Databank

Vietnam emphasises cooperation to combat human trafficking

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:20:00 +0100

From Vietnamplus

http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Vietnam-emphasises-cooperation-to-combat-human-trafficking/20102/6669.vnplus

A Vietnamese representative voiced the importance of intensifying cooperation among ASEAN member countries in combating human trafficking at an international seminar on human security in Asia and Southeast Asia on February 23.

At the seminar, in Tokyo , Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences referred to human trafficking as a problem that needs to be addressed to ensure human security in Asia .

The associate professor also voiced the need to formulate supportive mechanisms for victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia to help them reintegrate into the community.

Chinami Nishimura, Deputy Minister of the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which collaborated with Tokyo University in organising the event, affirmed that the Japanese Government regards human security as one of the pillars of its foreign policy.

Addressing the seminar, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Dato Misran Karmain emphasised that human security serves as one of the foundations for cooperation and advancement of ASEAN.

He discussed the direct relation between human security and development and the necessary cooperation between ASEAN and Japan to address the matter.

The seminar drew a large number of experts from UN agencies as well as ASEAN member countries./.

Human traffickers sentenced for selling 86 women

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:22:08 +0100

From http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=54469

Four people were sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison in the southern province of Tay Ninh on Wednesday for selling nearly 90 women to Singaporean and Malaysian bidders.

According to the indictment, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen, 53, was the trafficking rings mastermind.

Prosecutors said Yen hired 60- year-old Nguyen Thi Khuan to entice young women in Tay Ninh and other Mekong Delta provinces into leaving for foreign countries with the promise of jobs or marriages to wealthy men.

Yen would put the women up and teach them Malaysian before selling them to a Malaysian named Lee, who was introduced to Yen by her adopted daughters husband, another Malaysian, in 2007. The women were then bought by Malaysian and Singaporean men as wives.
Police investigations showed that Yen earned US$1,000 and paid Khuan VND2 million ($108) for each woman sold to Lee. She also paid Pham Thi Phi, 50, who helped her keep records of the women, VND500,000-1 million ($27-54) a month.

The ring was busted in November 2008 when Tay Ninh Police and the Criminal Investigation Bureau at the Ministry of Public Security caught Yens accomplices carrying out procedures for three women set to leave for Malaysia at Ho Chi Minh Citys Tan Son Nhat Airport.
According to police, Yen had earned VND76.5 million ($4,140) from selling 80 out of 400 women introduced by her accomplices since mid 2007.

Further investigations then found that Khuan also worked for another ring led by 31-year-old Nguyen The
Phong, who had sold six women to another Vietnamese also named Phong in Malaysia and his brother-in-law in Singapore since 2007. The Phong earned VND6 million ($324) for each woman sold to his partners.

Yen got 12 years imprisonment and The Phong was given seven while Khuan and Phi were sent to prison for four and two years respectively. They were all found guilty of human trafficking.

In a separate case, seven women, who were sold into prostitution in Thailand by Vietnamese citizen Vo Thi Hong, who was arrested in July 2009, returned to Vietnam last Friday.

The women, who were sent to Thailand eight months ago, were rescued by Vietnamese Embassy workers in Thailand in cooperation with other organizations and Thai investigators.

* This is a preliminary trial concerning to judge women traffickers in Tay Ninh province. Some of the dependents are relevant to lure and traffic eight victims who were rescued in Thailand and six of eight victims were repatriated safely to Vietnam on December 23rd 2009 thank to cooperation of Tay Ninh police, Criminal Investigation Bureau under Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, Alliance Anti Traffic (AAT), Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand and Department of Special Investigation of Thailand.

Women trafficking ring to Malaysia for prostitution was broken

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:40:00 +0100

From vnexpress news
http://www.vnexpress.net/GL/Phap-luat/2009/11/3BA15FF3/

Be promised to have a shop assistant job in abroad with salary from 20 to 30 millions dong, however, the girls from Can Tho city were forced to meet customers every day. If refuse, they were beaten savagely and not allowed to have meal, even locked in a dark room.

In the afternoon on November 21st, according to investigation agency of Can Tho Police, the Police in coordination with Ministry of Public Security arrested Nguyen Thi Thuy (25 years old, living in Soc Trang province) when she was in Tan Son Nhat airport to go abroad.

According to the police, Thuy is a prime suspect of the women trafficking ring to Malaysia. It was difficult to arrest her during the last time because she often changed her place.

Previously, the investigation agency has also prosecuted and captured four suspects in custody include: Nguyen Thi Ne (55 years old), Nguyen Thi Chinh (age 57), Van Phu Ro (46 years old) and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Diep ( 44, Ros wife, living Thot Not district, Can Tho City) for "women trafficking".

Based on initial investigation, about July 2008, the police received letter of denunciation from the people about women trafficking ring to Malaysia for prostitution which was led by Thuy. The woman got in touch with some people in Can Tho to seduce and take these girls in the Mekong River Delta to abroad for prostitution.

By the introduction of shop assistant recruitment in shop or restaurant with attractive salary from 20 to 30 million VND and even they deposit 500USD before hand as her salary for her family with the promise that the women will be sent money back to family every month, the traffickers has lured a lot of girls.

However, after arriving in Malaysia, these girls were taken to a brothel. They were forced to serve from 2 to 5 customers every day. If refuse to do, they were beaten and not allowed to have meal and locked in the dark room.

At the present, the case is under investigation by the authorities agencies.

US funds new project to combat human trafficking

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:22:09 +0200

From thanhniennews.com

The US has provided $500,000 for a two-year project to combat human trafficking in the Mekong Delta, the US embassy announced on Tuesday.

The Countering Human Trafficking in Vietnam project is being funded through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be executed by the Asia Foundation.

They will work closely with the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences of the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Community Learning Center, to implement safe migration educational activities in An Giang and Can Tho.

The program will provide students and other young people with information and skills to help them steer clear of trafficking schemes in their search for jobs or when considering marriage proposals far from home.

In Vietnam, the highest percentage of trafficking victims is among women and men of low education, between the ages 18-40, who are actively seeking work and income opportunities.

By the end of the project, it is anticipated that 40,000 students and other young people will be trained and about 200 government officials and teachers will be better equipped to advise young people on safe migration issues.

The project will also help improve shelter services for returned victims of trafficking.

To this end, the Asia Foundation will work with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to provide policy guidance for shelter management and shelter staff to provide essential services and support to victims of trafficking.

MANY YOUNG WOMEN IGNORANT ABOUT SEX AND PRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:13:18 +0200

From Vietnamnet.com

VietNamNet Bridge - Many young Vietnamese women still dont know how they were born while many others panic during their first period, according a survey by Kimberly Clark Vietnam.

The survey of 300 young women between 16 and 24 was carried out in Vietnam with only ten questions about the female body covering menstrual cycle, sex organs, and productive health. However, only 3 percent had all correct answers and up to 85 percent of women said that they lacked understanding about their bodies.

Up to 70 percent of girls said that wearing a bra could cause cancer. Up to 62 percent didnt know what the hymen is and 77 percent could not answer questions about pregnancy and sex.

Even girls over 20 years old still thought that they could get pregnant from swallowing sperm.

Many could not explain about changes in their bodies or why they suffer from pain during periods.

Students said they were too shy to talk about or to ask about sex. However, they were most likely to talk to close friends or their mothers.

Dr. Huynh Van Son from the HCM City Teacher Training University said his previous survey also showed that of 100 high-school students, less than 10 percent understood their own bodies.

Son said: They often read or hear words like vagina, penis or period but they dont feel comfortable using these words so they replace them with others.

He said many young girls of over 10 called to his consulting line to say: Im very scared. Blood runs from my body for two days but I could not tell anyone.

Meanwhile older girls became pregnant, stopped having periods but thought that they had just put on weight.

He added: Adults try to hinder or dont explain clearly the facts about sex or sex organs to children and it is very harmful. Children become very shy and they dont understand about the normal workings of their own bodies. This may lead to practices that can harm their health and even their life.

According to the Vietnam Family Planning Association, Vietnam is among three countries with the highest abortion ratios in the world, with 1.2 to 1.6 million cases a year. Up to 20 percent of the women having abortions are still teenagers.

Son said that one of the reasons causing this situation is that knowledge about sex and productive health is not officially taught at schools.

80% of parents are favorable to physical punishment at school

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:08:03 +0200

In an online article publish on the 24h.com.vn website; the journalist has committed a survey on “whether we should use physical punishment at school or not?” Surprisingly, 80% of the readers are favorable for this solution. Revolted the journalist explain all the negative psychology effects sense by the student (humiliation, lose of self-esteem..) when punish physically.

The article can be read in Vietnamese at:
http://www15.24h.com.vn/news/detail/46/252007/Co-nen-dung-don-roi-de-danh-hoc-sinh.24h

WOMEN FREED FROM SEX SHOP

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0200

From Bangkok Post
Writer: KING-OUA LAOHONG
Published: 22/08/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Officials of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) rescued eight young Vietnamese women from forced prostitution at a karaoke shop in a hotel in Betong district of Yala province yesterday.

DSI deputy director-general Narat Sawetanant said DSI officials rescued eight Vietnamese women aged 17-21 from Kiss Me karaoke shop in Holiday Hill Hotel on Phakdi Road in Betong district, Yala.

Pol Col Narat, who is also the DSI spokesman, said the women were confined on the second floor of the karaoke shop and were forced into prostitution.

DSI officials also arrested Lang Chunhui, a 46-year-old Chinese, with a list of aliens, three bank books and a notebook recording wage payments.

She was suspected of being a procurer at the karaoke shop which is believed to be a front for prostitution.

The DSI is working on the return of the eight Vietnamese women with the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand.

Pol Col Narat said the raid at the hotel in Yala was launched at the request of Vietnamese police who had approached their Thai counterparts through the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand.

Previously,Vietnamese police had arrested a gang of human traffickers in Vietnam and learned that Vietnamese women had been lured into forced prostitution in Thailand.

Human traffickers kept the passports of their Vietnamese victims and forced the women into prostitution.

The people who ran the karaoke shop are ethnic-Chinese Malaysians.

DSI police are looking for three more suspects who are believed to be involved.

Pol Col Narat added that officials at the Lao embassy in Thailand had also asked the DSI to rescue Lao women lured to forced prostitution in Thailand.

Parents seek answers after children abducted

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0200

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/10/china.stolen.children/index.html
August 10, 2009

By John Vause
CNN

DONGGUAN, China (CNN) -- Whenever Deng Huidong sees a little boy around 3 years of age, she can't help but wonder if he's her son. Her son, Ye Ruicong, was snatched by human traffickers more than a year ago when he was just 9 months old.
Parents outside the home of activist Deng Huidong in southeast China, hold banners with pictures of abducted children.

Parents outside the home of activist Deng Huidong in southeast China, hold banners with pictures of abducted children.

"I imagine how tall he would be, how fast he could run," Huidong said. "I take photos of boys who are about the same age to see; this way I can recognize him if we ever meet one day."

Huidong believes Ruicong was sold, possibly within hours, to a family without a son looking for a male heir.

Males come with a premium price tag in China. During a videotaped confession, a woman caught trafficking children two years ago told police that boys can sell for up to $1,200, girls for just more than $200.

Ruicong was gone in an instant. Recalling the abduction, Huidong said a white van slowly drove by while she was just outside her home with her daughter and son. The van stopped and reversed to the Deng household. The doors opened and a man leaned out and grabbed Ruicong. The van then sped off.

"It all happened within seconds; they didn't even get out of the car.

Huidong gave chase on foot, screaming. A stranger on a motorcycle offered to help and together they chased the van until they reached a police car.

"I went in that damn police car but after a only a few seconds, they took a sudden turn down another road. I asked why but they just kept silent. I was crying and asking; they simply didn't reply. Later at the police station, I asked why and he told me he was off duty, so it was some one else's responsibility to catch the traffickers."

Despite repeated requests by CNN, the police involved refused to comment.

"We were really angry with the police," Huidong said. "Our son was snatched and they simply did nothing. It was like my lost son is less important than a dog."

Other parents whose children were lost have also complained of police indifference. Like Zhang Chunxiang, whose son went missing five years ago.

"Nobody helped us. The police did not think it was a big deal; it was November. It was not until December when they started to investigate."

Chen Fengyi's 4-year-old son was abducted while playing outside the family shop.

"The local police said our child had strayed by himself. Our entire family looked for him until dawn, I went back to the police station and knelt down to them but they didn't care, they kept saying 'the child went astray, look for him yourself.' The reason why they wouldn't open a case file was because there was no one who saw the abduction, nor was there video surveillance of the child being taken."

Police again declined to be interviewed.

But the man in charge of stopping human trafficking in China did agree to talk.

Chen Shiqu, director of the Anti-Human Traffic Division of the Public Security Ministry, confirmed that in the past if there was no evidence a child had been abducted, then police did not have to open a case. But now the law has changed.

"Local police have been told to react as soon as they are alerted and these cases are now being treated as a criminal offense," Chen said. "There were cases (in the past) with no witnesses, or security video available, police officers would help look for the missing child and investigate but the case wasn't treated as a crime. But now they're all treated as crimes."

Chen would not comment on specific cases, only saying the claims by parents in this report were the exception.

"The few cases you mentioned will be solved according to procedure."

Even when abduction has been caught on security camera video, there have been charges that the police have been slow to act. Lele was 3 years old when he was taken from a square in the city of Shenzhen, all caught by security camera video, but his father Peng Gaofeng says it took police eight days to watch this tape.

"They didn't say anything after they watched the video. They just copied it and said it was confidential. I thought they would try to find my kid with the video, but I never heard anything for two months. I asked the policemen and they said this case was confidential"

More than a year later, Lele remains missing, and his father says he is treated like a dissident.

"During sensitive times, like Children's Day, the government forces me to leave town ... they were afraid I would organize some activities like searching for kids. It's always like that."

Police in Lele's case did not respond to CNN's request for an interview.

Chen did not say how many children and how many women are annually trafficked in China, saying only the total for last year was 2, 256 -- roughly divided evenly between children and women.

He disputed -- without saying why -- the U.S. State Department estimate that between 10,000 and 20,000 women and children are trafficked each year in China; he disputes the view from the United Nations that anecdotal evidence suggests the official numbers are low.

"Police stations have recorded every case of kids missing and trafficked," Chen said, "so we don't think your data are valid."

In 2005 the Committee on the Rights of Children said the Chinese government numbers almost exclusively refer to the number of rescues, not the number of kidnappings.

Chen said police have launched regular nationwide crackdowns; rescued babies have been shown on state-run television. There's a new most-wanted list of the country's worst traffickers, he said, and 11 out of 20 have been arrested. Chen also cited something parents of missing children have been asking for: a new DNA database operating in parts of the country, matching rescued children with their parents.

"The appearance of children missing or stolen changes so that even their parents have difficulty in recognizing them," Chen said.

The parents of the stolen children also have complained that the law does not punish the buyers, providing the child is not mistreated. As long as that doesn't change, they say, there will always be a market with traffickers eager to do business.
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As for Deng Huidong, the mother of Ruicong, she said thoughts of a family reunion are too painful.

"These days I just keep thinking that my boy is being taken care of by a kind-hearted family. I could give my son up as long as they really like him, and just tell me he is living a comfortable life."

Philippine embassy employee found sprawled in a pool of blood

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:05:58 +0200

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/8/nation/4483692&sec=nation

Saturday August 8, 2009

By ANDREW SAGAYAM

KUALA LUMPUR: A senior official with the Philippine Embassy was murdered at his home with multiple head and body injuries in his apartment.

Finardo G. Cabilao, 52, the head of social welfare department of the embassy, was found sprawled in a pool of blood in the hall of his Casa Ria apartment here in Taman Maluri yesterday.

He was believed to have been repeatedly assaulted and beaten with blunt objects by more than one attacker.

Police ruled out robbery as a motive as Cabilaos cash and valuables, such as camera, lap-top, watch and other belongings were left intact. The case is investigated as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

At 11am, several Philippine embassy officials rushed to Cabilaos home after they received a call from his wife in Manila, and had suspected something amiss when he did not turn up for work.

It is learnt that the wife had asked the embassy to check on her husband as Cabilao never failed to call her every morning since he began working here several years ago.

The officials arrived at Cabilaos unit on the first floor and found the front grille gate unlocked. They discovered the body in the hall and alerted the police.

City CID chief Datuk SAC II Ku Chin Wah said police found a broken wooden chair in the hall believed to been used by the suspects to beat Cabilao.
His body was taken to the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for a post-mortem.

SAC II Ku said a neighbour claimed that a couple visited Cabilao just after 11pm on Thursday.
The neighbour told us that he heard Cabilao and the couple got into a shouting match.

He claimed the couple then stormed out a little later and sped off in a car, SAC II Ku said.

He urged anyone with information to contact the Rakan Cop Hotline at 03-2115 9999 or SMS to 32728.

Ho Chi Minh city police raid illegal bride parade for South Koreans

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:24:02 +0200

From Vietnamnet.vn on July 8th 2009

VietNamNet Bridge - Police in HCM City on July 7 busted an illegal marriage brokerage that was parading 51 women in front of five potential South Korean husbands at a private house in Binh Tan District.
The women, aged 18 to 33 years, were taken to a nearby police station in Binh Tan District, with the five men, Korean broker Kil Young Hee, interpreter Vo Thi Truc Ha, and four Vietnamese brokers, including Vu Thi Bach Yen, owner of the house where the parade took place. Authorities have ordered the 51 women to return to their hometowns.
According to police, the Koreans contacted Vietnamese broker Nguyen Quang Mau in Tan Phu District earlier this month, asking for a meeting to select some Vietnamese wives.
Mau and his Vietnamese partners, Yen, Duong Quoc Thai and Tran Thanh Phong, then allegedly selected the women from middlemen in Binh Tan and Tan Phu districts, who had brought young prospective brides from poor farming families in the Mekong Delta.
Police said Phong, Yen and Thai all had previous convictions for illegal marriage brokering.
The brokers sell each woman for US$10,000 with only $500 of that going to their families while the rest gets divided up between the brokers, with Yen taking the largest share, the newswire VnExpress said Tuesday.
Brokering marriages for fees is illegal in Vietnam, where matchmaking can only be conducted by non-profit centers run by provincial womens associations and charities.
The government in January announced a plan for the nations first matchmaking firm in HCMC to prevent the abuse of Vietnamese women by foreigners.
HCMC police in April caught a South Korean man and his sister trying to choose a Vietnamese wife from 23 women.
In March the police raided a similar parade but only after three Korean men had fled with three women they chose from 69.
Another case was busted in early February when 31 Vietnamese women were paraded before two Korean men.
Several studies have revealed that the number of Vietnamese women marrying foreigners, mostly from East Asian countries, has surged in the past decade.
Many of those marriages, arranged through unauthorized matchmakers, result from the womens desire to have a better life and help their destitute families in rural areas.