are found with prostitutes under the age of 18, are subject to prosecution and jail time. Prostitution falls under the GVN'S "social evils" laws, which in theory characterizes prostitutes (along with drug users) as victims and not criminals. However, the government's extensive campaign to stigmatize social evils has led to a common perception that prostitutes are themselves "social evils." Pimps and brothel owners are considered criminals; however, despite some occasional police raids of large brothels, NGOs tell us that there have been few prosecutions. One reason is that prostitutes working at massage parlors and karaoke bars now quickly leave with their male clients and engage in sex away from their establishments. There is little enforcement of the law against customers, in part because government officials and prominent businessmen are known to procure such services. Women who are arrested as prostitutes can be sent to rehabilitation "05" centers for up to two years, but it is not clear how often this is enforced. In HCMC and Hanoi, there are intermediate detention centers where a decision is made whether to detain women in the "05" centers. "Non-resident" women are much more likely to be incarcerated than locals, according to Embassy NGO contacts. There has not been a concerted GVN effort to identify arrested prostitutes who have been trafficked internally, although there is evidence that such trafficking exists. ¶L. Troop Contributions to International Peacekeeping Operations The GVN does not contribute troops to international peacekeeping efforts, although future participation is under discussion. ¶M. Vietnam as a Child Sex Tourism Destination Vietnam is seen as an increasingly attractive destination for international child sex tourism, with perpetrators coming regionally from Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan. Other perpetrators reportedly come from the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Foreign law enforcement sources state that, although its investigative capacity is limited, the GVN has generally been responsive at the national level to requests for cooperation in cases where foreign pedophiles are wanted for child sex tourism crimes. Cooperation from local law enforcement, however, has been lacking. HANOI 00000180 005.2 OF 008 The GVN is increasingly aware of the growing threat of child sex tourism and conducted several public awareness campaigns in cooperation with international NGOs. Nha Trang is a major destination for sex tourists. Some local residents, in cooperation with NGOs, have started campaigns to prevent sexual abuse of street children in an attempt to combat the problem. In March 2007, the MPS initiated a Study Group to look into establishing a dedicated investigative unit for child sex tourism. In December 2007, MPS established a Special Unit on Child Sex Abusers. According to the MPS, the unit has been effective during 2008, although the MPS declined to share data or statistics on specific cases. NSC officials stated that it was contending with a number of new crimes for which Vietnam does not have specific laws. These included solicitation of children via the Internet, online child pornography and the use of Webcams for online sex. MPS admitted that child sex tourism was increasingly a concern as international tourism to Vietnam rapidly increases. The Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism joined the NSC and works with the tourist industry in Vietnam to combat child sex tourism. Vietnam also plays an increasingly active role in the ASEAN Regional Taskforce to Prevent Child-Sex Tourism and the ASEAN Regional Education Campaign aimed at protecting children from child-sex tourists. The GVN is preparing to host a National Roundtable of interested partners to discuss the ASEAN Five Year Plan in Hanoi in March 2009. MPS has relied to date on its existing criminal code for case prosecutions and worked with individual provinces, INTERPOL and with the governments of foreign perpetrators. MPS has asked for foreign governments to send it information when individuals with such records travel to Vietnam, so it can alert the relevant provincial police. MPS is currently planning to build a database on pedophiles over the next two years, but no public information on the progress of this effort is available. MOLISA officials state that Vietnamese authorities will confront all tourists engaging in child sexual exploitation and prosecute them to the full extent of the law; however sone child advocates in Nha Trang report that local police typically do not want to get involved with cases of suspected child sex tourism when it involves foreigners. In 2005, the high profile case of British pop star Gary Glitter came to light. Glitter was arrested by Vietnamese authorities and charged with molesting two under-aged girls, aged 10 and 11, at his home in Vung Tau, Vietnam. He originally faced possible child rape charges carrying the death penalty, but prosecutors did not find sufficient evidence to support the charges. Early in 2006, he was convicted of committing obscene acts with minors and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. On one of two appeals in 2007, his sentence was reduced by three months. Glitter was released from prison on August 19, 2008 and returned to London three days later, after being refused entry into Thailand and Hong Kong. NGO sources tell us that a GVN requirement that all tourists staying in hotels register their passports may assist somewhat in keeping pedophiles away from Vietnam, particularly since Laos and Cambodia are considered to have easier registration requirements. However, many "short-stay" hotels in Vietnam are geared towards prostitution and typically do not require registration. Under Article 6 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, Vietnamese citizens who commit crimes outside of Vietnam are still subject to prosecution under Vietnamese law. This also applies to sexual crimes against children, though Vietnamese nationals are not generally considered to be significantly represented in the ranks of international child sex tourists. ¶5. (SBU) PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS ¶A. GVN Legal Protections for Victims and Witnesses According to Vietnamese law, "citizens have the rights to have their life, health, reputation, dignity and assets protected by law. Any acts ruining life, health, reputation, dignity or assets will be dealt with by law. If the life, health, reputation, dignity or assets of the victim, witness, or anyone else taking part in the prosecutorial process, or their loved ones, are threatened, competent authorities shall apply necessary measures for protection as stipulated by the law." Further, witnesses have "the right to request the government to protect his/her life, health, reputation, HANOI 00000180 006.2 OF 008 dignity, assets and other legitimate rights and interests when taking part in the prosecutorial process." According to the National Assembly's Law Department, security and police authorities provide protection for victims and witnesses, in most cases at their request. In some exceptional cases, the GVN automatically offers to provide protection, depending on the seriousness and the importance of the case. Protection may include: secure temporary residences, security guard escort, 24 hour security protection and special communication systems. On the labor side, media articles and international NGOs have cautioned the GVN against ramping up the industry without also providing robust worker protections. Reports of Vietnamese workers charged upwards of USD $7,000 for the opportunity to work abroad (fees which most workers typically can only begin to cover after one or sometimes two years abroad),as well as bonded labor, related sex trafficking and the lack of resources available to workers in distress have subsequently emerged. ¶B. Victim Care Facilities MOLISA and the VWU worked with IOM and other NGOs in supporting shelters around the country. Services offered to victims usually include psychological counseling, healthcare, vocational training, job placement, financial loans and micro-credit and community re-integration. NGOs have stated the need for training, particularly in the areas of counseling and social work. The GVN lacked the resources to provide professional staffing of these centers without significant donor assistance. IOM, with support from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, launched a second victim assistance and assessment center in An Giang province in the Mekong Delta in July ¶2008. Like the first IOM assessment center in Lao Cai province in the north, the An Giang center is operated in cooperation with MOLISA and provides room and board, medical checkups and treatment, access to legal assistance and counseling, and information about longer term shelter services and vocational training and education opportunities. Stay at the center is voluntary, but is limited to one to two months. The center's staff members are MOLISA employees trained by IOM and the center is 100 percent funded by IOM. ¶C. Access to Legal, Medical, and Psychological Services The NPA assigns responsibility for the caring for victims of trafficking to both MOLISA and the VWU, with MOLISA focusing mostly on vocational training and job placement for victims and the VWU focusing more on psychological services and community re-integration. MOLISA also coordinates with other relevant agencies and localities to provide job training and income generation activities, as well as medical treatment to victims of trafficking. As a practical matter, primary responsibility (financial and operational) for victims of trafficking is often shifted back to the provincial and local levels. At the local level, it is usually VWU representatives that care for and monitor returnees over the long term. In provinces such as An Giang in the south and Lang Son and Quang Ninh in the north, local People's Committees and Women's Unions work together to provide services and care to returnees. The level of this care, in particular medical care, depends on the political will and the financial resources of the locality. Medical care is generally rudimentary and psycho-social care almost non-existent in the communities from which trafficking victims originate, and many victims likely do not receive adequate care. The GVN established professional university training programs to provide human resources for the social sector, including the shelter system, in 2006. While the professionalization of the social work sector is getting increased attention in Vietnam (USAID PEPFAR funds are contributing to advancing social work in Vietnam),much work remains and it will be a number of years before Vietnam develops adequate human resources to provide quality social services. According to MOLISA, the GVN is spending some VND 77.3 billion (USD 4.86 million) from the State budget for 2005-2010 on a MOLISA-Border Guard Command coordinated project "to receive and provide initial support for victims who are women and children returning from overseas." Under this project, about 15,000 victims will have access to legal aid, health and financial services. HANOI 00000180 007.2 OF 008 ¶D. Assistance to Foreign Trafficking Victims There are no specific protections from deportation or granting of residency status for foreign national victims of trafficking. There are no known cases of resettlement of TIP victims to a third country. The GVN does screen victims to see whether they are victims of TIP or illegal migration. When Vietnam is a transit or destination country for foreign national victims, the GVN liaises with the sending country for safe return of victims. ¶E. Long-term Resources As discussed above (section 5.C and 5.D.),several shelter services provide longer term room, board, and support services for trafficking victims. Most also serve other groups in need, including individuals at risk for trafficking, victims of sexual abuse, or women returning from abusive or fraudulent foreign marriages. The residents are exclusively women; no specific shelter system yet exists to serve male trafficking victims. In March 2007, the VWU opened the national "Center for Women and Development" in Hanoi. The Center provides two longer-term shelter residences, one for trafficking victims and another for victims of domestic violence. These residences serve as a safe haven and provide vocational training and psycho-social counseling center for victims. The VWU now operates a total of four such centers, one each in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, and Hue (all with international NGO support). The maximum stay at the shelter is 18 months, with 12 months being the average stay. VWU officials and local members collaborate to continue to monitor each victim's progress upon her return home for up to two years. Several other long-term shelters of a similar nature are operated by international NGOs in cooperation with MOLISA and the VWU. TIP victims continue face discrimination when they try to reintegrate back into their communities, a problem closely related to women's overall status in Vietnam. Stigma, confidentiality, and treatment with dignity remain issues for all TIP victims returning to their communities. Increased media reporting, educational campaigns, and the willingness of victims to publically share their stories are positive signs that this stigma is slowly abating. In cases where family members were complicit in trafficking, it may not be safe for victims to return home. Many returnees do not want to return to live in their home provinces. Rather, they move to live in other provinces away from their original family and neighborhood support network, even though this may result in greater economic and psychological hardship for the victim. ¶F. System of Referrals to Care The GVN screens victims to see whether they are victims of TIP or illegal migration. Since the last reporting period, the GVN took initial steps to develop a system of referrals to appropriate care. The VWU, several UN agencies and IOM have provided training for both the Border Guard Command and local authorities on how to identify, process and treat with dignity trafficking victims, and to ensure that they are not mixed in with "criminals." In May 2008, the GVN established formal procedures for receiving victims and referring them to care (see also section 5.H). For victims returning via official border crossings, the Border Guard is charged with the initial identification of the victim and notifying MPS, MOLISA, and usually the VWU. At the border, the victim can receive basic medical care, as well as food, clothing, and a small amount of money, depending on their needs. In some cases, local level MPS or MOLISA officials identify victims after they have returned to their home communities. If an officially identified victim, especially in the case of a child, needs immediate psychological and health care support, they will be referred by Border Guard in the border province to DOLISA in their destination province within 15 days of the entry into the country. Ideally, the "identified" victim will go to an assessment center for up to 30 days (average stay is seven days to two weeks) and receive initial care, counseling, and information. Following this, the victim may choose to go on to a longer-term shelter with the goal of rehabilitation and reintegration. This process is new and has only been applied in a small number of HANOI 00000180 008.2 OF 008 cases for those individuals officially identified as trafficking victims by GVN authorities. Officials at the assessment centers and other shelters stated that victims who self-identify would not be turned away and would be provided the same level of service as official victims. There is wide recognition that the referral system has significant gaps and is still inadequate, largely due to the challenges of identifying the large numbers of victims who do not return via official border crossings and the complexity of the situation for each individual victim. Some do not wish to lose their anonymity by being officially identified as a victim, others want to go home and not stay in a shelter. The social stigma associated with being a trafficking victim further complicates a victim's decision to remain in a shelter, return home, or settle elsewhere in Vietnam. Lack of government resources to operate the assessment centers and shelters is an additional challenge to providing established care over the long term. MICHALAK