China and Vietnam extend cross-border cooperation on anti-trafficking to launch of joint communication campaign.
DONGXING, GUANGXI OF CHINA, 3 JUNE 2004.
Government delegations from Vietnam and China, accompanied by officials, school teachers and students, communication workers, community members and the media today launched a joint communication campaign to combat trafficking in their border areas.
This new campaign, launched at ceremonies on both sides of the border, marks another milestone in a collaboration dating from 2001 when UNICEF offices in both countries worked with their government counterparts to increase cross-border collaboration on anti-trafficking. From the organizing of joint field trips, information exchanges and rescue and repatriation schemes, activities have since been extended to the strengthening of both enforcement and legislative measures, including through the harmonizing of national laws with International conventions and standards. Border liaison offices have also been set up in both countries for the exchange of information and experience at regularly-held monthly meetings.
The trafficking of girls over the Vietnam-China border is not a new problem since the two countries normalized relations in 1989, but in recent years the re has been evidence that the girls have been getting younger and more are being sold into illegal prostitution, rather than as wives as in the past. The sheer size of the illegal immigration problem has also been increasing, for example with an estimated 60,000 Vietnamese illegally crossing the border into Guangxi Province of China between 1998 and 2001.
UNICEF Regional Director Ms Mehr Khan addressed the campaign launch in Dongxing on the Chinese side of the border. Calling this bilateral cooperation the most active in the East Asia and Pacific region, Ms Khan told the audience that the new campaign would help educate vulnerable women, children and parents to protect themselves and also “help to change attitudes, social and cultural, in which trafficking can take place. Women and children must be valued as people with rights, not commodities for trade”.
Mme Huang Qingyi, the Vice-Chairperson of the All China Women’s Federation, affirmed in her address that “the trafficking of women and children is a serious violation of human rights. It is a complicated problem which has to be tackled bilaterally.to achieves substantial results. I believe that, through the joint efforts of China and Vietnam, the trafficking of women and children will be suppressed and eventually eliminated through the cooperation of the women’s federations and partner organizations in both countries’.
Bilateral cooperation between China and Vietnam to address trafficking in their border areas is already achieving results. Within one year of the outset of cooperation, the number of Vietnamese girls rescued and repatriated only in Dongxing city rose to 141, compared with 15 in 2001. While 7 traffickers were arrested in that same year, within a year the figure had risen to 33 (22 from Vietnam and 11 from China).
The new anti-trafficking communication campaign has been jointly developed on both sides of the border by teams systematically assessing, development of communication strategy, and prioritizing available approaches and channels. The aim has been to develop an integrated series of messages which extend from advocacy and social mobilization through to programme communication at the community level.
The campaign appeals to communities to recognize the seriousness of trafficking as an abuse of human rights, to unite together to outlaw the crime within their communities and to give greater attention and care for the victims of trafficking. The new communication campaign reflects the reality that when it comes to protecting the rights of women and children, there can be no borders. The need
instead is for communities, backed by their governments, to work closely with law enforcement agencies to create an environment within which the rights of all children and women are systematically protected.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Mr. Charles Rycroft (English), Tel: (86-10) 65323131 ext 1301
Ms. Liu Li (Chinese & English), Tel: (86-10) 65323131 ext 1303
Fax: (86-10) 65323107
