Vietnam protests US report on human trafficking
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the US report on human trafficking does not accurately reflect the reality and Vietnam's efforts in preventing this situation.
"The US State Department released the 2022 Report on Human Trafficking in Persons in the World with unverified information, which does not fully and accurately reflect the situation and efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking in Vietnam," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.
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Spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang. Photo: Baoquocte |
The US State Department released a report on July 19, in which it assessed that Vietnam "does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so."
The US also placed Vietnam in group 3, including countries that may be restricted from receiving aid from Washington in the future, along with countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, China and Cuba.
"We hope that the US side will cooperate more closely in the coming time to have a full assessment of the situation and efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking in Vietnam. We are also willing to discuss with the US side, as well as relevant parties, on specific cooperation issues to effectively implement the work of preventing and combating human trafficking together," Ms. Hang added.
On July 18, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly signed a regulation on coordination in the reception, protection, and support of victims of human trafficking. The regulation clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the parties, as well as the process of receiving information and documents about victims of human trafficking, and protecting the safety of victims and their relatives when incidents occur.
During the signing ceremony of the regulations, Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quoc To - Deputy Minister of Public Security said that most human trafficking victims are sold to countries sharing borders with Vietnam, 20% to other countries by road, air and sea. Since 2011, the Public Security sector has verified and rescued thousands of victims of trafficking.
Vietnam has about 5,000 km of land border, bordering three countries: China to the north, Laos to the west and Cambodia to the southwest. On July 4, the Ministry of Public Security issued a warning about the situation of many Vietnamese workers being tricked and trafficked to Cambodia with the lure of "easy work, high salary".