A first two-day national workshop on people smuggling is taking
place in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province today organized by the
Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security – Immigration (MPSI),
in cooperation with IOM.

The workshop, funded by the Government of Canada, aims to
enhance information exchange, coordination and cooperation between
government agencies on people smuggling at national and provincial
level.

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 concerning 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 or Australia.

Successful anti-smuggling work requires the coordination and
cooperation of government agencies at different levels;
comprehensive and coherent migration management policies and
practices that embrace regular migration, while effectively
fighting illegal and exploitative forms of
migration.   

Participants at the workshop discussed efforts to prevent and
combat people smuggling and how to address its consequences.
Thirty-five migration and law enforcement officials from the MPSI
and the Border Guards shared their experiences on prevention,
detection of fraudulent travel documents, investigation techniques,
as well as questions related to how to help irregular migrants
stranded in Viet Nam. 

“The workshop is an important step towards addressing
people smuggling more effectively,” said IOM Chief of Mission
Florian Foster. “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 broader regional effort to
enhance capacity and cooperation in Southeast Asia to prevent and
combat people smuggling.

For more information, please contact

Florian G. Forster

IOM Viet Nam

Tel. +84 9 03450196

Email: "mailto:fforster@iom.int">fforster@iom.int