The trafficking of women and children from Vietnam - CEOP

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
Children are often targeted by traffickers as they are deemed easier to manipulate than
adults. More money can be earned by younger girls exploited in sexual exploitation,
especially virgins. Pre-pubescent girls are reported to be injected with hormones to bring
on puberty. Younger girls are expected to have a greater earning potential, and as such are
in greater demand. Where family connivance is suspected, a girl under 14 might adopt her
older sister’s identity, so that she has identification papers. 17
70% of all Vietnamese victims of trafficking recorded by the UK’s National Referral
Mechanism from 1 April 2009 to 31 December 2009 were children. 18 Children were possibly
targeted for labour exploitation in the UK, because those identified by the authorities as
minors are routinely transferred to non-secure local authority care where they can be
pressurised by traffickers, either directly or indirectly through their families, into returning
to exploitation.
4.4 Recruitment
Vietnam’s economic year-on-year growth has increased at a rapid rate. The distribution of
wealth, however, is uneven and skewed towards urban areas. This increases the economic
disparity between cities and rural areas and contributes to rising unemployment in the
provinces. This has resulted in increased internal migration to urban areas. The Vietnamese
government encourages unemployed people in rural areas to seek employment in overseas
labour schemes. Such schemes can be of great benefit to individuals, receiving States and
the Vietnamese economy, but many are poorly regulated. This creates an opportunity for
organised criminal networks to traffic individuals with greater ease. Typically victims,
themselves of low economic standing, come from small towns and villages in economically-
depressed, rural areas with high unemployment. The IOM state that recruitment techniques
vary depending on the province.
Many people living in economically disadvantaged provinces often lack formal education.
While it is compulsory to attend education until the age of 14, 40%-50% of rural children do
not continue in education after they reach 14. The 2005-2006 Save the Children report
identified that 93.5% (659) of victims had a low education level, including 90 (13%) who
17 AAT
18 A profile of Vietnamese Nationals referred as potential victims of Human Trafficking to the National Referral
Mechanism 1 April 2009 – 31 December 2009. United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre. Published March
2010. Restricted
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