Vietnam

Selling children into prostitution abroad is rising in southern Vietnam. ("Vietnam Child Sex Trade Rising," Associated Press, 24 April 1998)

Thousands of Vietnamese women are trafficked through the Vietnam-China border by illegal organizers who take them to Cambodia and from there to neighboring countries for prostitution purposes. Vietnamese pimps pretend to court village girls to bring them to the city, and then sell them to brothels. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Vietnamese traffickers sell hundreds of women and children each year in Europe, China, Cambodia and Macau, for prostitution and arranged marriages. ("EU wants more cooperation with Vietnam to end trafficking women, drugs," AFP, 27 February 1998)

Police uncovered a Taiwanese trafficking ring and arrested Lee Min Long, as he left for Taiwan with a suitcase packed with pictures and personal documents of 400 Vietnamese women. According to the police, from 1993 to 1998, Long traveled 23 times to Vietnam to organize a network selling Vietnamese women to Taiwan. Through local accomplices working at karaoke bars, restaurants and hotels, Long found young girls, generally from the countryside, and lured them with the prospect of marriage to a wealthy Taiwanese businessman. ("Women trade to Taiwan cracked down," HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, 15 July 1998)

Many of the prostituted women and children in Cambodia are from Vietnam. (Chris Seper, "Police Sweeps Help Clean Up Child Prostitution," Christian Science Monitor, 8 January 1998)

Prostituted girls, most of them aged 15 to18 years of age, are found in the Svay Pak red-light district of Cambodia. Many girls are much younger. Most of them are smuggled in from Vietnam and all are bound by contracts, which last from six months to over a year. Svay Pak has the largest number of prostituted Vietnamese girls. ("The Street of Little Flowers," rewritten from 'Children of the Dust,' by MIKEL FLAMM and NGO KIM CUC, Bangkok Post, 23 February 1997)

Unofficial estimates say that there are as many as 15,000 prostituted persons in Phnom Penh, and that up to 35% of them have been smuggled into Cambodia from China or Vietman, mostly from the southwestern provinces of Vietnam (Long An, An Giang, Song Be, Kien Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City). Brothel owners pay traffickers from US$350 to $450 (8,750 to 11,250 baht) for each attractive Vietnamese virgin 16 years or younger. Non-virgins and those considered less beautiful are sold from $150 to $170 each (3,750 to 4,250 baht). ("Children of the dust," rewritten from 'Children of the Dust,' by MIKEL FLAMM and NGO KIM CUC, Bangkok Post, 23 February 1997)

One third of 55,000 prostitutes in Cambodia are under 18 and most are Vietnamese. (World Human Rights Organization and UNICEF, "Vietnam Child Sex Trade Rising," Associated Press, 24 April 1998)

Traffickers have admitted to selling women and children for US$250-300 each. (Border Guard Leiutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Hoa, "Vietnam Child Sex Trade Rising," Associated Press, 24 April 1998)

Methods and Techniques of Traffickers

Most women and children trafficked from Vietnam are taken to China and Cambodia, Victims are kidnapped for brothels by deceptive job offers or tourist trips, matchmaking with foreigners who often sell and resell the women abroad. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Marriages entered into by Vietnamese women with Taiwanese, Europeans, Americans and Thais have ended in, the woman being sold and resold in brothels by her "husband" upon arrival to the "husband's" nation. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Official Response and Action

Between September 1995 and March 1997, Vietnamese border guard forces uncovered 121 child trade cases, arresting 186 traffickers and freeing 281 victims including 31 under age 16. (Border Guard Leiutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Hoa, "Vietnam Child Sex Trade Rising," Associated Press, 24 April 1998)

The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai, in July 1998 gave policymakers one month to devise new laws to deal with the increasing child abuse, labor and trafficking. ("Vietnam party chief urges end to child abuses," Reuters, 1 July 1998)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Vietnam Women's Union in Lang Son Province are to launch a province-wide information campaign focused on trafficking in women and children. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the trafficking problem and alert potential victims that trafficking in women and children from Vietnam to China has been increasing in recent years. ("Campaign to stop trafficking of women and children starts," 14 March 1998)

There are 70,000 prostitutes in Vietnam - an old figure that seems far too low given the increasing number of new karaoke bars, massage parlors and discos known for prostitution. (government statistics Keith B. Richburg, "The Go-Go Dancers Haven't Gone," The Washington Post, 15 September 1997)

5% of prostitutes in Vietnam are children, which means that 20,000 children are in prostitution in Vietnam. This rose from 11% in 1991. (Christian Science Monitor, 21 May 1997)

Hotel massage parlors offer special massages, by the females, who earn only tips as they are controlled by the Momma-san. A massage costs $100 per service, but the price goes down as the night goes on. (Keith B. Richburg, "The Go-Go Dancers Haven't Gone," The Washington Post, 15 September 1997)

Policy and Law

The transition in Vietnam to a market oriented economy has left many women unemployed and forced to find any means to survive, including prostitution. (John Chalmers, "Economic Reforms Fails to Benefit Vietnam¹s Women," Chicago Tribune, 9 March 1998)

Vietnam¹s open-door policy for foreign trade and investment initiated in the late 1980s has led to a rapid increase in prostitution and trafficking. ("Vietnam to stick with open-door policy-report," Reuters, 3 April 1998)

Official Response and Action

From 1996-1997, 1,335 people have been arrested since police began a crackdown on prostitution. Ninety-four karaoke bars were shut down, and 500 others suspended. ("Vietnam Police Crack Down on Vice," Associated Press, 10 February 1998)

In early 1996, Vietnamese officials became concerned about the growing problem - prostitution, drugs, and pornographic and violent movies and songs - so the party and government launched a campaign. Unlicensed massage parlors were closed, others were ordered to keep their rooms well-lit and visible from the outside. Karaoke bars were forced to comply with the same regulations. (Deputy Foreign Minister Le Mai, Keith B. Richburg, "The Go-Go Dancers Haven't Gone," The Washington Post, 15 September 1997)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

As high as two thirds of the Vietnamese government officials are known buyers of women in prostitution in, massage parlours, karaoke bars and brothels. Their activities are financed through government agency "slush funds." ("Vietnamese government officials biggest customers for prostitutes," Deutsche Press-Agentur, 2 March 1998)

Child prostitution is on the increase in Vietnam. The military and Communist Party officials have been implicated in the rise. (The International Federation of Human Rights, "International human rights group slams Vietnam," Reuters, 25 July 1997)

Prostitution Tourism

Prostitution is becoming a feature of the burgeoning tourism industry: hotels and tourist companies providing women to male buyers. After Vietnam shifted to a market economy, prostitution became so integrated into trade relations that business deals are often closed with the use of women as incentive or reward to foreign investors, bureaucrats and corporate representatives. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

The bar Apocalypse Now, known for its wartime motif - helicopters painted on the ceilings, with large celing fans serving as the rotor blades, is a favorite among foreigners living here. The bar is well known for prostitution. (Keith B. Richburg, "The Go-Go Dancers Haven't Gone," The Washington Post, 15 September 1997)

Case

A woman was fined US$170 and imprisoned for three years for showing pornographic videos at a café in southern Vietnam, after police seized 20 pornographic tapes at her home. Pornography is called a "social evil" and is banned in Vietnam. ("Vietnam jails woman over pornographic videos," Reuter, 31 July 1997)