2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 2 of

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 HANOI 000180

SENSITIVE
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STATE FOR G/TIP, G-ACBlank, INL, DRL, PRM, EAP/MLS, and EAP/RSP,
USAID/ANE

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TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB VM

SUBJECT: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 2 of
3

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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

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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

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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

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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.


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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,

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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.

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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

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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