VIETNAM: Guidelines Seek to Assist Trafficked Women and Children

HANOI - Trafficked women and children would receive more help to return to Vietnam and integrate back into society with the release of ministry guidelines on effective use of the law, a press conference was told here on June 27.

The government circular details registration of returnees to verify their circumstances and facilitate access to services such as health care, counselling and vocational training, according to Do Thi Minh Xuan, a senior official of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The circular would further support activities covered under a government decision on reception and support for trafficked returnees, said International Organisation for Migration’s Andrew Bruce. Under the decision, relevant offices are required to take prompt action on receiving returning women and children.

The victims will receive health checks and counselling before community reintegration. They also receive vocational training, life-skills training, are introduced to job opportunities and are given personal items such as clothes.

"When this is done effectively it facilitates the process of recovery and reintegration of victims, helping them to regain self-esteem, rebuild their lives and avoid being re-trafficked," said Bruce.

Over 7,000 women and children have been identified as victims of trafficking since 1998. In the first six months of this year, 429 women and children were trafficked. Many returning women, especially those forced into sex work, suffer mental difficulties, making it hard for them to return to a normal life.Feeling of inferiority are commonplace, which damages employment prospects.

Poverty and social discrimination were the main reasons why Vietnamese women fall into the clutches of traffickers, the Lang Son Women’s Union said.Julie Bergeron of UNICEF Vietnam reports that many returned women are rejected by their families and communities and struggle to find decent jobs because people consider them prostitutes.

A huge problem is that victims feel so ashamed after returning that they avoid social activities, Duong Thi Xuan of the Viet Nam Women’s Union Central Committee said. But, such avoidance means they remain susceptible to trafficking. With no future at home, some returned women have even worked as decoys to lure other young women to China. (Source: Vietnam News, June 29, 2008)