US embassy cable - 04HANOI2404

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/BCLTV, EAP/RSP, INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, KCRM, ELAB, VM, OMIG, TIP, ASEAN 
SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LEADER REACTS TO TIP REPORT 
 
REF: State 185426 
 
1. Summary.  On July 28, Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Vice 
Chairwoman of the External Relations Committee of the 
National Assembly (NA), made an unannounced appearance at 
the USAID-funded Development Alternative Initiative (DAI) 
meeting in Hanoi.  Madame Ninh expressed the GVN's support 
for anti-trafficking programs in the country and raised the 
TIP report.  She noted both the report's lack of a U.S. 
profile and failure to mention the GVN's development of an 
evolving national plan, and stressed the benefits of 
"intermediary agencies" over national law in combating 
trafficking.  End Summary. 
 
DAI meeting 
----------- 
 
2.  The USAID/DAI meeting in Hanoi brought together 
representatives of NGOs working on trafficking to gather 
information and statistics for the purpose of creating a 
Geographic Information Systems map of trafficking activities 
in Vietnam, one of six countries in the Mekong sub-region 
portion of the mapping project.  The DAI group will hold 
another meeting in HCMC "shortly." 
 
Madame Ninh's Speech 
-------------------- 
 
3.  Addressing the 30-person meeting, Madame Ninh recalled a 
visit to the Washington State earlier in the year with a 
delegation of Vietnamese women government leaders. 
Trafficking was one of the items on their agenda.  In 
addition to meeting several NGOs working to combat TIP, the 
delegation also met with Washington State Representative 
Velma Veloria, an advocate for anti-trafficking programs and 
legislation.  During that visit, Madame Ninh had read the 
2004 G/TIP report.  She noted the irony of a congressionally 
mandated worldwide report lacking a profile on the U.S., 
particularly considering that the U.S. was a major 
destination country for trafficking victims.  Madame Ninh 
questioned why the U.S. should "escape scrutiny and not rank 
itself" according to the criteria set forth in the tier 
system. 
 
4.  Mdm. Ninh did not dispute Vietnam's Tier Two ranking and 
said she believed the report to be a "rather well-informed 
summary," but she added that she wanted to address some of 
the criticisms of Vietnam laid out therein. 
 
Evolving National Law Against TIP 
--------------------------------- 
 
5.  Madame Ninh pointed out that Vietnam now had a national 
plan to fight TIP, something the report said was lacking. 
Currently evolving, the national plan designated the 
Ministry of Public Security as the focal agency for fighting 
trafficking.  Deliberation regarding the lead agency had 
been difficult, Madame Ninh said, as each agency had its own 
merits and drawbacks.  Creating a supra-agency to address 
TIP seemed inefficient at this time, she continued.  The GVN 
currently had the vision, program, and political will to 
create an anti-trafficking national plan within its current 
institutional structure, Madame Ninh said. 
 
6.  Madame Ninh also acknowledged that Vietnam did not have 
a national law specifically addressing trafficking, but said 
that this was because there was not an immediate need for 
it.  Addressing the Vietnamese NGOs in the meeting, Ninh 
said, "if you regard this as crucial, inform the National 
Assembly.  The onus is on you."  That said, seeking the 
attention of the National Assembly on the issue would 
require a strong case, as the Assembly was inundated with 
requests on a variety of issues, she warned. 
 
7.  Instead of new laws, Madame Ninh suggested that the 
crucial need in Vietnam was for information campaigns and 
programs to work directly with victims.  The absence of a 
national law against trafficking did not impede the power of 
the Vietnamese people and the GVN to combat trafficking, she 
said.  International efforts were also possible without new 
legislation, she noted: the Parliaments of six countries in 
SE Asia planned to meet in September in Cambodia to discuss 
creating "do-able" guidelines for cooperation in addressing 
cross-border trafficking. 
 
The Need for "Intermediary Agencies" 
------------------------------------ 
 
8.  Sharing her own experience with workers who had 
encountered difficulties overseas, Madame Ninh described 
meeting a group of Vietnamese women at the airport in 
Bangkok.  Without reason, the women were ordered by their 
Taiwan employer to suddenly return home.  Some of the women 
had worked in Taiwan for approximately eighteen months; one 
woman, however, had worked for only a month.  She was 
distressed because she did not have the money to repay the 
15 million-dong (approximately USD 950) debt incurred while 
making arrangements to go to Taiwan.  The story had 
amplified the need to focus on helping victims rather than 
writing new laws, Madame Ninh said.  Another group of 
Vietnamese women had approached her about contributing their 
"small amount of savings" to reduce trafficking to Taiwan, 
but Ninh said she had advised the women to use the money to 
set up micro-credit programs, call centers, and other 
support organizations in Taiwan.  Often, the only points of 
contact for Vietnamese abroad were the foreign companies who 
had hired them, she said. 
 
Recent GVN attention to TIP 
--------------------------- 
 
9.  Ninh said that recent government attention to TIP in 
Vietnam was due to the lobbying efforts of prominent former 
government leaders: Former Vice (State) President Nguyen Thi 
Binh; Former Chair of the Committee for Protection and Care 
of Children, Madame Tran Thi Thanh; and Former Assistant to 
Madame Nguyen Thi Binh in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Nguyen Ngoc Dung.  Madame Dung, now the Vice-President of 
the Ho Chi Minh City Child Protection Association, strongly 
believed public and social activities should complement each 
other, Ninh said. 
 
Back-and-Forth between Ruchira Cupta (DAI) and Madame Ninh 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
10.  Ms. Ruchira Cupta, the lead person for DAI, explained 
that the USG had a separate process for evaluating 
trafficking in the U.S. through the 2000 Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act.  This separate Congressional mandate, 
coupled with the TIP report's function as a report on non- 
U.S. trafficking, were the reasons for the omission of the 
U.S. profile, Cupta said.  Ninh suggested the inclusion of 
some sort of executive summary in the TIP report.  Madame 
Ninh noted that doing so would make the U.S. "look better," 
and that the omission of a U.S. profile made the report seem 
"prejudiced." 
 
T Visa Program Sustainable? 
--------------------------- 
 
11.  Ms. Cupta also pointed out that the Victims Protection 
Act did indeed afford TIP victims protection.  Trafficking 
victims were not considered illegal immigrants, Cupta 
explained.  Through the T visa program, they could remain 
legally in the U.S. and ultimately apply for U.S. 
citizenship.  The first T Visa recipient was now a U.S. 
citizen, Cupta said.  Therefore, "laws can make a 
difference." 
 
12.  Madame Ninh acknowledged the positive aspects of the 
TVPRA and T Visa program, but said there should be no need 
to "dangle U.S. citizenship" in front of trafficking 
victims, "as some kind of reward for migrating to the U.S. 
for work."  U.S. citizenship as protection was not 
"sustainable," Ninh said. 
 
13.  A sustainable solution, Ninh suggested, would be to 
send the trafficking victims home, give them job training, 
and reintegrate them into their communities.  According the 
Ninh, State Rep. Veloria of WA had relayed to the Vietnam 
delegation a story of one Viet Kieu sponsoring 6-7 workers 
and providing the people with jobs in America. 
Acknowledging the person's act of kindness, Mdm. Ninh opined 
nonetheless that such a pattern also was not sustainable. 
 
14. (SBU) Comment: Madame Ninh is by no means the government 
of Vietnam, and her point of view does not represent an 
official response to the 2004 TIP report.  Her acceptance at 
face value of the statements in the report should also not 
be taken as representing the GVN.  Madame Ninh is not an 
expert on the trafficking situation in Vietnam.  What is 
typical of Vietnamese official reaction to U.S reports like 
this one is the complaint that the USG does not rate itself. 
It is good to note that at least some elements of the GVN 
leadership have read and digested the report, and not 
rejected its points outright.  We can build on this 
acceptance in our efforts to convince the GVN to implement 
our suggested action plan (reftel). 
BURGHARDT