CORRESPONDENCE - 85A COMBINED REPORTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM 2012

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Vietnamese longs (equal to US$500- 1,000) in the most flagrant cases. Worse yet, the government has, since 2010, established a number of state - managed agencies in Saigon and the province of Binh Duong to replace those illegal marriage intermediaries, obviously showing that it is still considering women as nothing more than an export commodity for sale but under its control, instead of leaving it in the hands of immoral private persons. In 2011, a number of seminars were held regionally and nationwide on consequences of marriages with foreigners through intermediaries. Beside the government's vague decision made at the end of the year on the formation of inter - branch work teams to deal with the issue, there has absolutely been nothing done to punish the criminals or get this human trafficking business out from the hands of profit - making intermediaries. Meanwhile, the state has tried to blame the pitiful victims for their realistic life style, laziness in working, and desire to marry foreigners for profit... just to deny its social responsibilities for providing its citizens with decent living conditions, and at the same time, hide its dark schemes to allow intermediaries to make profit on the back of these unfortunate women's suffering and debasement. 3. Exploitation of Export Workers In addition to the trafficking in women and children, the issue of export labor under the label of "brides" has come to the public attention only during the last few years. Even the Law on Prevention, Suppression Against Human Trafficking, effective as of March 2011, stopped short at the general concept of "Forced Labor" and failed to admit that people who have been tricked into going abroad to be exploited belong to a form of human trafficking. There are two Vietnam Human Rights Network * Annual Report 2011 kinds of victims in this category: export labor according to state programs, and those tricked by trafficking bands to become labor slaves overseas. According to the Foreigners Management Service, there are about 500,000 workers currently working in over forty countries and territories, mostly in Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and in the Middle East. In 2011, although a number of them have had to be repatriated prior to the expiration of their contracts due to the political upheavals in the Middle East, the export worker force keeps growing through the intermediary companies. Up to November 2011, there had been 81,475 workers going abroad, at an average of 8,000 people a month . 26 The majority of these export workers were victims of intermediary companies that had links with state officials. The victims had to mortgage their properties to pay for the fees charged by the intermediary companies; however, most of them were neglected by these greedy agencies when they were badly mistreated and forced to work awfully hard in exchange for a pittance by their employers. In many instances, their passports were confiscated by the employers, which turned them into detainees living miserably under the strictest control by their bosses. A research report made in 2011 showed that 100% of export workers had to make loans or mortgage their properties to pay for expenses while their wages were not higher than those of their peers in Vietnam, sometimes even lower than free helpers at ports or construction sites', and very hard to be rehired when they repatriate . 28 26 Cuc Quan ly lao dong ngoai nuac (Department of Overseas Labour), http : / /www.dolab.gov.vn /index.aspx ?mid= 1155 &nid = 1720 &sid =11 (accessed 26 Dec 2011). Z' NgLxai Lao Hong (Laborer), "Giam dan lao dong sang Malaysia ", http://nld.com.vn/20110425090339480pl 010cl 011/ 30