Women Trafficking in Vietnam

When we think about the term slavery today, most people think of it as a past tragic historical event that involved the abduction and exploitation of human beings as labor sources with no freedom or choice. We tend to make the connection that slavery appeared when African slaves were brought to North America to aid in the production of crops. Yet, the reality of "slavery" is that it still exists today, and on an even greater scale than during the 17th and18th century. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), forced labor is "a work or service exacted from a person under threat or penalty, which includes penal sanctions and the loss of rights and privileges, where the person has not offered him/herself voluntarily." Janice Crouse, the executive director of the World Congress of Families IX , states that the crime of human trafficking is now the world's second most prevalent crime (behind drug trafficking). According to Kevin Bales, author of Disposable People, these are more sex slaves today than there were slaves in the 19th century. He estimates that there 27 million people living as slaves worldwide. NCA's (National Crime Agency) CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) reports that between 2005 and 2009, approximately 6,000 women and children were identified as being trafficked from Vietnam. About 3,190 were trafficked to China for the purpose of forced marriage, or to be sexually exploited into brothels. Other victims were trafficked to Cambodia, Malaysia and onwards to the rest of the world. Many experts argue that the causes of human trafficking in Vietnam are associated with socioeconomic factors such as poverty, lack of education and awareness, family conflict, and lack of job opportunities in rural and remote areas. In addition, the demand of Chinese men for wives and the open, shared and difficult to police border between Vietnam and Cambodia is a major cause for the influx of trafficking as well.

There are many susceptibility factors to human trafficking. Although both men and women are vulnerable to trafficking, women and girls are considered more vulnerable because of the unequal gender relations in Asia. Consequently, the increasing demand for for female virgins in prostitution make them become primary targets as well. While men are mostly trafficked for labor exploitation, women are trafficked for both labor exploitation, sex work, and marriage. It is estimated that trafficked women into China accounts for 70% of the total number of trafficked women abroad and 15-32% of sex workers in Cambodia are from Vietnam. Wives from Vietnam are in demand due to China's female deficit and Cambodian society's view on Vietnamese women as more diligent and beautiful. The lure of marriage to a man in a comparatively rich country with a promised payment of up to $5,000 is often too much of a temptation for struggling women and family. Therefore, many women become domestic slaves rather than honored wives.

In both sex and labor trafficking, debt bondage, confiscation of identity and travel documents, and threats of deportation are commonly used to intimidate victims. Vietnam's labor export companies, most of which from affiliated with state-owned enterprises, and unlicensed intermediary brokers have been known to charge workers excess fees to work abroad. Studies have found that many Vietnamese migrants who go abroad for work face high recruitment fees, making them highly vulnerable to debt bondages. Upon arrival in destination countries, some workers are compelled to work in poor conditions for little or no pay despite their incurring debt. Some recruitment companies did not allow the workers to read the contracts until the day they were scheduled to depart the country and some signed contracts in languages they couldn't understand. In 2013, Ms. Hui Danh testified about a sex trafficking and extortion ring that lured young Vietnamese women to Russia with promises of high-paying jobs as waitresses, but instead they were sold to brothels in Moscow. "My sister, Huynh Thi Be Huong, was victimized by a sex-trafficking ring. Be Huong's tragedy began in 2011. She was approached by an acquaintance with the opportunity to travel