Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Three men from the Hmong ethnic group in the mountainous regions of northwestern Vietnam have been arrested for alleged human trafficking, local media reported.
According to the report, local border guards from the two provinces of Ha Giang and Lao Cai, in a joint operation with other functional forces, conducted a raid at a village in Ha Giang’s Xin Man District to bust the illicit system trafficking ethnic minority women to China on Tuesday morning.
Related: Why Covid-19 pandemic may step up human trafficking in Vietnam
Three suspects of the Hmong ethnic group, Giang Seo Vu, 25, Trang Seo Pao, 45, and Pu Seo Tam, 29, were arrested while attempting to transport a local woman through the Vietnam-China border. Their ring is believed to target women from ethnic minorities who were in dire straits.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the traffickers operated the racket in a sophisticated and deliberate manner, with support from Chinese partners in border areas.
The victims were reportedly enticed to begin a romantic relationship with them given a promise of a better future in China. They were invited to eat out, visit their relatives, enter hotels, and go to different places.
The trapped women then lost direction following the traffickers’ instructions. Police are searching for other accomplices, the Tuoi Tre Newspaper reported.
Human trafficking
Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam has an internal trafficking problem with women and children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.
A surge in Covid-19 cases in Vietnam has prompted a spike in human trafficking and smuggling as people become more financially desperate, rights organizations have warned.
Also read: Former victim jailed for human trafficking
Despite Vietnam’s closed borders amid the pandemic, traffickers and smugglers have found new ways to transport people not only within the country but also across borders, they added.
Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children’s are trafficked to the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women are trafficked to the P.R.C., Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages for commercial exploitation or forced labor.
Before the pandemic Vietnam was increasingly a destination for child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. An Australian non-governmental organization (NGO) uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreign tourists in the Sa Pa tourist area of Vietnam alone.