VZCZCXRO1422
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0775/01 0940935
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040935Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1371
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0869
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 4676
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6685
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0655
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5477
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 3538
RUEHVN/AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE 3783
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//FPA//
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//ISA/ACHAO//

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000775 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; G/TIP; INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM PINS VM TIP
SUBJECT: VIETNAM: HIGH-LEVEL GVN TIP REVIEW 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  "Complicated developments" in trafficking 
in persons (TIP) in Vietnam (which is coded official 
language for a worsening of the situation) provoked a 
surprisingly high-level conference on TIP in Hanoi that 
involved two Politburo members and numerous other senior 
officials in a review of GVN anti-TIP activities.  Adding to 
the issue's policy importance, TIP was included in the draft 
Political Report of the 10th National Communist Party 
Congress scheduled for April 18-25.  The Prime Minister 
exhorted concerned agencies to take "drastic measures" to 
combat TIP and threatened to hold officials accountable for 
trafficking that occurs in their jurisdictions.  Ministry of 
Public Security officials reported on trafficking routes and 
statistics and indicated that the bulk of trafficking is 
still from Vietnam to China, with Cambodia the second-place 
destination country.  End Summary. 
 
Public Commitment from the GVN 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On March 27, the Office of the Government (OOG) 
coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to 
hold a conference in Hanoi on the national anti-criminal 
program and the anti-TIP plan of action.  The event, which 
showcased a general decline in crime in 2005 as it reviewed 
the implementation of a Government decree on combating crime 
in general and TIP in particular, received high-level 
attention and participation.  Deputy Prime Ministers Pham 
Gia Khiem and Nguyen Tan Dzung (rumored to be the next 
Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, respectively), Minister 
of Public Security Le Hong Anh and Vice Minister and Police 
Lieutenant General Le The Tiem, together with People's 
Committee chairmen from the country's "hotspot" provinces, 
attended the conference.  DPM Dzung instructed those at the 
conference that "complicated developments" in TIP in Vietnam 
require an "intensified crackdown."  Earlier in 2006, Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai ordered that "drastic measures" be 
adopted to stop TIP; in the same instruction, he demanded 
that heads of local governments be held accountable for any 
trafficking problems in their areas of jurisdiction.  (Note: 
According to the Office of the Government, this instruction 
was delivered in writing from the PM through the OOG to the 
relevant agencies, but was not recorded and registered the 
way a formal PM instruction or decree would be, which means 
that, while binding on the agencies involved, it lacks the 
force of law of a formal instruction or decree.  End Note.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) The political determination to combat TIP by the 
Government of Vietnam (GVN) is also reflected in the 
inclusion of anti-TIP language in the Communist Party of 
Vietnam's draft Political Report for the 10th Party 
Congress.  According to a senior official in the Women's 
Union of Vietnam, this is a "big deal" because it is the 
first time TIP will have been named as a priority in the 
"supreme guiding document of the Party."  Separately, MPS 
has been asked to establish a department on TIP prevention 
and control to aid the fight and help the GVN to regulate 
its anti-trafficking programs.  This would be an upgrade 
from the current TIP "dedicated unit" in MPS.  The Ministry 
of Justice has been tasked by the Prime Minister with 
preparing legal amendments to the penal code concerning TIP 
prevention and control in order to "strengthen policing 
activities." 
 
Trafficking in Persons "More Rampant" 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Not only has "the trafficking evil" spread 
throughout the country, but the tactics involved in luring 
women and children have also become more sophisticated and 
difficult to detect, Le Minh Phuong, deputy chief of the Ho 
Chi Minh City Police's Criminal Investigation Division, 
reported in the press.  MPS has so far identified 23 
specific trafficking routes and 105 hotspots nationwide, 
Vice Minister Tiem reported to the conference.  Hotspots 
include Vietnam's major cities, as well as densely populated 
border provinces and perennial migration source areas such 
as Thanh Hoa Province.  Recent cases have involved women and 
children being trafficked to countries such as the Czech 
Republic, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, Macao, Hong Kong and 
 
HANOI 00000775  002 OF 002 
 
 
South Korea, according to MPS contacts, but the largest 
number of victims (70 percent) is trafficked to China, 
according to MPS experts. 
 
Prosecution and Protection Efforts 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to MPS, Vietnam's law enforcement 
agencies have recorded significant results despite the 
increased "complexity" of the problem.  Between 1998 and 
2005, 4,527 women and children were trafficked, MPS stated. 
Out of that number, 3,862 were sent to China, and most of 
the rest went to Cambodia.  An additional 6,418 women and 
children were declared missing during the same period, and 
may also have been trafficked.  In the first quarter of 
2006, 63 offenders in 48 incidents were arrested and 153 
victims were rescued in 34 localities in Vietnam, the 
conference report stated. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to the report at the conference, 
receiving trafficking survivors and reintegrating them into 
their communities have created financial and social issues 
for the relevant authorities.  Despite serious financial 
difficulties, in 2005 Vietnam received and provided 
reintegration support for 444 women and children, MPS 
reported.  In the first quarter of 2006, authorities in 34 
localities have accepted back home 153 victims:  109 from 
China, 34 from Singapore and 10 from Malaysia, according to 
the conference report.  In Vietnam, the Ministry of Labor, 
War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is the point of 
contact for reintegration support for the victims. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Conferences on TIP can be a dime a dozen, but this 
one was different.  The attendance of two Politburo members 
plus multiple sub-cabinet members and the PM's directive to 
implementing agencies to increase the attention paid to the 
problem made this a very important meeting.  The CPV's 
inclusion of TIP into its five-year strategic guidance 
document (the blueprint for all of Vietnam's public 
policies) for consideration at the 10th Party Congress is 
also very significant and demonstrates that combating TIP is 
at the top of the GVN's and CPV's priority lists.  The 
inclusion in the draft Political Report is also vital 
because it ensures that the enthusiasm in combating TIP will 
not fade with the departure of the Prime Minister in May or 
June, but will live on as an element of the Party's long- 
term policy guidance.  The Ministry of Justice's involvement 
indicates that Vietnam shares our concern regarding the 
incomplete TIP legal framework, which some of our 
interlocutors admit poses a significant hassle at times. 
End Comment. 
 
MARINE