Viet Nam - A two-day national workshop on counter-smuggling policy is taking place in Hanoi this week, organized by  the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security – Immigration (MPSI), in cooperation with IOM.

Funded by the Government of Canada, the workshop aims to enhance the capacity of Vietnamese government officials to formulate and implement effective counter-smuggling policies within the context of mixed migration flows.

Participants at the workshop are discussing efforts to develop effective policies to prevent and combat people smuggling. International anti-smuggling experts from IOM, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Regional Support Office of the Bali Process are working with 50 migration and law enforcement officials from MPSI and the Border Guards, looking at relevant international and regional strategies to counter human smuggling within the broader context of migration management.

“This workshop is an important step towards addressing people smuggling more effectively,” says IOM Viet Nam Chief of Mission Florian Forster. “Viet Nam has undertaken great efforts to fight human trafficking over the last decade, but addressing people smuggling has become an additional challenge.”

The national workshop is part of a regional effort to enhance capacity and cooperation in Southeast Asia to prevent and combat people smuggling.

People smuggling has seen a steep rise over recent decades and today accounts for a significant portion of irregular migration around the world. Unlike human trafficking, it does not necessarily involve exploitation, coercion or violation of human rights; yet it often exposes migrants to vulnerable situations and the risk of subsequent exploitation.

In recent years Viet Nam has seen worrying signs of irregular migration flows: cases were reported where criminal networks have used Viet Nam as a destination, source, and transit country for people smuggling, with final destinations as far away as North America, Europe and Australia.

“Successful anti-smuggling work requires a balanced approach: between the protection of migrants and developing the regulatory and procedural framework to detect, investigate and prosecute those perpetrating the crime of human smuggling,” says Forster.

For more information, please contact

Florian Forster
IOM Viet Nam
Email: fforster@iom.int
Tel.  +84 903 450 196