Vietnam, China push forward with human trafficking fight

The annual meeting on cooperation in implementing the bilateral agreement on human trafficking prevention and combat was co-chaired by Major General Nguyen Phong Hoa, Deputy Director General of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security’s Police General Department, and Chen Shiqu, deputy inspector of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Along the Vietnam-China borderline, traffickers made use of lax entry and exit procedures and local residents’ disadvantages and credulity to abduct and sell women and children to China.

Illegal and unplanned immigration to China have exposed many local people to human trafficking, according to a report at the meeting.

Authorised agencies of Vietnam and China have uncovered some rings trafficking Vietnamese people by road or air to China, Russia and some Eastern European countries to force them to work at nail shops or grow narcotic plants.

The two countries’ public security and border guard forces have maintained information and delegation exchanges through which they have gained firm grasp of the situation and coordinated to crack down on human traffickers and save victims, as in line with the anti-human trafficking agreement and the countries’ partnership.

In 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, they busted 195 cases of trafficking humans to China that involved 378 traffickers, saving 490 victims.

At the conference, participants discussed prioritised activities to carry out the agreement this year, along with criteria and process for verifying and repatriating trafficking victims.