Vietnam, Cambodia discuss fight against human trafficking
Vietnam and Cambodia considered closer cooperation to prevent the rising cross-border trade in women and children at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City Saturday.
The Vietnamese officials at the meeting put forth a number of measures, including the establishment of a joint working group to monitor execution of a 2005 agreement on preventing trafficking of women and children.
A Vietnamese report said that police had arrested over 450 traffickers in 2006 and rescued 966 women and children.
Another 750 victims had been rescued in other countries or had escaped themselves.
The crime was most rampant in southern Vietnamese provinces bordering Cambodia, including An Giang, Tay Ninh, Dong Thap, and Binh Phuoc.
Cambodia’s Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs You Ay told the meeting that many of the trafficked victims were forced into sex work.
Cambodia had also become a transit camp from where trafficked victims were sent to neighboring countries and, in some cases, even to Europe and America.
He stressed collaboration by all countries involved – home, transit, and destination – was essential for fighting this scourge.
Maniza Zanan, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Vietnam, who present at the meeting, praised cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia in the battle against human smuggling.
She promised her organization would step up assistance to them in this fight and urged their governments to work more closely to eliminate this crime.
By The Vinh - Sai Gon Giai Phong - January 14, 2007.
|