Tuong Duong still has a problem with human trafficking

(Baonghean.vn)After the press got involved, especially with the determination of the police, human trafficking in Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, and Ky Son districts has somewhat calmed down. However, there are still no signs that this evil will end. Currently, there are still women who continue to be tricked and sold to China.

Still crying…

The farthest Huoi Cut village in Yen Na commune (Tuong Duong) with 83 Khmu households has 9 women and girls currently living in exile in China. Most of them are in pitiful circumstances, their families are hungry and have to go to the forest to pick bamboo shoots and roots, or their husbands are drug addicts. They always wish to escape the confinement in the "deep mountains and valleys" to find a new life. Mr. Lu Son Dien, the head of Huoi Cut village, said: Knowing this, a subject named Lu Thi Diep (also known as Hoa), from Yen Huong (Yen Hoa - Tuong Duong) came to seduce them. Her stylish way of dressing and sweet words about a "paradise" where you can eat without working or a high-paying job have made many women lose heart, ready to "sell themselves" to human traffickers, just waiting for a small conflict in the family to immediately pack up and follow Diep to China, some even ran away without their relatives knowing. Only when the family receives a sum of money, usually 10 million VND, do they realize that their family member has been tricked into being sold; at the same time, they receive a phone call from a relative in China informing them that they have been tricked into being sold.

Single mother Oc Thi Huong, whose daughter Oc Thi Nhung (born in 1992) was tricked and sold in April 2011, is still in tears. She looks older than her 49 years. When we asked about her only daughter, she wiped her tears away: "I heard that he got married over there (in China), but it's been months since I've received a phone call from him, I don't know if he's alive or dead." Ms. Huong said: After 3 months of tricking and selling her daughter, Lu Thi Diep came home and gave the family 10 million VND. Since then, whenever Diep returned to the village, those who were trafficked to China were called back. According to Ms. Huong, this subject still occasionally returned and went to the upper and lower villages to openly "mobilize" women and girls to follow her to China to "do business". She suddenly returned and then left without anyone knowing.

Two months ago, Mr. Lu Van Hai's daughter, Lu Thi Hien, who was in 8th grade, was also tricked into going to China. Mr. Hai recounted: A few days before, Lu Thi Diep came to ask the family to give her 10 million VND so that she could go to China to "do business", but the family refused because the daughter was still young and still in school. Then, while her parents were drinking tea and talking at a neighbor's, the 14-year-old girl packed her bags and ran away. The whole family searched for her in vain. Three days later, Mr. Hai learned that his daughter had followed Lu Thi Diep to China. He asked: "Why didn't you write a complaint?" The 44-year-old father, who could only speak his native Khmu and Thai, hesitated for a moment, then confessed that he had never been to school so he couldn't read or write. The person who deceived his daughter is also missing, so now the family can only sit in front of the door and wait, hoping that one day their beloved daughter will magically appear on the slope at the beginning of the village.

In Na Pu village (Yen Na commune), there is also a case of Ms. Lo Thi Ty who was tricked and sold 2 years ago. Ms. Lo Thi Nhung (in the same village) just returned from China half a month ago. At the age of 20, she started a family with someone from the neighboring village. Not long after the wedding, her husband fell into drug addiction and sold all the property in the house. Ms. Nhung had no choice but to take her 2 young children to Na Pu village to live with her biological parents who were both nearly 90 years old and no longer able to work. Not long after her husband died of AIDS, she had to "sell herself" to human traffickers, accepting a life of "wandering to make a living".



Lo Thi Nhung recounted: After a short time in China, she found a job at a coal mine, her daily job was to cook for the miners. Converted to Vietnamese currency, she earned 6-7 million VND per month, which was not much more than the workers in industrial zones in the southern provinces of her country, but she had to live far from home, hiding because she did not have legal residence papers. 2 years ago, she returned home to pick up her 2 children because her parents were too old to raise them. Of course, she always went illegally across the border. Ms. Nhung added: This time she returned only because she felt sorry for her parents who were too old and weak and because she "felt sorry for her 2 children". Asked: "Will you return to China?" She hesitantly said: "If I can get my children to go to school, I still don't want to go."

In Na Pu village, there is also the case of Ms. Vi Thi Vi. 2 years ago, she was also tricked and sold to China. The miserable life full of dangers in a foreign land made her think of ways to return home.

New tricks of the "madams"

In the past, human traffickers tricked gullible women with flashy appearances and were often from the same village or nearby villages. With teenage girls, they approached them, invited them to eat at restaurants, sing karaoke, and bragged about their life and work in Vinh City or somewhere else in the country. Once the “fish took the bait,” they organized to take them out of the village at night, then put them in a car and drove straight to the border gate to China.

For adult women who are in difficult circumstances (usually due to drug addiction by their husbands and children), they are invited to China to work, promising high salaries and easier work than working in the fields. This tactic has been used by human traffickers on victims in Don Phuc (Con Cuong) and Huu Kiem (Ky Son) which Nghe An Newspaper had the opportunity to reflect in a long-term feature in April 2012. However, currently, human traffickers have become more cunning with more sophisticated tricks...

Nowadays, even in remote highland villages in Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son... there are few people who do not know the purpose of the "strange" women who come to the village to ask people to "work far away" is actually to take people to China. However, many people still do not realize that this is human trafficking and a violation of the law, a crime that is difficult to forgive. When losing a child, like father Lu Van Hai (Huoi Cut village), he only reacted cautiously and did not try to report it to the authorities. There are many people who think that their wives and children going to China is as normal as people going to work to earn money. They easily accept money from human traffickers, accepting the family members to leave. Although many "virtuous husbands" do not know what life will be like for their wives and children when they go to the other side of the border. This is the reason why human traffickers openly act and operate with ease.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Yen Na Commune (Tuong Duong), Mr. Lo Hoai Thom, said that recently, after the police arrested a few human traffickers in this district, they have become more cautious and cunning. Before sending people to China, the traffickers forced the victims to "commit" that they went voluntarily and were not enticed or deceived. This tactic makes the investigation extremely difficult. Some people were arrested, but later had to be released because the victims themselves said that "we" asked "the sisters" to take them to China to find work. Many times, the traffickers hide behind the guise of "recruiting workers" and then taking people across the border.

Another clever trick used by human traffickers is that before leaving, people aged 16 and over fill out a job application and request a temporary leave of absence from the commune police station, saying that they are going to the South to work as factory workers. This way, they can easily fool the police. These people take people straight to Mong Cai Border Gate and illegally cross the border to China.

Huoi Cut villagers said that the above trick is being used by Lu Thi Diep, who often travels between Vietnam and China. Village chief Lu Son Dien added: Only when the women in the village leave without any news, the families are really confused but cannot contact these people anymore. Only when a few people return or when the trafficker hands over money to their families do they know that they have been sold to China.

"I hope human trafficking ends!"

One day in early September 2012, we returned to Don Phuc commune (Con Cuong) where human trafficking used to be a serious problem. The road from the district center to Binh Chuan commune is gradually being completed and is very close to Hong Dien village. So mother Vi Thi May will soon have a nice road to go to the market. But the greatest joy of this young mother is that her beloved daughter Ngan Thi Ung, who escaped the hands of human traffickers and returned from China, has gradually regained her spirit.

The tears no longer fell like the time we met her when Nghe An Newspaper carried out the special topic “Human trafficking pain” at the end of April 2012. I still remember that time she talked to us by the fire in the cold of the end of the season. This time, it was still the same fire, the sky was drizzling, but her mood was no longer gloomy like that day. She said that for a long time, Nghe An Newspaper had become “family” to her, so meeting us again was like meeting relatives.

“Now Ung is completely happy,” she announced. “When she returned, she also told the truth that life away from her hometown is not as happy as the traffickers said.” Thus, the 16-year-old girl quickly overcame her first shock. After her daughter returned, Mr. Ngan Van Tu bought her a flock of ducks to raise in the field. There was a hut to watch the field and a small stream, which was also a place for Ung to calm down. Mr. Tu said: When he heard that Ung had escaped and returned, the person who brought her to China in October 2011, Vi Thi Ha, still threatened her. But from now on, the family will never let their child fall into the hands of traffickers again.



The tearful reunion day of mother and daughter Ngan Thi Ung. Photo: HV

When we visited her house, Ngan Thi Ung was in the fields. Over the phone, her hearty laughter made us feel at ease. “I just hope that people will stop cheating each other and selling them, life will be so much more fun.” She said: “In the future, I want to learn a trade to find a job. Only when I have a stable income can I help my family more.”

Also returning from China in April 2012 was Moong Thi May from Huu Kiem commune (Ky Son). She returned home during the clearing season. For the past few months, her work has been the same as that of many other mountain girls, clearing the fields, sowing rice, and weeding, with almost no days off, but her spirit is more relaxed because she gets to live next to her parents and siblings. Ven Thi Huyen (Mai Son - Tuong Duong) was picked up by Nghe An police officers from Lang Son at the end of April 2012 and has also found a job at a company.

It seems that in places where the authorities have taken drastic action, some human traffickers in Don Phuc (Con Cuong) have been prosecuted, and human trafficking in these areas has tended to calm down. Ms. Luong Thi Lan (Hong Dien village) said: "Thanks to Nghe An Newspaper's involvement and the government's propaganda, now no one listens to the enticements of human traffickers anymore." However, recently in Don Phuc commune, there have been quite a few people returning from China, some of whom even have "Chinese husbands" following them. No one can be sure that these people will not be plotting to lure women to sell them across the border. In addition, some subjects, according to the complaint of the victim's family, who tricked and sold their children to China, are still at large.

Talking to us about the issue of human trafficking, Mr. Kha Dinh Phe - Head of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs of Tuong Duong district said: Regarding this issue, the government rarely has information from the grassroots. Human trafficking rings that are broken up are often discovered by the police. In 2011 and early May 2012, 2 girls escaped and returned. However, there is currently no specific policy for victims of human trafficking. If these people want to learn a trade, the government will create conditions for them to learn a trade.

Ha Phuong - Ho Lai