Establishing a State-supported hotline on preventing and fighting human trafficking activities is crucial to give better services for victims, according to the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Adolescents (CSAGA).
According to the CSAGA’s representative, Trinh Thi Ly, the centre had started to give consultancy services in 2001 and has worked with relevant agencies and organisations to rescue many victims and help them re-integrate into their communities.
Statistics from the centre showed that the number of phone calls in the first 21 months of operation of the first hotline (1800-1579) had reached 31,150. Of them, 55 percent wanted to know about safe immigration, mostly for export labourers or foreign-related marriages, 27 percent asked about State policies on procecuting and punishing human traffickers and finding assistance for victims, 15 percent called for urgent support, such as finding temporary shelter or to seek help from embassies and non-governmental organisations; and 3 percent needed help reintegrating into the community.
The new hotline – (04) 3775 3927 – has received 318 phone calls in the first three months of its trial operation this year.
According to the CSAGA’s director, Nguyen Van Anh, in spite of the increasing phone calls, the centre was still facing difficulties in accessing victims and receiving information from authorities.
Van Anh said that the centre had tried its best to supply free consultancy services so that any victims or their families could easily access the hotline – even subscribers who had no money in their accounts or those who used public telephones without phonecards.
Maintaining the operation of the hotline free of charge was a large challenge, as “about 70 percent of the phone calls are not serious and inflate the centre’s bills,” she said.
Besides, a lack of cooperation between State authorities and agencies and the centre had also affected the ability to cover and update new information on the issues, she added.
“With support from the State, the centre and the hotline will have legal status and can call upon more cooperation from authorities involved to give better services for those in need,” Van Anh said.
She said that a professional data system should be set up in the future so that the centre would be able to supply information on human trafficking for the State and for anti-human trafficking programmes.
A recent survey from the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department for Crime Prevention showed that in the period of 2004-09 there were about 679 suspected human traffickers in 182 key areas across the country. About 22,000 women and children were found missing and tens of thousands of people were illegally emigrated./.
According to the CSAGA’s representative, Trinh Thi Ly, the centre had started to give consultancy services in 2001 and has worked with relevant agencies and organisations to rescue many victims and help them re-integrate into their communities.
Statistics from the centre showed that the number of phone calls in the first 21 months of operation of the first hotline (1800-1579) had reached 31,150. Of them, 55 percent wanted to know about safe immigration, mostly for export labourers or foreign-related marriages, 27 percent asked about State policies on procecuting and punishing human traffickers and finding assistance for victims, 15 percent called for urgent support, such as finding temporary shelter or to seek help from embassies and non-governmental organisations; and 3 percent needed help reintegrating into the community.
The new hotline – (04) 3775 3927 – has received 318 phone calls in the first three months of its trial operation this year.
According to the CSAGA’s director, Nguyen Van Anh, in spite of the increasing phone calls, the centre was still facing difficulties in accessing victims and receiving information from authorities.
Van Anh said that the centre had tried its best to supply free consultancy services so that any victims or their families could easily access the hotline – even subscribers who had no money in their accounts or those who used public telephones without phonecards.
Maintaining the operation of the hotline free of charge was a large challenge, as “about 70 percent of the phone calls are not serious and inflate the centre’s bills,” she said.
Besides, a lack of cooperation between State authorities and agencies and the centre had also affected the ability to cover and update new information on the issues, she added.
“With support from the State, the centre and the hotline will have legal status and can call upon more cooperation from authorities involved to give better services for those in need,” Van Anh said.
She said that a professional data system should be set up in the future so that the centre would be able to supply information on human trafficking for the State and for anti-human trafficking programmes.
A recent survey from the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department for Crime Prevention showed that in the period of 2004-09 there were about 679 suspected human traffickers in 182 key areas across the country. About 22,000 women and children were found missing and tens of thousands of people were illegally emigrated./.
