English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
1,970 had entered illegally. 277 Women and children are sold to China mostly as wives or prostitutes.
278
It must be noted that the number of returning victims of trafficking account for a small
percentage of trafficked women and children. According to the results of surveys conducted in
some localities, the number only accounts for 7.9 percent. 279 Therefore, a large number of victims
have not yet been identified. Statistics from the SPP indicate that cases filed before the
courts are declining despite the belief that trafficking incidences are on the rise. 280 Similarly,
despite the seriousness of trafficking of women in some localities such as the provinces of
Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Thai Binh, Nam Ha, An Giang, Kien Giang, Tay
Ninh and Dong Thap, the number of cases brought to the courts in these localities is low. 281
Poverty and extreme hardships were identified as causes behind trafficking. It was noted
that the victims are not necessarily the poorest, but they seek a better life for themselves or
their families. Many women and children and their families have moved to seek jobs in the
cities or foreign countries. 282 In the Programme of Action on Trafficking, it was stated that the
most vulnerable groups to trafficking are women aged 18 and 35 years and teenage girls. 283 It
also pointed out that the most vulnerable women live in rural and remote and mountainous
regions, they have low educational levels and limited social knowledge, they lack information
and are credulous, they have unstable jobs and live in poor economic conditions, they have
unhappy marriages or family problems, or they want to increase their incomes. 284 Trafficked
children are mostly street children, children lacking in due attention, education and management
of their families. 285 They are abandoned, abducted or seduced and sold by means of
deception or fraud. 286
The Programme of Action against Trafficking also identifies some of the difficulties faced
in addressing trafficking, including: (a) low public awareness of the issue; (b) inadequate
awareness of the issue by local administration agencies at all levels; (c) communication on
prevention and combat of trafficking has neither received due attention and investment nor is
carried out regularly, intensively or extensively, except in some key localities and only when
277
Ibid.
278
Ibid.
279
Programme of Action against Trafficking, Project on Reception and Support of Women and Children Victims of
Trafficking Returning from Abroad in the 2005 to 2010, Paragraph I.1
208
GSO Statistics, p. 73 citing Criminal Statistics Department, People’s Supreme Procuracy. In 2000, there were 179 cases
of trafficking involving 303 defendants. In 2001, there were 107 cases of trafficking with 184 defendants. In 2002, there
were 115 cases with 183 defendants; in 2003, there were 115 cases with 62 defendants.
281
GSO Statistics, p. 73. In Lang Son it was reported that 4,390 women left the country, mostly trafficked, but in 2000-
2003, only 28 cases were tried with 39 defendants. Likewise, in Thai Binh, a survey found that 2,514 women were trafficked,
but only three cases were tried with four defendants.
282
Wang, Yi, ‘Trafficking in Women and Children from Viet Nam to China: Legal Framework and Government Responses’,
Anti-trafficking Programme in Viet Nam, Oxfam Quebec, Ha Noi, August 2005 (Wang), p. 6; and ActionAid International
Viet Nam, ‘Synthesis Report: The Trafficking of Vietnamese Women and Children’, ActionAid International Viet Nam,
Ha Noi, 2005 (ActionAid International Viet Nam), pp. 19-20
283
Programme of Action against Trafficking, Project on Communication and Education in Communities on Prevention and
Combat of Trafficking in Women and Children from 2005 to 2010, Paragraph I.1
284
Ibid.
149
285
Ibid.
286
Ibid.
Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution (Article 6 of CEDAW)