Viet Nam - Viet Nam’s economically disadvantaged central provinces are a major source area for vulnerable irregular migrants, including victims of trafficking.

Trafficking in men is becoming increasingly frequent in the country, which last year adopted a comprehensive four-year national plan to fight human trafficking. The provision of sustainable and effective reintegration support services for victims of trafficking forms an important part of that plan.

Now an IOM new project is starting in Viet Nam’s central Hue province, focusing on the establishment of self-help groups. While this approach has previously been successful in northern and southern areas, an innovative element in the Hue project is the planned establishment of a first self-help group for male victims of trafficking.  

The one-year project is being run by the provincial Department of Social Evils Prevention (DSEP) in Hue, in cooperation with IOM and with the support of the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

It forms part of  a broader regional programme funded by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) aimed at enhancing the fight against human trafficking and providing support to vulnerable migrants.

The USD 2.5 million programme, now in its third year, focuses on the most vulnerable migrants in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam.

Following two years of capacity-building with governments, NGOs, employers and migrants, the programme is now at the stage of setting up activities such as the self-help groups, as well as referral networks and reintegration support.

“Self-help groups are innovative, cost effective and sustainable tools in the reintegration process for victims of trafficking. In Viet Nam, men and women who were exploited during their migration and return home empty handed – or even in debt – often face social stigma,” said Florian Forster, IOM Chief of Mission in Viet Nam at the opening of a first training workshop in Hue city on Wednesday.

“Their participation in self-help groups helps them to accept that they are victims who have been tricked, and not losers who let their families down. This knowledge strengthens their self-esteem and lets them get back into the workplace and fully reintegrate into society.”      

For more information, please contact  

Florian Forster
IOM Viet Nam
Tel. +84 9 03450196
Email: fforster@iom.int