VZCZCXRO0247
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0521/01 1390449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190449Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0858
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0619
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0897

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000521 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL CVIS KWMN TIP ELAB SMIG SOCI TW VM
SUBJECT: TIP IN THE MEKONG:  THE EXPERIENCE OF CAN THO PROVINCE 
 
REF: A. HCMC 456 
     ¶B. HCMC 437 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000521  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: During an April visit by ConGen officers to 
the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho, provincial police and 
Women's Union officials reviewed their enforcement and education 
outreach efforts to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP).  The 
officials demonstrated an understanding of the challenges in 
combating trafficking but complained that a lack of resources 
and training prevents an expansion of their modest programs. 
Although accurate numbers are hard to obtain, the need is 
evident:  local press claims that at least 10,000 persons -- 
most from Mekong Delta provinces -- have been trafficked to 
Cambodia in the past.  Women's Union officials also discussed 
their efforts to minimize the impact of the marriage of 
Vietnamese women to foreigners.  End Summary. 
 
Can Tho Police 
-------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In mid-April, ConGen officers traveled to the Mekong 
Delta province of Can Tho to review Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
issues with police and Women's Union representatives.  (Ref A 
reports on the views of a Can Tho-based reporter who covers TIP 
and women's issues in the Mekong Delta.) Huynh Van Hanh, Deputy 
Chief of the Can Tho anti-TIP Department, and Nguyen Huynh 
Trang, Vice Director, Can Tho Police, told us that since 1997, 
37 trafficking victims have returned to Can Tho Province, 34 
from Cambodia, one from Singapore and two from China.  The women 
who had been trafficked to Cambodia were forced to work as 
prostitutes.  Of the 34 returnees from Cambodia, five later died 
of AIDS.  Four left Can Tho province for elsewhere in Vietnam. 
In the Singapore case, a local woman married a Singaporean man. 
About five weeks after she had arrived in Singapore, her husband 
locked her in a room and tried to sell her to another family in 
Singapore.  The woman escaped and fled to the Vietnamese 
Embassy, which repatriated her to Can Tho. The other case 
concerned two women who were deceived and trafficked to mainland 
China.  Can Tho police coordinated with central-level 
counterparts in the Ministry of Public Security and with the PRC 
police to return the women to Vietnam. No further details on 
these cases were disclosed. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The police added that since 1997, they have prevented 
seven cases of trafficking involving 16 people from Can Tho and 
other Mekong Delta provinces. They did not provide further 
specifics. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Police emphasized that they had been fighting TIP well 
before the implementation in July 2004 of GVN Decree 130, which 
codified the responsibilities of government agencies in 
combating TIP.  Since the issuance of the decree, provincial 
police have been given modest new resources -- VND 30 million 
(USD 1,885) in 2004 -- from the central government to fight TIP. 
 However, their budget is insufficient.  They asked for USG 
assistance to provide instruction and training to develop 
anti-TIP programs. They also pointed to the need for more 
information outreach and education, areas that are the 
responsibility of the provincial Women's Union.  (Note:  the 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has provided 
training to police in seven project sites around Vietnam: Hanoi, 
Quanh Ninh, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Tay Ninh, HCMC, and An Giang. 
According to UNODC Technical Adviser Troels Vester, UNODC does 
not have the funding to extend its training to Can Tho. End 
note.) 
 
Women's Union 
------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In our subsequent meeting with the Can Tho Women's 
Union, Chairwoman Lu Thi Ngoc Anh and Vice-Chair Le Thanh Thuy 
detailed the organization's role in combating TIP.  (Note: 
According to Decree 130, the Women's Union is responsible for 
educational outreach to combat TIP and for providing assistance 
to trafficking victims.  End note.)  Of the 19 staff members in 
the Can Tho Women's Union, four are responsible for anti-TIP 
outreach; three volunteers augment this staff. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ms. Anh said that the outreach efforts focus on women 
aged 18 to 25.  Women's Union representatives travel to villages 
to teach vulnerable women and their families how to spot 
potential traffickers and understand their tactics, such as 
offering a target a well-paying job in another province or 
country.  According to Ms. Anh, funding for the outreach comes 
from the GVN and the Asia Society. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Women's Union makes a distinction between victims 
of TIP (women forced to work as prostitutes) and victims of 
abusive marriages to foreigners.  Although overseas marriages 
are legal, the Women's Union dislikes such marriages because of 
potential problems for Vietnamese women.  The Women's Union 
representatives cited a case in Can Tho when a woman thought she 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000521  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
was signing marriage papers with a Taiwanese man.  In reality, 
the woman signed a document in Chinese (which she could not 
read) that obligated her to pay her husband's debts within seven 
years.  The representatives said they believed that the 
phenomenon of Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese men is on the 
decline in the province; the Women's Union claims that it is 
getting better at working with families to stop their daughters 
from marrying foreigners.   The representatives told us they had 
been instructed by the central-level Women's Union to open a 
Marriage Assistance Center, similar to the one run by the 
Women's Union of Ho Chi Minh City, but have not made definitive 
plans yet. 
 
¶8. (SBU) As part of its mission to assist victims of TIP, the 
Women's Union runs a shelter that provides job training, 
consulting, and health checks. The shelter opened in June 2005. 
Thus far, the shelter has helped 14 victims of TIP, two of whom 
are under 16 years old.  Nine victims have returned to their 
families. Victims spend a minimum of two months in the shelter. 
The shelter has enough beds to accommodate up to 18 women. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Women's Union also provides vocational training for 
at-risk poor families in Can Tho Province.  Vulnerable women are 
trained in cake decorating, hair styling, and sewing. We were 
shown a room where 40 young women and one young man were 
receiving sewing lessons.  Two of the students we saw were TIP 
victims from the shelter.  The room contained 48 modern sewing 
machines donated by the Japanese government.  The students were 
making school uniforms that would be given to poor students in 
the province.  The students are provided with food for lunch, or 
10,000 VND per day to purchase lunch if they chose not to eat in 
the shelter (in many cases the lunch money is saved and given to 
their families).  After training, the Women's Union helps place 
students in factories in Can Tho, both private and state-owned. 
The facility had sleeping quarters for 15 persons for those 
trainees too far from home to return at the end of the day. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment: The willingness of the police in Can Tho and 
in HCMC (ref B) to engage on TIP issues is encouraging.  While 
attracting donor funding clearly is part of the motivation, 
there is a genuine desire on the part of the police to improve 
their efforts to develop and implement a comprehensive TIP 
program.  The need is clear:  the Can Tho police assertion that 
they have rescued 16 victims stands in sharp contrast to the 
10,000 persons -- mostly from Mekong Delta provinces -- that 
some Vietnamese recently estimated have been trafficked in the 
past to Cambodia. (Note:  Precise statistics on TIP are 
difficult to obtain.   End Note.) 
 
¶11. (SBU) Comment, continued:  Our interaction with the Can Tho 
Women's Union suggests that provincial authorities in affected 
provinces increasingly are engaged on the issue.  It also shows 
that they have a good understanding of the causes of TIP and 
some of the steps necessary to curb it.  Although modest in size 
and scope, the Women's Union job training and placement program 
provides alternatives for potential victims to stay at home and 
not be lured to travel out of Vietnam to try to find work.   End 
Comment. 
WINNICK