Across the country, 3,000 cases of human trafficking were detected in the past 8 years.

According to a report by the Ministry of Public Security, from 2010 to the end of the third quarter of 2018, the whole country detected 3,000 cases of human trafficking involving 4,500 perpetrators and nearly 7,000 victims. In particular, there has recently been an increase in the trafficking of men and infants, representing new issues arising within the human trafficking problem.

According to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha, Vietnam has made many efforts in the prevention and combat of human trafficking. However, in the context of increasingly complex human trafficking situations, the need for counseling services and information on safe migration and prevention and combating human trafficking is growing. Therefore, establishing a hotline for preventing and combating human trafficking is considered one of the effective and appropriate solutions to strengthen the network of cooperation and coordination in preventing and combating human trafficking in Vietnam.

A woman from Nghe An province recently returned from selling her child in China. (Photo: PB)

Since 2012, with financial and technical support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Ministry of Labour has implemented the project "Establishing a hotline for preventing and combating human trafficking in Vietnam". The goal of this project is to strengthen the existing functions of the Child Counseling and Support Hotline (now the National Child Protection Hotline 111) and expand its functions to include preventing and combating human trafficking, contributing to the Government's overall efforts in combating human trafficking and reintegrating victims into the community.

According to Ms. Ayumi Yuasa, Head of the Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction Division (Infrastructure and Peacebuilding Division, JICA), the victims of human trafficking have changed. While the number of victims of forced labor and men has increased, women and children still make up the majority, accounting for over 70%. Therefore, JICA focuses on supporting children and women, while expanding support for men.

The hotline for preventing and combating human trafficking, which operated from October 2013 to the end of June 2018, received nearly 13,000 calls, including over 9,000 providing information, 3,500 seeking advice related to policies, psychology, and procedures to support victims of human trafficking, and intervening in nearly 300 cases for victims.

Building on the achievements of Phase 1 of the project, the Ministry of Labour and JICA are continuing their cooperation in Phase 2 with the objectives of establishing a national hotline system to contribute to strengthening the referral mechanism for services in Vietnam, and moving towards cross-border cooperation with neighboring countries in combating human trafficking.

Based on the operation of the hotline, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; the Ministry of Public Security; the Ministry of National Defence; and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union have signed cooperation agreements, creating a mechanism for coordinating information sharing and connecting services on preventing and combating human trafficking.