Warning about human trafficking and labor fraud in mountainous areas of Nghe An

1. Easily fooled by lack of legal knowledge

At the end of March 2021, discussing the case of two sisters of a family in Keng Du commune (Ky Son)tricked into workingin Lam Dong were just searched by the police force and returned to their families on the afternoon of March 11, 2021. The leader of Ky Son District Police said that the two girls, 14 and 15 years old, are biological sisters. They are Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng, the daughters of Mr. Hoc Pho Cay, residing in Huoi Xui village, Keng Du commune.

The police helped Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng return to their families. Photo: cscc.

Previously, the Ky Son District Police received a connection from a resident in Lam Dong province requesting to confirm the relatives of two cases that this person was taking care of in Lam Dong, namely Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng. These two girls listened to the invitation of some acquaintances in Keng Du commune, who had also gone to work far away with the invitation of "work with a high salary of several million VND per month, good food, nice clothes". Without thinking much, the two girls followed the instructions of the solicitors and took a bus to Duc Trong district, Lam Dong province with the hope of working for hire and earning a lot of money.

However, they ran away from home with nothing, the subjects only gave them money to go to Lam Dong. And after 3 months of working for a person named Kim Yen, the two sisters Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng were not paid a single penny. The owner only gave them daily meals, disappointed, sad and homesick, the two sisters ran away from their work to return to their hometown. But with no money and no way to get there, the two sisters Ha and Vieng wandered around Lam Dong, where a kind family took them in, asked about their hometown and contacted the Ky Son District Police to help bring them back to their family.

More and more people in Keng Du are looking for jobs in other localities. Photo: Hoai Thu

Party Secretary and Chairman of Keng Du Commune People's Committee - Mr. Luong Van Ngam said that the family of Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng has 10 people, including parents and 8 children. Most of the family members dropped out of school early, except Ha and Vieng who did not finish kindergarten. Besides 2 older sisters and 1 older brother who are married, Ha and Vieng after dropping out of school only know how to stay at home and look for bamboo shoots and firewood to make a living. Together with 3 other younger siblings, they have little access to legal knowledge, teachings from teachers and the community because they dropped out of school.

Huoi Xui village is adjacent to Bac Ly commune, has nearly 100 households, 100% of which are poor households, most of the families are poor, have many children so the rate of children dropping out of school is high, most of them only study until the end of primary school. The number of children who finish secondary school and high school in this village can be counted on the fingers of one hand although the authorities and volunteer organizations have invested in building quite spacious and complete schools to serve the learning needs of the people here. Many teachers' families come to the place to encourage and motivate children to go to school, but parents rarely remind, even do not encourage children to go to school, so many children are disadvantaged.

When asked about the reasons why they decided to go to the South to work even though they had no money, no papers, and no knowledge of the place they were going to, Hoc Thi Ha and Hoc Thi Vieng said, “I went because I heard from acquaintances because I thought I would earn money. At home, I had no money and was very poor.” Their awareness was still immature and they had little knowledge of the law, so they just thought simply, not anticipating all the pitfalls they would encounter when following the enticements of bad people.

Proactively seek legal knowledge

Also in Keng Du commune, the police force had previously rescued 5 cases of people being tricked into going to work abroad, then being plotted to be sold to China by human traffickers, such as Project 120TX, chaired by Ky Son district police, in coordination with Keng Du Border Guard Station, to arrest Lu Van Chuong, born in 1996, residing in Dinh Son 1 village, Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district, and bring him to justice.child trafficking; successfully rescued a girl born in 2001. Expanding the investigation, the District Police prosecuted and arrested another suspect, Luong Van Son, born in 1994, residing in Huoi Khe village, Keng Du, Ky Son, for the act of buying and selling children.

In 2020, Ky Son District Police coordinated to investigate 5 cases, 8 human trafficking subjects, and successfully rescued 8 victims.

Or on August 1, 2020, Ky Son District Police successfully broke Project 712MB, arrested Cut Thi Oanh, born in 1988, residing in Luu Thang village, Chieu Luu commune for the act of“Human trafficking", rescue 2 victims.

Currently, the need to find jobs and work domestically or abroad of Ky Son people is very large, especially the working-age population, students who have just finished secondary or high school. These are also the people that scammers target to commit illegal acts.

According to information from the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, each year there are about 6,200 workers going to work in localities at home and abroad, of which about 4,900 Ky Son workers go to find jobs in domestic provinces.

Ky Son residents access legal knowledge through propaganda sessions of authorities. Photo: cscc

To gradually help people avoid risks when looking for jobs in other localities, Lieutenant Colonel To Van Hau - Head of Ky Son District Police said that in addition to closely following the locality to grasp the situation and strengthening the establishment of special projects to fight, the District Police also pay special attention to doing a good job of propaganda, prevention, control, and neutralization of causes and conditions that give rise to crimes, violations of the law on human trafficking, and fraud against workers looking for jobs. In 2020 alone, the unit coordinated to organize 321 sessions to launch the movement for the whole population to participate in denouncing crimes in 21/21 communes, towns and key schools; attracting more than 51,224 students to participate. In particular, it has proactively advised and implemented 2 major plans on propaganda to prevent and combat human trafficking, fetal trafficking and meeting domestic and foreign workers returning home for the Lunar New Year.

Ky Son police propagate policies on preventing human trafficking to people in Na Loi commune. Photo: cscc

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Head of the Justice Department of the People's Committee of Ky Son district said that right before and after the Lunar New Year, the district's Justice Department has a plan to coordinate in propagating and disseminating the law to each residential area, especially key areas.

Most recently, on March 29-30, the Department of Justice is coordinating with forces and localities to organize talks, propaganda, distribute leaflets and show visual images to each person in Don Boong village, Na Loi commune, Huoi Xui village, Keng Du commune, Pha Noi village, Dooc May commune... This is one of the activities regularly carried out by the Ky Son Department of Justice.

For people who work far away or go to work abroad, they need to know how to choose reputable referral addresses that are recognized by state organizations to avoid risks. However, in order for people to access secure addresses, in addition to promoting policies and laws, it is also necessary to help people raise their awareness, create habits of contacting and reporting to local authorities and completing all temporary absence registration procedures. In addition, it is necessary to proactively equip yourself with legal knowledge to avoid being scammed and taken advantage of by bad guys.

Hoai Thu