Father Anthony Luong holds a candle during a Mass
CNS photo/Kham, Reuters Seán Cassin
The Irish Embassy in Hanoi has an incisive and challenging comment on its website about Vietnam’s economy. It reads “high rates of malnutrition are often masked by impressive economic development. In Vietnam, stunting still affects almost one in four children, and among ethnic minority groups this reaches almost 40%.”
I read on in high expectation that this will lead into the equally shocking reality of Vietnamese young people who are trafficked in thousands from the country.
All related to the economic boom. Like Maggie Thatcher’s fallacy that “rising tides raises all ships”, Vietnam has a proportionate underbelly of poverty and destitution that tragically only raises the ships of the myriad human traffickers who are reaping as much as $30,000 per young person trafficked.
Economic hardship drives human trafficking.
I asked Ms Elisa Cavacece, Deputy Head of Mission/Head of Development at the embassy if Ireland’s trafficker criminals in this slave trade would warrant a remedy measure and inclusion in their soon to be published strategic pan for the region. We await their reply.
The Essex container deaths are directly related to the impoverishment of their villages. Ha Tinh, where half the 39 who died came from, had its entire fishing villages devastated by the Formosa steel plant. In addition to cyanide, the government said the factory dumped phenols and iron hydroxide into the sea, creating a toxic mix.
The UK Home Office and the Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland did nothing when approached in London by Dasatt (Development & Services Anti Trafficking Training) to intervene to stop the risky migration from this province four years ago.
Dasatt Anti Trafficking works on the front line of these poorer villages in Vietnam to prevent and divert young people from the risky labour migration that leads to being trafficked.
We are asking the Irish Embassy to promote policies in their strategic plan that put the trafficking of youth from source villages in the spotlight.
We are asking them to assist Dasatt in going into more villages to provide our skill training that enable kids to either stay at school or come aboard our skills training that can guarantee local employment after six months.
Dasatt is appealing to the Irish Embassy under its present Reducing Humanitarian Need Policy to please include responses to the growing numbers of young people being trafficked out of Vietnam.
Sean Cassin is Chief Executive Officer of Development & Services Anti Trafficking Training (Dasatt), www.dasatt.com