The Women’s Union from the central province of Quang Tri is cooperating with its counterparts from Laos’ Savannakhet province and Thailand’s Mukdahan province to combat human trafficking, especially that of women.
Their representatives took part in a seminar held in Quang Tri on June 20 with the title ‘Preventing and Fighting Human Trafficking
Participants delivered speeches about human trafficking across the Vietnam-Laos border and suggested measures to improve the effectiveness of coordination amongst relevant agencies.
They also shared their experiences in raising public awareness of the issue and assisting victims to reintegrate into the community.
Women’s unions from the provinces have recently stepped up efforts to improve their methods of education and train their members in skills to prevent human trafficking.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Public Security, 2,560 cases of human trafficking involving 5,750 victims have been discovered in Vietnam since 2005.
In recent times, relevant agencies have found a number of trafficking rings that sold women to Cambodia and Thailand for prostitution.
In Quang Tri province alone, 28 women and children have been trafficked to Laos
Vietnamese women rescued from Malaysian trafficking ring
Malaysian police raided a four-storey restaurant in Sunway, Kuala Lumpur, early in the morning of March 23 and arrested three local men and a Vietnamese woman suspected of being members of a human trafficking ring.
The victims said they had been told by the traffickers that they would have high paid jobs as waitresses but, in fact, they were forced to work as prostitutes.
The victims said they had been told by the traffickers that they would have high paid jobs as waitresses but, in fact, they were forced to work as prostitutes.
The ring offered the young women the options of prostitution, working in hotels, or marrying local men to earn money to pay for their airfare and other costs it incurred to bring them to Malaysia, said Abdul Jalil Hassan, a Malaysian official for fighting vice.
According to initial investigations, the human traffickers were completing procedures for two of the women to marry local men, each of whom would pay 18,000-20,000 ringgit (VND120-140 million) for the marriage.
The suspects in the case are being held for further questioning while the victims will be sent to a witness protection centre after undergoing medical check-ups.
Sixty-eight Vietnamese guest workers employed by a company in the Malaysian state of Penang have claimed to have no pay and work permits renewed as stipulated by contract.
Vietnamese Vice Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, Trinh Vinh Quang, told the Thanh Nien daily that most of these workers are women, who came to Malaysia to work for Asmanna Sdn Bhd through a Vietnamese labour agency in Ha Tinh and its Malaysian counterpart in Penang state.
These workers were employed by Asmana to clean hospitals, buildings and public areas in the Penang capital of George Town with a monthly wage of 546 ringgit (equal to VND3.7 million).
Asmana is responsible for renewing annual work permits for the workers.
Malaysian company’s breach of contract
In February 2012, the workers said they were not paid and their expired work permits were not renewed.
The case was highlighted as Penang state assemblyman Koay Teng Hai on March 16 visited a double-storey house where 42 female Vietnamese workers aged 30-50 were living temporarily.
Malaysia’s The Star website published photos of these women sobbing while talking about their plight.
The Star quoted these women workers as saying that their Malaysian agent had treated them as ‘slaves’ for about 20 months, reduced their wage from 50 ringgit per day to 25, and held their passports. As of February, they had received only 20kg every three days to eat.
Mr Koay had reported the case to the Malaysian authorities as well as the Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia. An official of George Town police, Gan Kong Meng, said the case was still under investigation.
On the morning of March 18, all Vietnamese workers and a number of Nepalese workers in the same plight were sent to a protection centre in Kuala Lumpur as ordered by the magistrate’s court.
Many workers willing to work in Malaysia
Vice Ambassador Trinh Vinh Quang told the Thanh Nien newspaper via telephone that some information on the Malaysia press was not accurate and that the Malaysian employer Asmana had to bear main responsibility for the case.
Quang added that Asmana and the Vietnamese labour agency had given the workers some money in advance.
On February 14, Vietnamese Counsellor Nguyen Tien San sent a letter requesting Asmana to comply with the terms of the labour contract it signed.
On February 26, San had a tripartite working session at Asmana headquarters with the participation of the Vietnamese labour agency, VIHATICO.
Forty-five of the 68 Vietnamese workers mentioned above prefer staying to work in Malaysia, but the rest want to return home as soon as possible, Quang said
