Anti-Trafficking in Vietnam – What is it?
Every year hundreds of people are identified as victims of human trafficking and are returned back to the Vietnamese community (Tran, Le & Tran, 2020). Many additional victims return by themselves and therefore remain unidentified (Tran et al., 2020).
Human trafficking can affect children of any age, gender or socioeconomic status, and result in both developmental, physical, and mental implications that may last for a short-term, long-term or have a sustained effect for generations (Wood, 2020). Financial stress and family dysfunction can place children at increased risk of trafficking (Wood, 2020).
Life after human trafficking can be challenging for many survivors who face psychosocial adjustment challenges (Le, 2017). Not only do they have to deal with the trauma experienced as a result of the trafficking, but they must also cope with the circumstances that contributed to their trafficking vulnerabilities (Le, 2017
Despite a wide range of support from the Vietnamese government in addressing and supporting victims of human trafficking, significant gaps remain (Tran et al., 2020). Therefore, it is important that these psychosocial adjustment issues be appropriately managed and supported.
What does RTCCD do?
RTCCD aims to provide knowledge and skills to social workers in the provinces near the border with China to better enable them to provide psychosocial support to women and children who have experienced or are at risk of human trafficking or exploitation
Psychosocial support refers to a form of counselling involving a combination of components of client-centred counselling and problem-solving counselling.
Our goal is to provide culturally appropriate rehabilitation services to victims to allow them to successfully reintegrate into the community and be reunited with their families or be placed in appropriate foster care.
Activities of RTCCD
From 2018 to 2021, RTCCD, in collaboration with HealthRight International and with the generous funding from Boeing, have responded to the need to address human trafficking in Vietnam by developing and implementing the “Assisting Child Trafficking Victims in Vietnam” Project. In line with the priorities of RTCCD in addressing the needs of victims of human trafficking or exploitation and developing social worker and para-social worker capacities, the following activities were implemented:
- Development of training courses aimed to enhance the skills professionals working with trafficked or exploited children and youth, in collaboration with RTCCD and HealthRight International. To support social workers following training, a Facebook page and social networking platforms have been established to enable professionals to exchange information and share experiences from their work with children and youth at
- Strengthening collaboration with Hagar International, the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation and KOTO to support trafficked vulnerable children and
- Engaging RTCCD’s Green Pine Paediatric Clinic in providing psychosocial therapeutic services to victims including individual and group counselling and short training course for women and teenagers who are on risk of human trafficking referred from other non-government organisations.
Anti-trafficking efforts by RTCCD increased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, involving additional learning modules and training activities. These included, being positive parents during COVID-19 to mitigate the risk of hash punishment and abuse of children as well as abduction and kidnapping prevention of primary school children.
What are the outcomes of RTCCDs work?
The training programs have been well received by participants, whereby 96% have indicated that it will be useful in their work with victims of trafficking and exploitation
One of the evaluation respondents noted
“I have received a lot of knowledge in this training course and loved the activities has been taught by the experts. The activities are easy to apply in my line of work. The translators and the preparation process were amazing. I really wish RTCCD will continue organizing other useful courses for people whose work is related to child protection, to enhance our skills”.
The collaborative efforts employed throughout these activities have strengthened partnerships between the agencies of Green Pine Clinic, Hagar International and the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.
In the last 6 years, SWPDC have developed several well-received and culturally sensitive training modules, placing them in an ideal position to address these particular issues in the future.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS (TAB)
Social Work Professional Development Centre (SWPDC)
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References
Le, P. D. (2017). “Reconstructing a Sense of Self”: Trauma and Coping Among Returned Women Survivors of Human Trafficking in Vietnam. Qualitative Health Research, 27(4), 509–519. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316646157
Tran, T. H., Le, T. H., & Tran, T. P. D. (2020). Support Trafficking Victims through Inter-Agency Cooperation in Vietnam: Achievements and Limitations. Asian Journal of Criminology, 15(4), 321–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-020-09318-z
Wood. (2020). Child modern slavery, trafficking and health: a practical review of factors contributing to children’s vulnerability and the potential impacts of severe exploitation on health. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 4(1), e000327–e000327. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000327