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The cluster of countries around the Mekong River in Asia hosts one of the world’s busiest migratory regions. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children cross borders each year in the hope of well-paid work or better opportunities.
It is their hope that makes them vulnerable to human trafficking. Promises are broken, people are tricked, threatened or forced, and the cruel trade in human lives continues.
The ILO estimates over 1.3 million people have been trafficked into forced labour in Asia, representing around 55% of the world’s trafficking industry.
Increasingly, governments and humanitarian agencies recognise the importance of working with the Mekong as a region. To combat the causes, the perpetrators and the effects of trafficking, strategies and solutions need to cross the same borders as the migrants.
The regional response
World Vision's Mekong Delta Regional Trafficking Strategy project is researching and addressing the issues of trafficking in five countries simultaneously - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.
From country policies to community attitudes, from skills training to trauma counselling, this regional approach is helping to identify who is at risk and take the right steps to protect them.
Cambodia is keen to shed its reputation as a sex tourism destination where “anything goes”.
World Vision has partnered with the Cambodian government to establish a sex crimes database spanning the capital Phnom Penh plus five provinces.
The database provides police with timely information on suspected rapists, paedophiles and traffickers.
Concerned citizens, organisations and victims have also responded well to a government telephone hotline, reporting offenders in Phnom Penh and three other regions known as trafficking 'hotspots'.
Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and many young people, including children, cross the Thai border in search of greater opportunities.
Research by World Vision into patterns of migration in villages close to the Thai border is making it easier to pinpoint the extent of trafficking. A total of 44% of parents whose children have left them admit they don't know where they are. Of those who return home, half say the experience was terrible; 40% report being locked up and 13% report they were raped.
Based on the findings of this research, World Vision will now focus on intensive awareness campaigns in communities at risk, including training with village leaders on reducing trafficking and rejecting traffickers.
Vietnam has two distinct patterns of trafficking. One goes west into Cambodia and Thailand to fuel the sex trade, the other north into China and Taiwan for forced marriage and servitude.
A World Vision survey in six key trafficking areas has revealed the need for effective communication on both of these patterns of trafficking. Many people in these areas were unaware of the extent or definition of trafficking. They did not know about the anti-trafficking laws they could use to protect themselves and their families.
World Vision is setting up a network of community trainers in these districts, to ensure the right information is getting through. The first round of training is now complete, with many volunteering to be trainers and key contacts on the issue within their communities.
As word spreads, local communities will become stronger at refusing, and even reporting, traffickers who have gone unchallenged in the past.
Thailand passed anti-trafficking laws in 1997 and has been praised for its ongoing commitment, in conjunction with leading NGOs like World Vision, to address the causes of internal and cross-border trafficking.
Many of Thailand's most vulnerable people are from Myanmar, living in migrant communities along the border. Unwilling or sometimes unable to return to their home country, their reduced rights and opportunities make it easy for traffickers to deliver them into conditions of exploitation in a variety of industries.
World Vision is working closely with these migrants to provide employment alternatives, like small businesses, which will keep them close to home and empower them to strengthen their communities from within.
At World Vision Children's Clubs, children learn about child rights, supporting their friends and leadership skills. They are also invited to have their say on what makes a good community; ideas have included night school in communities where children work to help their families, or library centres where they can learn and play in a safe environment.
Myanmar passed its anti-trafficking law in early 2005, making it easier to apprehend traffickers and work with victims of trafficking.
Reintegration of trafficked people into their former communities can still be a lengthy and at times challenging process.
For many, the shame of having worked in the sex industry means they must keep their past a secret.
Limited income opportunities, damaged self-esteem and community alienation all increase the risk that a person may be trafficked again.
World Vision case workers help individuals adjust into former or new communities, ensuring they have the support to begin a new life safe from the threat of trafficking.
The Mekong Delta Regional Trafficking Strategy is making it easier for countries to take an integrated approach to their anti-trafficking work.
But there is still much to be done before these five countries can truly say they are responding regionally.
With this in mind, one of the most important aspects of this innovative project is the tracking and sharing of successes and learnings, both within World Vision and with other NGOs working in the area.
On its completion in 2006, this campaign will incorporate its findings into similar initiatives to create an even stronger response to trafficking in South East Asia
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