US embassy cable - 04HANOI786

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000786 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/BCLTV, EAP/RSP, INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, KCRM, ELAB, VM, OMIG, TIP 
SUBJECT:  NEXT STEPS ON TIP IN VIETNAM: LEGAL REFORM 
 
REF: 03 HANOI 2323 
 
1. Summary:  The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has the outline 
of a plan of action to reform TIP legislation in conformity 
with UN standards and to deal with the problem more 
effectively.  The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is on 
board but has some concerns about implementation.  The plan 
is a direct result of a USG-funded TIP assistance project. 
End summary. 
 
U.S.-FUNDED UN PROJECT MAKES IT POSSIBLE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The USG-supported UNODC project "Preventing and 
Combating Trafficking in Persons in Vietnam" is on budget 
and on schedule and has delivered its first results: a 
completed assessment of the TIP-related legislative and 
regulatory framework in Vietnam in comparison with the UN 
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and 
Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of 
Migrants.  In a workshop March 15-16, a wide range of 
participants discussed the results of the assessment and the 
implications for the future.  UNODC worked closely with the 
MOJ to produce the legal assessment, which was one of the 
key outputs of UNODC project FS/VIE/03/R21, funded with USD 
288,200 of G/TIP money.  UNODC's partners from MOJ carried 
out the main work on the assessment, led by Deputy Director 
General Nguyen Cong Hong of MOJ's Department for Criminal 
and Administrative Legislation. 
 
3.  (U)  DDG Hong told poloff March 15 that there was high- 
level political support for the project within the MOJ 
partly because it was consistent with Deputy Prime Minister 
Pham Gia Khiem's instructions to the interagency community 
in September 2003 (reftel) but also because the project was 
compatible with Vietnam's larger legal reform goals.  As MOJ 
Vice Minister Hoang The Lien said at the beginning of the 
workshop, "trafficking in persons has become a painful 
problem that the state and party have recognized and are 
committed to resolving." 
 
HIGH LEVEL ATTENDANCE 
--------------------- 
 
4. (U) Troels Vester, program officer at UNODC with 
responsibility for the R21 project, said the wide range of 
relatively senior officials who attended the workshop was 
indicative of GVN support for the initiative.  Represented 
at at least the Departmental Deputy Director General level 
were: MOJ; the Criminal Police and Legal Departments of MPS; 
the Hanoi People's Court; the Border Army; the Vietnam 
Lawyers' Association; Vietnam National University; the 
Department for Social Evils Prevention of the Ministry of 
Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA); the Committee 
for Population, Family, and Children; the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs; and the Vietnam Tourism Administration.  In 
addition to GVN officials, there were many representatives 
from international organizations and NGOs, including UNICEF, 
the ILO, IOM, the Asia Foundation, and the French-Vietnamese 
Legal House.  At the closing dinner, Deputy Director General 
of the General Department of Police Major General Cao Ngoc 
Oanh praised the project, endorsed its stated goals, and 
pledged police cooperation on trafficking in persons. 
 
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS AND A SIX-POINT ACTION PLAN 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
5. (U) The legal assessment reviewed Vietnamese law in the 
context of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized 
Crime and Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling 
of Migrants and identified each area where Vietnam needed to 
change or enhance current law to improve its effort to 
combat TIP.  According to Hoang Van Lai, National Project 
Coordinator for the project (and simultaneously an MPS 
Colonel assigned to Vietnam's Interpol office), the key 
recommendation/conclusion of the legal assessment was that 
"there is a need for a comprehensive system of legal 
instruments as well as social, economic measures and common 
efforts of society to prevent the potential for and 
eliminate the root causes of the phenomenon of trafficking, 
and to create safe conditions for the victims.  In addition, 
because of the transnational nature of trafficking, the 
prosecution of traffickers cannot take place solely at the 
national level, but requires bilateral and multilateral 
cooperation among relevant national law enforcement 
authorities.  Therefore, there is a greater need to 
harmonize relevant domestic laws and other regional and 
international legal bases to create conditions for regional 
and international cooperation in this matter." 
 
6. (U) In his presentation during the workshop, DDG Hong 
identified the six points of focus that the GVN had taken 
from the assessment as a kind of "action plan" for legal 
reform related to TIP.  They were: 
- Harmonize Vietnamese law with relevant international 
conventions; 
- Agree on a definition of trafficking and specific criminal 
acts of trafficking as well as a mechanism for interagency 
cooperation to allow the investigation and prosecution of 
traffickers; 
- Establish the legal authority for the protection of 
witnesses and victims of trafficking; 
- Facilitate the repatriation and reintegration of victims 
of international trafficking and resolve problems relating 
to legal jeopardy for trafficking victims; 
- Promote international and regional cooperation to combat 
TIP; 
- Address the problems at the source of trafficking in 
persons: poverty and difficult economic circumstances. 
 
7.  (U)  DDG Hong told poloff that, of the six points of 
focus, some could be dealt with by "closing gaps" in the 
Penal Code.  This would be a "quick" solution and could be 
accomplished by means of a circular from the Standing 
Committee of the National Assembly rather than full 
amendment of existing legislation, he said.  Other changes 
would be "medium term" and would involve creating or 
changing legislation directly affecting TIP; this could 
happen "reasonably quickly, perhaps in 6-18 months," Hong 
added.  He added that deeper structural changes - resolving 
contradictions within the legal code, negotiating legal 
assistance treaties with other countries, or ameliorating 
the socioeconomic root causes of trafficking - were problems 
requiring a "long-term approach."  Despite the different 
timeframes for action, Hong promised that "we are working on 
all of these problems." 
 
MPS CONCERNED ABOUT IMPLEMENTATION 
---------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) The mood at the workshop was optimistic and positive, 
with the exception of Tran Dinh Nha, Director General of 
MPS' Legal Department.  Nha was critical of Vietnam's past 
efforts to implement international conventions and 
agreements that it had signed and ratified, and said that if 
Vietnam's accession to the UN Convention Against 
Transnational Organized Crime were to have any effect at 
all, the legislative changes would have to be accompanied by 
operational changes, a political commitment to 
implementation, and dedication of scarce resources to the 
problem.  Despite the cautionary tone of his remarks, Nha 
later said that he still believed that the legal assessment 
was useful and necessary, and that signing and ratifying the 
UN Convention and associated protocols were positive steps. 
"If Vietnam signs the protocol it may not be implemented," 
he noted, "but if Vietnam does not sign the protocol, it 
certainly will not be implemented." 
 
9. (U) Comment: UNODC, working with a Canadian legal 
consultant, facilitated MOJ's comprehensive program for 
legal reform with this assessment.  The associated workshop 
brought together the rest of the interagency players and 
appears to have achieved their buy-in to MOJ's plan.  MPS' 
concurrence with the plan and the participation in the 
workshop of the Legal DG as well as the head of MPS' new 
anti-trafficking unit will help ensure that MOJ's reforms 
will have interagency support, since MPS has the lead in the 
interagency TIP effort.  Post will forward a copy of the 
English language version of the assessment, as well as a 
matrix of the areas identified for reform and recommended 
solutions, to EAP/BCLTV, EAP/RSP, INL/AAE, and 
G/TIP.BURGHARDT