Vietnam's efforts in preventing and combating human trafficking

The US State Department released its 2022 Trafficking in Persons report on July 19. There would be nothing much to discuss if the report did not assess that: “Vietnam does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking in persons and is not making significant efforts to do so...”. This is an unverified, unauthentic report that does not fully and accurately reflect the situation and efforts of Vietnam in the fight against human trafficking.

On July 21, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang emphasized that the US report contained "unverified information, not fully and accurately reflecting the situation and efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking in Vietnam". Photo: thanhnien.vn

In Vietnam, the prevention and combat of human trafficking is identified as a key task. Looking back at the first 6 months of 2022 as well as previous years, despite many difficulties and obstacles, Vietnam has clearly demonstrated its determination in the fight against human trafficking crimes. Vietnamese ministries, branches, localities and functional forces have closely coordinated and synchronously implemented many drastic measures to eliminate this social evil.

Propaganda work has been promoted on many information channels, creating a strong change in awareness, consciousness, and responsibility of all levels, sectors, and classes of people. Perhaps not many countries in the world have strongly organized activities in response to "World Day against Trafficking in Persons" and "National Day against Trafficking in Persons" (July 30) like Vietnam.

Implementing the Prime Minister's direction, closely following the United Nations' message and the actual situation of the grassroots, ministries, branches and localities in Vietnam have carried out many practical activities, spreading positively and strongly throughout society.Messages against human traffickingIt is also integrated and conveyed into civic education and extracurricular education programs for students at all levels, grades, and majors.

Illustration: Document

Along with promoting propaganda, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 193/QD-TTg approving the Program on preventing and combating human trafficking for the period 2021 - 2025 and orientation to 2030. Since 2020, the Law on Vietnamese People Working Abroad under Contracts has also been issued, along with documents guiding the implementation of the law. Many policy and legal documents on preventing human trafficking, forced labor, supporting victims of trafficking, and protecting children in the online environment have also been issued. Vietnamese authorities regularly review, research, amend, and supplement legal documents related to preventing and combating human trafficking, creating a unified and synchronous legal corridor for preventing and combating human trafficking and providing legal aid to victims of trafficking.

At the international level, Vietnam is a member of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons; and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Along with that, Vietnam continues to effectively implement cooperation agreements with many countries in the region and around the world on preventing and combating human trafficking; continues to make efforts to implement the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) to strengthen the transparent migration environment, prevent the risk of human trafficking in international migration activities, etc.

Collaborateinvestigation, prosecution and trial of human trafficking crimesis promoted by forces and authorities. Every year, the Police force takes the lead in coordinating with the Border Guard and related forces to synchronously deploy professional measures, focusing on preventing, combating, prosecuting and trying human trafficking crimes. The coordination between the Police and Border Guard forces of Vietnam and the authorities of countries sharing the border is closely organized, especially in implementing preventive measures, exchanging information, coordinating investigations, arresting and transferring criminals and rescuing victims.

A victim of human trafficking was helped by Nghe An Provincial Police to return to her family. Photo: CSCC

The functional forces of Vietnam and other countries, especially neighboring countries, regularly coordinate to organize peak periods of attacks to suppress human trafficking crimes. In the first 6 months of 2022 alone, overcoming difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the functional forces of Vietnam discovered, investigated, and solved 33 cases, with 75 subjects committing human trafficking crimes and crimes related to human trafficking; completed the investigation, transferred the files to the People's Procuracy to propose prosecution of 17 cases; 66 victims from the trafficking cases were received, verified, rescued, and supported...

At international forums, Vietnam actively participates in exchanging experiences on policies, measures and achievements in preventing and combating human trafficking. In order to improve the capacity of officers and employees working on preventing and combating human trafficking, Vietnam focuses on promoting training and development. Hundreds of Vietnamese officers have been assigned to participate in seminars and specialized training courses on laws and professional skills in preventing, detecting and handling human trafficking crimes and protecting victims of trafficking...

The Prime Minister of Vietnam has proposed to develop and implement a standard process for supporting victims to integrate into the community; develop regulations for inter-sectoral and inter-level coordination on receiving and supporting victims and providing connections for services to receive and support victims and suspected victims of trafficking; consolidate, develop and improve the quality of public services using the state budget in supporting victims of trafficking, ensuring availability and accessibility. The Vietnamese Government always pays attention to investing, upgrading equipment, developing criteria for assessing the quality of victim support services and piloting models to support victims of trafficking to integrate into the community. At the same time, Vietnam integrates the content of preventing and combating human trafficking into programs to prevent and combat crime, social evils, poverty reduction, vocational training, job creation, gender equality, child protection and other socio-economic development programs.

Communication activities to prevent and combat human trafficking. Photo: Ba Hau

The Prime Minister also requested the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Supreme People's Court to effectively implement the Regulations on coordination with the Government; closely coordinate with ministries, branches and agencies under the Government in preventing and combating human trafficking; guide local judicial agencies to uniformly apply laws on preventing and combating human trafficking, direct the promotion of investigation, prosecution and trial of human trafficking crimes and related crimes, ensuring timeliness and strictness; conduct statistics and provide information according to statistical criteria to serve the management of statistical data on preventing and combating human trafficking.

Collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in the work of preventing and combating human trafficking in general, and in the implementation of the “World Day against Trafficking in Persons” and the “National Day against Trafficking in Persons” in particular, are promptly recognized and rewarded. Officials and employees who have committed violations in the performance of their tasks of preventing and combating human trafficking are reviewed, strictly handled, and deeply learned from their experiences.

Lai Chau Border Guard arrests people trafficking across the border. Photo: Hoang Anh/bienphong.com.vn

From this reality, there is sufficient basis to affirm that Vietnam has been stepping up the implementation of measures to prevent and combat human trafficking with high concentration of all ministries, branches, functional agencies and local authorities. Vietnam resolutely opposes and rejects the baseless and arbitrary assessments of the US State Department. In a constructive spirit, Vietnam is willing to discuss with the US side as well as relevant parties on specific cooperation issues to jointly promote and effectively implement the work of preventing and combating human trafficking in each country and around the world./.