At the working session (Source: VNA) Addressing a working session with representatives from local authorities, departments and sectors on April 13, deputy head of the National Assembly’s Justice Committee Nguyen Van Pha urged Can Tho to intensify campaigns to raise public awareness of relevant laws to increase public vigilance.
While hailing efforts made by the city’s agencies in addressing crime, he asked for closer coordination among relevant departments and sectors to tackle human trafficking and to provide legal and financial support to victims of the crime.
According to a report from the municipal People’s Procuracy, the number of human trafficking-related crimes surged in Can Tho recently, especially in Thoi Lai, Vinh Thanh and Co Do districts.
As many as 16 cases of human trafficking were reported in the city from 2011-2016, with 129 victims, mainly women and children.
Colonel Nguyen Van Thuan, deputy director of the municipal Police Department attributed the situation to the naivity and economic difficulties of locals in rural areas, saying human traffickers take advantage of these people.
Victims are usually brought to China and Malaysia to work as labourers or prostitutes, he said.
Tran Thi Xuan Mai, director of the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said her agency has coordinated with other agencies to raise public awareness of the crime.
Attention was also given to organising vocational training programmes and providing loans to help victims find jobs and improve incomes, she said.
However, Mai also mentioned difficulties in the work, saying that in many cases, traffickers were foreigners or overseas Vietnamese and ineffective coordination among localities made investigations difficult.-VNA
VNA
