2010 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 1 of 3

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 HANOI 000188

SIPDIS
STATE FOR G/TIP, G/TIP-CHRISTINE CHAN-DOWNER, G-LAURA PENA, INL, DRL, PRM, EAP/MLS, AND EAP/RSP, USAID/ANE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SUBJECT: 2010 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - VIETNAM - PART 1 of 3

REF: 10 STATE 2094; 09 HANOI 1436; 09 HANOI 1216; 10 HANOI 68
09 HCMC 622; 09 HANOI 559; 10 HANOI 70; 09 HANOI 698; 09 HCMC 608


1. (U) Post provides the following responses to the questions in
paragraphs 25-33 of ref A, taking into account the additional
guidance and reporting requirements required by the William
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
(TVPRA of 2008). Post's responses cover the reporting period of
February 2009 to February 2010. Due to system limitations, the
report will be sent in three parts.




2. (SBU) Vietnam's TIP Situation




A. Documentation and Sources of TIP Information



The Government of Vietnam's (GVN) interagency National Steering
Committee (NSC-130) for the 2004-2010 National Program of Action
against Trafficking in Women and Children (NPA) is headed by Deputy
Prime Minister and Politburo Member Truong Vinh Trong. The Central
Coordination Office of the NSC-130 is responsible for, among other
things, collecting and reporting information on trafficking victims
and cases. While the GVN does not have a formal mechanism for
sharing TIP data, information is available upon request on a
case-by-case basis; it is also shared in media reports and is often
disseminated by international donor organizations supporting
anti-trafficking projects. There are additional data-tracking
systems at the local level in Vietnam; however, they need to be
strengthened significantly to provide fully representative and
credible data.



Vietnam maintains a dedicated crime statistics office under the
Supreme People's Procuracy. (The Procuracy functions similar to a
prosecutor's office or attorney general's office in the U.S. and
handles all prosecutions.) This office tracks data on arrests,
prosecutions and convictions of traffickers and other criminals.
Its data and classification system differ in some respects from
that of the NSC-130, but is fairly reliable. The Ministry of
Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) also provides
statistics on trafficking victims who receive some kind of
government assistance. MOLISA's data are generally reliable, but
do not include estimates on the number of victims outside the
government assistance system. The GVN does not officially classify
trafficking cases with labor-related criteria and therefore does
not collect data on labor trafficking, although a new TIP law being
drafted may change this.



The diplomatic and NGO communities in Vietnam are active in sharing
TIP data and information, though much of the data are anecdotal.
The UN Interagency Program on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) also shares
data with the government and the NGO community. See 1.F for
further information.




B. General Overview and Changes



Vietnam remains a significant source country in a region known for
trafficking in persons. To a much lesser degree, Vietnam is a
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of begging, sexual exploitation or forced labor. There is
some anecdotal information that suggests internal trafficking does
occur in Vietnam, but no reliable data exists to substantiate the
scale. NSC-130 has stated that human trafficking is a complicated

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and challenging issue for Vietnam, citing poverty, high
unemployment, and widespread gender inequality as factors that
leave many poor Vietnamese vulnerable to trafficking. The GVN
believes that its own efforts to combat trafficking, including
legal reform, awareness-raising campaigns (particularly in rural
communities),improved victim assistance, and enhanced regional and
international cooperation, together with domestic economic
development, will help reduce the incidences of trafficking in
Vietnam (ref B).



Vietnam as a Source Country

--------------



The People's Republic of China remains the largest destination
country for trafficked Vietnamese nationals, accounting for 60
percent of the total number of TIP cases, while Cambodia and Laos
account for about 10 percent and 6.3 percent respectively. Laos is
still primarily a transit country; NGO contacts, however, report
that Laos is slowly becoming a destination country for Vietnamese
trafficking victims (ref C).



According to Vietnam's Border Guard, the majority of TIP cases
across the Chinese border involve women trafficked for prostitution
or forced marriage. There are also cases of Vietnamese children
being trafficked across the Chinese border for labor. Most women
and children trafficked to Laos are victims of sex trafficking (ref
D). Many Cambodia cases involve sexual exploitation in Cambodia or
transit of Vietnamese women and teenage girls to Thailand and
Malaysia, often engineered by criminal syndicates in those
countries with representatives in Vietnam (ref E).



Other transit and significant destination countries for trafficked
Vietnamese nationals include Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau,
Taiwan, the Republic of Korea (ROK),and the Czech Republic.
Additional destination countries include Indonesia and countries in
Western Europe and the Middle East. Those trafficked to China,
Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and the Czech
Republic are typically forced into prostitution, while routes to
the Middle East are primarily used to traffic Vietnamese laborers.
China, Taiwan, and the ROK remain the top destination countries for
Vietnamese brides who end up in misrepresented or fraudulent
marriages. There were media reports of pregnant women being
trafficked across the Chinese border, where traffickers intend to
sell the newborn children and their mothers. NSC-130 has expressed
concern that these types of cases are increasing in frequency and
kidnappers are becoming more aggressive (ref B).



According to the Border Guard, the provinces of Lang Son, Lao Cai
and An Giang received the largest number of TIP returnees in 2009.
Along the Lao border, Ha Tinh and Quang Tri received the most
returnees, while An Giang, Kien Giang, Tay Ninh, and Long An were
the provinces along the Cambodian border with the most TIP return
cases (ref D).



Vietnam as a Destination Country

--------------



Vietnam is also a destination country for Cambodian children who
are trafficked to urban centers in Vietnam, primarily for begging,
but there are cases of forced labor or sexual exploitation also.
Although no data on the scale of the problem is available, in 2009,
Vietnam did assist with the repatriation of 900 Cambodian beggars.
It was reported by the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs that
603 of the returnees were children under the age of 18, and that
143 children were sent home after being involved in human
trafficking - 84 of those were young girls. See 5.D for further

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details.



Internal Trafficking within Vietnam

--------------



The GVN, INGOs, domestic NGOs and researchers do not have hard data
to substantiate the scale of internal trafficking within Vietnam.
Media reports and anecdotal information provided by NGOs, such as
Blue Dragon and the IOM, suggest some cases of children from Hue
and young women from rural provinces being trafficked to Ho Chi
Minh City for the purposes of labor or sex work.



Significant Changes in 2009

--------------



In 2009, the GVN recognized officially, in public and private
statements, for the first time, that trafficking in men, internal
trafficking, and labor trafficking constitute human trafficking,
and that these problems affect Vietnam. This is important since
the GVN continues to promote export labor programs as essential to
Vietnam's poverty reduction efforts and socio-economic development.
An increased awareness and willingness to develop and implement
safeguards for export laborers is key to combating potential
trafficking. Deputy Prime Minister Trong also has been forthright
in acknowledging publically the severe resource constraints that
Vietnam faces in combating trafficking. In light of these resource
constraints, the GVN has highlighted the particular contributions
that INGOs have made in Vietnam's effort to combat trafficking (ref
C); this is significant, since INGOs in other fields are often
viewed suspiciously by conservative elements in Vietnam's Communist
Party and security services. The GVN is also increasingly open to
discussing trafficking in persons with the USG.



In 2009, the GVN increased protection for trafficking victims and
witnesses; increased public assistance for victims in a way that
protects their dignity; increased public awareness campaigns; and
strengthened law enforcement cooperation, training, and prosecution
by the courts. Prosecutions continued to receive increased
attention and publicity. The GVN is enhancing bilateral
cooperation on TIP with China and Cambodia at all levels of
government, which is resulting in positive exchanges on both sides.
The GVN has also increased regional cooperation within ASEAN and
the United Nations framework, including the Coordinated Mekong
Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) process in
which Vietnam will assume a seat on the board for 2010.



Specific highlights include:



- In January 2009, GVN signed a Bilateral Agreement on

Anti-Trafficking with Thailand (an upgrade from the existing
bilateral MOU) and held a bilateral conference in March 2009 to
discuss the agreement's implementation (ref F).



- In March 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Trong convened a public
meeting of the National Steering Committee to provide support for
the Committee and urge it and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS)
to redouble efforts to implement the NPA. In addition to GVN
officials, representatives of the media, INGOs and diplomatic
community were present at the workshop. The NSC-130 decided to
request that the NPA be upgraded to a National Targeted Plan
raising the profile of TIP issues by assigning oversight of the
NSC-130 to the Office of the Government (Prime Minister's
office)(ref F).

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- In May 2009, Vietnam entered final negotiations with China on a
Bilateral Agreement on Anti-Human Trafficking that will upgrade the
existing bilateral MOU. The GVN expects to sign the agreement in

2010. The two countries conducted a joint public awareness
campaign on preventing and combating human trafficking in areas
along the border between July 15 and September 15 (ref F).



- In June 2009, the National Steering Committee completed the first
draft of the new comprehensive trafficking in persons law and
submitted the draft to the relevant government agencies for comment
(ref F).



-- In June 2009, the National Assembly voted to amend articles 119
and 120 of the Penal Code to expand the GVN's definition of
trafficking to include men over the age of 16, and expand all
trafficking-related laws and services to include men. This change,
which will go into effect in early 2010, will bring the GVN more in
line with the accepted international definition of trafficking.
The National Assembly instructed the Ministry of Justice draft a
more comprehensive Law on Human Trafficking. (ref B).



- In August 2009, MPS developed guidelines to protect TIP victims
during investigations and prosecutions in cooperation with the
International Organization for Migration (IOM). MPS organized
three-day training courses in northern Vietnam in May and in June
2009 to introduce the guidelines and incorporate feedback from
course participants into a revised draft sent to the GVN for
approval (ref F).



-- In September 2009, Cambodia and Vietnam signed a bilateral
agreement to standardize procedures for returning trafficking
victims.



-- In October 2009, the GVN assessed the implementation of the NPA.
The NSC-130 is currently analyzing lessons learned during the first
five year implementation of the NPA (2004-2009). Once this report
is complete, the Committee will draft the implementation plan
covering the next five years (2010-2015) (ref C).



-- In November 2009, the Overseas Labor Management Department,
under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, launched
a new website (www.dolab.gov.vn) providing free information to
workers who want to know more about export labor programs,
including: markets recruiting foreign workers, businesses dealing
in export labor and remedies if problems are encountered.



Plans for 2010

--------------



During his speech at the NPA policy review, DPM Truong Vinh Trong
said the draft bill on the prevention of trafficking will be
presented to the National Assembly in 2010. The National Assembly
also is scheduled to consider ratification of the UN International
Convention on Trafficking in Persons. The GVN is developing its
next National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking of Women and
Children (2011-2020),the blueprint for the GVN's anti-TIP efforts.
As part of the drafting process, the GVN will review current
programs related to raising public awareness, identifying, rescuing
and reintegrating victims, and the legal framework for implementing
the NPA. The GVN also plans to increase bilateral and multilateral
cooperation in key areas, including: public awareness campaigns,
police/border guard training, and support for victims. NSC-130

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continues working on bilateral issues and agreements with China,
Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand. NSC-130 has also indicated in 2010
special attention will be given to trafficking as it relates to
export labor (ref B).




C. Conditions Faced by Victims



Vietnamese trafficking victims were subjected to physical and
mental abuse, sexual abuse and assault, debt bondage, indentured
servitude, harsh working conditions, and imprisonment by their
traffickers. Victims also described arranged marriages that turned
women into domestic slaves. Some laborers abroad reported working
long hours in dangerous jobs with little or no ability to dispute
the conditions of their employment. Many victims of trafficking
said their traffickers kept them in isolation without mobile
phones, identity documents or money. Most victims who escaped did
so on their own and returned home or went to other locations
without proper assessment or screening.




D. Groups Vulnerable to TIP



Despite the public awareness and outreach efforts by the GVN and
NGOs on the dangers of trafficking, a large number of Vietnamese
men, women and children remain unaware and vulnerable to human
trafficking. The economic incentives associated with working or
marrying abroad often outweigh fears of becoming a trafficking
victim. This is especially true for young women in rural areas
with few opportunities for education or employment. The highest
percentage of trafficking victims in Vietnam continues to be
undereducated rural women between 18 and 40 years of age.



Vietnamese trafficking victims come from almost all provinces and
cities in Vietnam, but most were concentrated in certain northern
and southern border provinces. The following provinces reported
the most cases in 2009: Ha Giang (134 cases),Lao Cai (105 cases),
Lang Son (95 cases),Quang Ninh (73 cases),Ha Noi (66 cases),Nghe
An (66 cases),Lai Chau (56 cases),and Bac Giang (44 cases)(ref
C).



According to the Border Guard, while hard data are scarce, the
Border Guard suspect the number of trafficking cases is rising,
with a particular increase in the number of cases involving
children kidnapped to China (ref D). (Vietnam defines child
selling to be a form of trafficking.)



New trends in trafficking are also having a greater impact on men.
MPS's Criminal Police Department characterized trafficking in men
for labor exploitation as a new trend in Vietnam. The most
frequently described scenario involved men who are offered "good
jobs" overseas -- usually in China -- and then forced to do hard
labor, often in dangerous jobs and/or unacceptable working
conditions. One example involved several men from Hai Phong who
were forced to work at a Chinese brick factory. Through
cooperation with Chinese authorities, MPS was able to rescue the
men and return them to Vietnam (ref H). There is no data available
on male sex-related trafficking in Vietnam, but the level is
believed to be low.



With export labor a strategic component of Vietnam's economic
development, Vietnamese laborers are vulnerable to trafficking as
the GVN struggles to strike a balance between increasing export
labor and protecting its workers overseas from labor trafficking.
According to official statistics, nearly 75,000 Vietnamese workers
went abroad to work in 2009 on long-term labor contracts to more
than 40 countries around the world, fulfilling 83 percent of the
country's 2009 target. This number is down from 85,000 in 2008 due

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to a decrease in export labor demand as a result of the global
economic crisis. Vietnamese laborers abroad sent back between USD
$1.6 billion and $2 billion in annual remittances, according to
MOLISA's Department of Overseas Labor (DOLAB). According to the
Department of Overseas Worker management, under MOLISA, Taiwan
received the most Vietnamese workers (17,776),followed by South
Korea (6,451),Japan (4,740),Laos (4,580),United Arab Emirates
(3,812),Macau (2,892),Cyprus ( 1,454) and other markets with
14,481 workers. MOLISA attempts to establish MOUs with all labor
destination governments, but enforcement of these agreements is
weak. The GVN has no data available regarding labor trafficking.



This year Canada, Libya and the UAE both signed new Labor MOUs that
establish cooperation in labor, employment and human resource
development with Vietnam. The GVN appears increasingly aware of
the seriousness of exporting large numbers of workers overseas
without adequate protections and enforcement mechanisms and has
been discussing both publically and privately the need to address
this issue for both men and women.



Other at-risk populations have been highlighted anecdotally by
NGOs, but there are insufficient data to demonstrate whether a
significant number are victims of trafficking. These include
internal migrants, especially young women migrating from rural
areas to urban centers, street children and foreign laborers who
are crossing borders informally.




E. Traffickers and Their Methods



Trafficking victims, their relatives and friends, and numerous
press reports identified traffickers mainly as residents or former
residents of the victims' provinces or communities. In some cases,
the traffickers were former trafficking victims themselves. Some
are cross-cultural couples (e.g., a Malaysian husband and a
Vietnamese wife) while others are described as traders or
businesspeople. Family members and acquaintances were often
involved in trafficking cases. NGOs and GVN organizations
documented many TIP cases that involved complicated, informal
referral chains where a sibling, neighbor or friend referred a
family member to someone else who passed the individual on to a
third person or group. The practice of third-party referrals is a
common feature of Vietnamese business culture, and in such cases,
individuals along the chain are unlikely to know many details about
the final destination of the victim and the responsible trafficker
becomes more difficult to identify. There is also growing concern,
among GVN officials and NGOs alike, that human trafficking in
Vietnam is being increasingly handled by organized criminals. Le
Hong Anh, NSC-130 Chairman, stated that trafficking in Vietnam had
become greater in scale, more complicated, and diversified, with
traffickers becoming more sophisticated, organized, and
transnational (ref F). Additionally, the use of technology is
another new trend in trafficking for Vietnam; the internet and chat
rooms have been noted as new methods used by traffickers to lure
victims into a trafficking situation.



Lucrative employment opportunities, marriages to wealthy foreign
men, and tourism continued to be the primary solicitation methods
most often used by traffickers to lure victims. The usual tactic
of traffickers is to offer a so-called "easy" job as a trader,
waitress or domestic helper overseas. In some cases traffickers
negotiated with a parent or guardian who then gave permission for
their daughters to go to work. Many victims reported strong
familial pressure to contribute to the household income. Victims
of labor exploitation abroad reported being lured by lucrative
offers from state-licensed export labor recruitment companies as
well as illegal labor recruiters, and were then sent to various
destinations, including Malaysia, Thailand, and the Middle East,
where they found themselves working in substandard conditions for
little or no pay and no legal recourse. In addition to false
advertising, victims said traffickers and employers commonly used
debt bondage, confiscation of travel and identity documents, and
threats of deportation to force them to keep working.

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Victims are generally transported across borders without documents.
Vietnam's long land borders with China, Laos and Cambodia are
extremely porous and difficult to control, and traffickers are
known to frequently use forest, mountain and river routes away from
legal border checkpoints. In cases involving victims trafficked to
more distant destinations such as Hong Kong, Taiwan or Malaysia,
MPS officials say that traffickers disguise victims as tourists or
workers in a labor export program.




3. (SBU) GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM'S (GVN) ANTI-TIP EFFORTS




A. Acknowledgement of TIP



The GVN acknowledges that trafficking is a problem in Vietnam and
is actively engaged in the fight against TIP. The GVN understands
the issue and its dimensions, appears committed to tackling the
problem. The GVN's understanding and approach to combating TIP
continues to evolve. This year the legal definition of trafficking
was expanded to include men and the GVN's lead official on TIP,
Deputy Prime Minister Trong, publically called on GVN officials to
increase efforts to address labor trafficking (ref C). Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also discussed labor trafficking during a
January 2010 meeting with the heads of the International Labor
Organization, the International Organization for Migration and the
UN Office in Geneva. PM Dung noted that an important component of
the GVN's policy on export labor was the GVN's effort to fight
illegal migration, particularly human trafficking. Foreign
governments, international organizations and NGOs were active
partners in combating TIP, and the GVN welcomes their support and
works cooperatively with them (and the U.S.).




B. Lead Agencies and Interagency Cooperation



The GVN's National Steering Committee on anti-trafficking remained
the government's key interagency coordinating body. The 2004 NPA
established the NSC-130 and specified funding mechanisms for the
2004-2010 period. The NPA assigns specific roles to government
agencies under the overall direction of the MPS, thus eliminating
some of the confusion regarding overlapping jurisdictions. In
addition to overall responsibility for coordinating GVN interagency
efforts, MPS also has a separate investigative unit dedicated to
anti-trafficking enforcement.



A brief description of additional main actors in the GVN anti-TIP
effort follows:



-- The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs' (MOLISA) has
responsibilities related to TIP, including: formulation and
implementation of the NPA; providing protection and reintegration
assistance for returnees (including services such as job training
and victim shelters). The Department for Social Evils Prevention
has a Prostitution Prevention Unit and an Anti-Trafficking
Taskforce. The Department for Overseas Labor is responsible for
monitoring labor export companies and export labor.



-- The Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) is responsible for awareness
raising at the community level to prevent human trafficking. It is
active in drawing attention to the problems of girls being
trafficked for purposes of prostitution, domestic work or marriage.
The Youth Union and the Committee for Population, Family and
Children also have programs aimed at trafficking prevention and
victim's protection, including publicity to warn of dangers,
repatriation programs, and vocation training.

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-- The Ministry of Justice is currently drafting Vietnam's first
comprehensive law on human trafficking, expected to go before the
National Assembly in the fall of 2010.



-- The Border Guard Command, in coordination with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, is responsible for receiving victims from foreign
governments or self-returns. Both organizations verify the TIP
victim's status and refer them to MOLISA for reintegration. The
Border Guard typically act independently on TIP along Vietnam's
land borders; the MFA becomes more involved in trafficking cases
overseas.



Other GVN agencies involved in anti-TIP are the Supreme People's
Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy. The Ministry of Finance
and the Ministry of Planning and Investment play a role in the
budget process. The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism also
participates in the NSC-130 as it plays a role in combating child
sex tourism and tourist demand for commercial sex. Vietnam's
legislature, the National Assembly, plays a key role in approving
legislation and, to a degree, international cooperation. Each
national level agency is assigned specific responsibilities under
the NPA which are fulfilled at not only the national level, but the
provincial and local levels as well.




C. Limitations and Challenges Faced by the GVN



Poor interagency cooperation at all levels of government, long and
porous borders, inadequate law enforcement and legal
infrastructure, and limited resources and capacity are the main
challenges for the GVN. As a developing country with a 2009 annual
per capita income of USD $1,024, Vietnam has limited funds for all
public programs, and the battle against TIP is no exception. Lack
of funding and human resources was the challenge most often cited
by local and international participants at an October 2009 workshop
organized by the NPA and convened by DPM Trong. Limited resources
affected all aspects of anti-trafficking programs: outreach, victim
support, training, law enforcement, and even international
cooperation. NSC-130 has moved to ask the Prime Minister to
upgrade NC130 to a National Targeted Program which would guarantee
national funding for TIP programs (ref C and G).



There are indications the victim referral system created under
Inter-ministerial Circular (03/2008) is improving, but the ability
to address TIP varies greatly from one province to another,
especially at the lower levels of local government. Local
officials tell us coordination has improved, citing examples
ranging from victim referral, to prosecutions, to outreach efforts.
The decentralization of government authority in Vietnam allows for
greater autonomy at the provincial level in theory, but in
practice, because such decentralization does not come with a
budget, many initiatives are "unfunded mandates" at the local
level. Therefore, prevention, protection and reintegration efforts
vary greatly from region to region as does the political will to
combat trafficking. For further information, see 5.L.



Geography also hinders the GVN's anti-TIP efforts. Vietnam's land
border with Cambodia, Laos and China is extremely rugged, porous
and difficult to police. Smuggling of all kinds is a problem and
physical interdiction of trafficking cases is particularly
difficult. This is especially true in the Mekong Delta and along
the mountainous northern border with China, where many informal
border crossings take place via waterways and footpaths away from
official border gates. In 2009, the Border Guard expanded efforts
to monitor and track suspected cases. As a result, the unit
identified an unprecedented 205 cases of suspected trafficking this
year, which were then turned over to MPS for investigation and
prosecution. 154 women and children were rescued by the Border

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Guard, while there were 131 returnee cases from neighboring
governments (ref D). (The 131 cases do not indicate the actual
number of individuals returned, as each individual case might have
more than one returnee.)



Other challenges include a lack of standardized and comprehensive
legislation and the limited ability of the national government to
enforce implementation at the provincial, district and commune
levels. Although Vietnam has a national legal framework to address
trafficking, legal sanctions against trafficking are still
scattered throughout the GVN Penal Code and can be subject to
diverse interpretation, definitions and sentencing guidelines. A
new, comprehensive anti-trafficking law is being drafted by the
Ministry of Justice to reconcile the various laws and ensure full
compliance with UN conventions.




D. GVN Monitoring and Assessments



The NSC-130's Central Office is responsible for, among other
things, helping prepare anti-TIP work plans, campaigns and
projects, and investigating and evaluating their outcomes. NSC-130
is also responsible for disseminating the results of the GVN's
anti-trafficking efforts, but the GVN does not have a formal
mechanism for sharing TIP monitoring and evaluation information.
In October 2009, MPS hosted a workshop to evaluate the GVN's
implementation of its NPA on human trafficking. This event
included representatives from 14 GVN ministries, INGOs, and
representatives of the diplomatic community. Stakeholders assessed
the current NPA, shared statistical data and discussed best
practices and lessons learned. Additionally, media coverage of TIP
issues continued to expand in 2009, including several media
interviews of GVN officials discussing human trafficking, sharing
statistical data and making assessments regarding current GVN
efforts to combat trafficking. Coverage of TIP in Vietnam's
state-run press continued to increase, an indication of the GVN's
willingness to address this issue.




E. Birth Registration, Citizenship and Nationality



According to the 2008 Law on Citizenship, children born to at least
one Vietnamese citizen parent are automatically considered to be
Vietnamese citizens; there are also provisions for children born to
non-citizenship parents to acquire Vietnamese citizenship under
certain circumstances. Foreign nationals may apply for Vietnamese
citizenship provided that they meet certain criteria including
either being a spouse, a biological parent/child of Vietnamese
citizens, or contributing to the development of Vietnam. The State
President has authority to grant citizenship to foreigners. The
2008 legislation allows dual citizenship under some circumstances.



According to the Law on Residence 2006, Vietnamese citizens have
the right to reside in Vietnamese territory. Registration is
compulsory at birth though, in practice, not all children are
registered immediately. A birth certificate is required for public
services, such as education and health care. At the age of
eighteen residents are eligible to apply for an identity card at
the local police. Identity numbers are allocated geographically,
and if someone moves they must re-register in their new locality
and apply for a new identity card. Implementation varies widely,
particularly in rural localities where the most vulnerable to TIP
are born and reside.



Authorities keep track of citizen registration through a
registration book, which is issued to each household.

Foreign passport holders must register to stay in private homes,
although there were no known cases of local authorities refusing to
allow foreign visitors to stay with friends and family. Citizens

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are also required to register with local police when they stay
overnight in any location outside of their own homes, though in
practice there is limited enforcement of this provision.




F. GVN Data Gathering Capabilities



The GVN collects some TIP-related data, but with individual
ministries responsible for information as it relates to their
responsibilities, collection can be piecemeal. The Supreme
People's Procuracy, for example, collects statistics on the arrest,
prosecution and conviction of traffickers, while MOLISA counts
trafficking victims receiving repatriation and reintegration
assistance. Methods used to compile data vary by Ministry and
level of government and is at times inconsistent.



One example shared by the IOM illustrates the point. Local-level
police tend to report higher numbers of trafficked women from their
community than do local branches of the Women's Union. This is
because of differences in data collection. Police often rely on
residency records to compile trafficking statistics. When there is
an unaccounted absence, this is attributed to trafficking, when in
reality many of the women have chosen to leave for a variety of
reasons, including to find work in urban areas or industrial zones.
By contrast, the Women's Union tends to underestimate trafficking
as they primarily rely on the numbers of women who join their Women
and Family Clubs (which include trafficked, at risk, and other
vulnerable women) or trafficked women who are formally identified
by the authorities. Because many trafficked women do not want to
be identified as having been trafficked (the stigma and
discrimination is high and the benefits of being identified are
low),the Women's Union's figures are often lower than other
reported estimates (ref E). The most reliable way to compile
trafficking statistics in Vietnam tends to be through interviews
with households, or later with the women themselves, but this is
difficult to do on a large scale and in a manner that can be
extrapolated beyond a specific locality.



Much of this is a reflection of capacity and resources, and the
inability of Vietnam to coordinate and correlate its TIP data
collection is indicative of the GVN's data collection efforts in
other fields. However, there is some progress being made. MOLISA,
for example, recently released the first in a series of labor
market trend reports based on data from 1997 - 2007 as part of an
EU-funded ILO project to collect, analyze and disseminate labor
related data. Several NGOs have begun projects related to
improving the data available concerning the trafficking situation
in Vietnam. UNIAP has two ongoing projects funded by the USG. The
first is a recently completed community-based survey on TIP,
conducted in collaboration with An Giang University. The report's
findings will be presented in a regional workshop on TIP statistics
in Bangkok scheduled for March 2010. The second project will
analyze returning immigration cases on the Vietnam-China border to
determine what factors influence whether an individual becomes
trafficked or experiences labor exploitation. A contractor is
currently in the field to assess the best way to collect data (ref
G).




4. (SBU) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS




A. Existing Laws against TIP



Most traffickers in Vietnam are prosecuted under Articles 119 and
120 of Vietnam's Penal Code. Trafficking in persons is treated as
a criminal offense; victims of trafficking, however, are not
criminalized by the Penal Code. Article 119, as amended in June
2009, expands the definition of human trafficking to include men,
criminalizes the trafficking of men, and allows men access to
victim support services (ref B). Under Article 119, traffickers

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can be penalized with sentences ranging from five to twenty years
in prison. Article 120 concerns trafficking in children and
includes penalties ranging from three years to life in prison.
Offenders may also be subject to a fine of up to $2,000 dollars and
probation or parole for one to five years.



International trafficking for the specific purpose of labor
exploitation is covered under Penal Code 275 (entitled "organizing
and/or coercing other persons to flee abroad or to stay abroad
illegally"). Penalties for this crime range from two to twenty
years in prison.



In 2009, government efforts to enact a comprehensive law on human
trafficking progressed. The National Assembly issued a directive
instructing the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to submit a comprehensive
TIP law for the Assembly's review in 2010. The United Nations
Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) is currently
assisting MOJ to draft the new law, and according to the NSC-130, a
draft will be submitted to the Assembly in the fall of 2010 (ref
B). The GVN will also submit to the National Assembly for
consideration the ratification of the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC),together with its
Protocol on Human Trafficking, in 2010.



The GVN has several laws, resolutions, national programs and plans
of action to protect children. The Law on Protection, Care and
Education of Children, issued in 1991, prohibits all acts of cruel
treatment, humiliation, abduction, sale and coercion of children
into activities harmful to their healthy development. The 1999
Penal Code criminalizes all acts of sale, fraudulent exchange or
control of children. Articles 254, 255 and 256 specifically
prohibit acts related to child prostitution including harboring
prostitution, brokering prostitution, and buying sex with minors.
The Penal Code also criminalizes forced child labor. Any person
convicted of buying, selling, fraudulently exchanging or
appropriating a child for the purpose of prostitution faces a
prison term ranging from 10 to 20 years or to life imprisonment or
probation from 1 to 5 years. In addition, the offender could be
fined up to $2,000 and banned from certain commercial activities or
positions from 1 to 5 years.



According to NSC-130 officials, there are several new crimes for
which Vietnam does not yet have specific laws, including the
solicitation of children via the Internet, online child pornography
and the use of webcams for online sex. However, these crimes can
be prosecuted using existing articles of the Penal Code.



In 2006, the Prime Minister's Decree 69 amended the Law on
Marriages "having a foreign factor," requiring the Vietnamese
spouse to interview with local authorities within 50 days of
marriage to ensure that the marriage is voluntary, that there are
sufficient language skills for basic communication and that each
participant understands each other's family situation. The Decree
also restricts large gaps in age between marrying parties. In July
2009, the government introduced additional regulations to further
prevent fraud in foreign marriages (ref B).



Vietnamese laws regulating export labor have expanded to address
more comprehensively and explicitly issues faced by Vietnamese
workers overseas. The Vietnamese Labor Code, first issued in 1994
and updated in 2002, 2006, and 2007, contains a section entitled
"Vietnamese working abroad." Contracting enterprises must have a
permit issued by Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs
(MOLISA) to send workers abroad. The Code details the rights and
obligations of both workers and enterprises, and includes
provisions requiring all enterprises "to manage and protect the
interests of laborers during the period of working abroad under
their contracts in accordance with the law of Vietnam and the law
of the foreign country;" "to pay compensation for damage to the
laborer caused by the breach of the contract by the enterprise;"

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and, "to complain to the authorized State body against breaches of
the laws in the field of labor export."



A decree issued in 2003 provides the legal mechanism to implement
the Labor Code and requires companies "monitor, manage and protect
the legal rights of labor during their time of working abroad."
Companies must routinely inspect foreign workplaces both before and
after signing labor contracts. Information from these inspections
must be included in the registration of the labor export contract
submitted to MOLISA. The 2003 Decree also lays out the conditions
for granting and revoking licenses for labor export. MOLISA
reviews current licenses and new applications and can deny
applications by companies that do not meet the stipulated
conditions. If serious abuses of worker's rights occur, MOLISA can
coordinate with MPS to prosecute violators under criminal statutes.
MOLISA and MPS jointly issued an interagency circular in January
2005 that defined the roles and responsibilities of labor export
companies as well as police and labor agencies at all levels of
government. The circular outlines regulations and responsibilities
and details labor violations that can result in administrative
sanctions or criminal prosecution.



The Prime Minister's Decree 141, issued in November 2005, requires
labor export companies to guarantee overseas contracts and resolve
problems in which "laborers have accidents, risk accidents or
occupational diseases or their dignity or honor is infringed upon."
In turn, laborers are required to respect the terms of labor
contracts. The Decree anticipates that labor export companies in
Vietnam, with the cooperation and assistance of the GVN, will be
able to resolve disputes between laborers and overseas employers.
It does not, however, give laborers the right to break a labor
contract.



Vietnam's law "On Vietnamese Labor Working Abroad by Contract," put
into effect in July 2007, superseded Decree 141 and further
regulates enterprises and protects workers participating in
Vietnam's labor export industry. The related legal instruments
that fall under this umbrella law regulate everything from labor
recruitment and pre-departure fees to contract transparency, the
settlement of disputes and licensing of labor brokerages.



In 2008, two additional documents were enacted to broaden
implementation of the 2007 Export Labor Law: 1) Circular No. 11 on
the management of the labor export assistance fund; and, 2)
Decision No. 61/2008 on the brokerage fees for labor export which
provides stricter caps on the fees labor brokerages can legally
charge workers.
Palmer