An Giang, July 21

On Thursday the 21st of July 2016, IOM Vietnam in coordination with IOM Cambodia assisted the repatriation of four victims of trafficking from Cambodia to their hometown in Soc Trang via the K’am Samnar/Vinh Xuong border gate in An Giang province.

The clients, all of whom were female, including a 17-year-old girl, were rescued by Cambodian police in early May and referred to IOM office in Phnom Penh by the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights.

The four women, Huong, Xuan, Hoa and Mai, were from the same village in the rural area of Soc Trang. Coming from poor families of the Khmer ethnic minority, none of them had access to proper education, and without finishing primary school, none had ever had formal employment. The women’s only income came from peeling Chinese chives flowers, gathering firewood and taking down bamboo trees to sell at the village market. As such, they could barely make enough for survival. Therefore, when the relative of a neighbor came to the village to recruit ‘workers for a factory in Binh Duong province’, the women decided to take this chance hoping to get a better income to support their families. They were taken to Cambodia on 29th April 2016, and forced to work as prostitutes in a brothel in Phnom Penh.

After being rescued by the police, the women were allowed to stay in a shelter while the Vietnamese Embassy procured travel documents, and a family assessment was done by IOM Vietnam to ensure the safety of their return.

The repatriation of the women were attended by representatives of the Vietnamese authority (Department of Immigration, Ministry of Public Security, Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, An Giang and Soc Trang provinces’ Departments of Social Vice Prevention), Cambodian authority (Immigration Police and Social Affairs officers), and IOM officers from Cambodia and Vietnam.

IOM Vietnam will provide medical examination upon return. A cash grant will also be provided to each woman to help support them getting back on their feet.

*Personal details have been changed by IOM to protect the identity of our clients.