By UCA News reporter
In 2020, at age 19, Anh Nguyen Dang was offered an attractive job and better living conditions outside her village in central Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue province.
The well-dressed and well-mannered woman who offered Dang the job in her company was also generous enough to take her along. Her family was assured of regular income.
While journeying to the woman’s house in neighboring Quang Tri province, Dang remembers being offered a drink before ending up being drugged and taken to a casino run by Chinese people in Savannakhet, Laos. There, she was sold for 120 million dong (US$4,800) and forced into prostitution.
For over two years, she was held as a sex slave in Laos.
“I vehemently detest human traffickers for the devastation they wrought on my life and the lives of countless other individuals. Their reprehensible actions condemn us to a living hell on earth, stripping away our dignity and humanity,” Dang said.
She wanted to free herself but was told to pay a ransom of 150 million dong. However, unable to pay the sum or reach out to her family, she remained trapped.
The Vietnamese youngster found herself in the grip of coercion, catering to the desires of gambling patrons against her will.
Dang was released only after Laotian authorities intervened in late 2022.
State-owned media reported authorities cracking down on an astounding 1,832 human trafficking cases and assisting 8,300 victims from 2012 to 2023.
The government action reflected the alarming rise in trafficking victims within the country.
In 2022 alone, authorities identified 255 victims, comprising 102 females, 153 males, and 74 children — an increase from the 126 victims identified in the previous year, which included 114 females, 12 males, and 45 children.
Notably, the incidence of male victims of human trafficking rose sharply from a mere 10 percent in 2020 to well over 40 percent by 2023.
Most survivors, who needed jobs to support themselves and their families, reportedly found themselves trafficked to the neighboring countries of China, Cambodia, and Laos.
Vietnam’s extensive land border, stretching over 4,000km and intertwined with numerous trails, openings, crossings, and shortcuts, provided fertile ground for the proliferation of human trafficking operations.
Many, like Dang, were lured with promises of lucrative jobs abroad or the prospect of marrying foreigners, only to be trapped in a web of online scams, slave labor, forced marriages, sexual exploitation, and drug smuggling.
Some even fell victim to organ harvesting or were forced into paying a ransom for their release. Disabled individuals were subjected to further exploitation, forced into begging, or used as subjects for chemical, drug, or weapons testing, government reports say.
A living hell
Dang said she and the other women from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines were forced to serve as sex slaves and were maltreated by their captors at the casino.
“I did not have a clue about the exact number of sex slaves there, but I was sure there were a lot,” she told UCA News.
“I was forced to sexually serve about 10 customers at the casino from 10.00 am to midnight per day,” Dang recalled, adding that she was also denied food.
Dang recalled being starved and kept in confinement at least six times for failing to serve the required number of customers.
She and six Malaysian women were kept in a prison-like room and forced to provide sex services for gamblers daily.
“We did not have a day off even when we were sick,” she said in tears. “Some were kicked and punched in the face, their noses were crushed, bleeding profusely, for refusing to work.”
In addition to prostitution, the women were also made to serve food, water, cigarettes and alcohol to the gamblers.
Mai Pham is another victim of human trafficking who said she was sold to a wheelchair-bound man in China’s Henan province in 2017.
“I was made to perform domestic chores, cultivate onions, garlic, and corn, and care for the man and his elderly mother. I worked from 4.00 am to 10.00 pm,” Pham said.
The 26-year-old said despite working for them for years, she received no compensation.
“There was a time when I dozed off while spoon-feeding him rice, and he spewed the entire mouthful all over my face. Another time, his mother made me kneel in the cold night because I forgot to wash his feet in warm water,” she said.
She alerted health workers who visited the house during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to her eventual release in Apr 2023.
Migrant smuggling
Sister Mary Tran, who works with trafficking victims , says many people in Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces are lured by “migrant smugglers” promising job opportunities abroad. These provinces are considered “hotbeds” of such illegal activities in Vietnam.
The nun from the Missionaries of Charity Association in Nghe An province said, “Victims are tempted into paying large sums for an escape route out of their poverty by chasing quick earnings abroad.”
She said they are lured by being told about other migrant workers who regularly send money home. However, many end up in hazardous jobs like illegal cannabis cultivation, endure deterioration in health and sometimes disappear completely, leaving desperate families behind, she added.
Tran said survivors face immense physical and emotional trauma. The insurmountable debts and travel expenses further challenge their struggle to rebuild their lives.
The nun who works among local victims of human trafficking, recalled the tragic 2019 incident where 39 Vietnamese migrants suffocated to death in a refrigerated truck in Essex, England while attempting illegal entry.
Most victims were aged 15-44, with 31 from Ha Tinh and Nghe An, and others from nearby provinces. Many had to pay agents over US$20,000 to illegally enter England.
“Some families are still grappling with debt and grief over their loved ones’ deaths,” she said.
Fighting trafficking
Tran said they offer financial aid, vocational skills, and job opportunities to trafficking survivors so that they may use the money for medical treatment, repaying debts, and rebuilding their lives.
“Without stable employment, they’re driven to do whatever it takes, even risking their lives in dangerous endeavors. Our effort is to help them earn money and lift themselves and their families out of poverty,” she said.
Tran said nuns also work to “educate local youths about the dangers of traveling and working unlawfully abroad.”
Another Catholic nun, Sister Mary Nguyen of Lovers of the Holy Cross of Hue, said they are looking after 30 trafficking survivors who suffer from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cirrhosis, cancer, and other serious diseases.
“We also provide emotional and material support to some trafficked women and their children,” she said.
Nguyen said an effective way to fight trafficking is to offer skills training and help young people find stable jobs. It helps protect vulnerable people who suffer from chronic poverty, disease, or ill effects of natural disasters.
“We empower Catholics to protect themselves from trafficking by adopting a healthy and simple life, staying clear of intoxication, drugs and greed, and maintaining vigilance against the deceitful tactics of human trafficking syndicates,” she said.
Dang said she did receive emotional and financial assistance from a local Catholic charity group.
But despite their support, she continues to grapple with the social stigma of being perceived as a prostitute.
“Now, I am employed at a fruit shop and can provide for myself and my family,” she said. “However, the emotional healing might take years.”
She hopes everyone becomes aware of traffickers and they “avoid being trapped.” – UCA News
