On the human trafficking issue

From: Vsg [mailto:vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Nicolas Lainez

Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2019 10:22 PM

To: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] On the human trafficking issue

Dear Joe, Calvin and list,

This event is, indeed, a tragic incident. It is everywhere in the news as suspicions emerge that many victims come from catholic districts in Nghe An province. Below is a list with the most recent news clips.

It is unlikely that this accident will change the current modern slavery/trafficking/criminalizing approach adopted by the British government and anti-trafficking NGOs like Anti-Slavery to frame undocumented migration from Vietnam (and other countries) to the UK. In fact, the opposite may happen as the accident reinforces the idea that ‘evil’ smugglers and traffickers exploit poor and defenseless migrants, which as Joe said, absolves the British government of any responsibility. A reinforcement of modern slavery and criminalizing policies will make things even more difficult for Vietnamese migrants, especially those who will attempt to cross the Channel in the future.

For those interested, I wrote a short piece about this topic in 2017 (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/modern-vietnamese-slaves-in-uk-are-raid-and-rescue-operations-appropria/). There are also several reports about undocumented migration from Vietnam to the UK and repatriation from the UK to Vietnam. However, we are lacking solid research based in sending areas of central Vietnam and elsewhere.

Best wishes,

Nicolas Lainez, PhD

CASE / NUS

France / Singapore

Le 27 oct. 2019 à 05:51, Joe Buckley <248264@soas.ac.uk> a écrit :

This is extremely upsetting news. There have been a couple of articles in the Guardian over the past two days that begin to implicitly question the ‘modern slavery’ narrative pushed by the UK government; a narrative which conveniently absolves the British state of any responsibility for its hostile environment policy. The problems are much deeper than Vietnamese people simply being tricked into becoming victims of trafficking. Many know that they will face dangerous journeys on the way to the UK, and poor conditions and debt bondage when they arrive, but accept this as they have few other choices:

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/oct/25/trafficked-vietnamese-and-the-lure-of-uk-nail-bars-and-cannabis-farms

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/oct/26/they-know-they-might-die-vietnamese-refugees-on-why-they-risk-dangerous-journey

Best,

Joe Buckley

PhD candidate in International Development, SOAS, University of London

Vietnam Labour Update Newsletter

On Sat, 26 Oct 2019 at 15:12, Cau Thai <cvthai75@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear List,

Some members may be interested in this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/25/vietnamese-family-fears-daughter-among-essex-lorry-victims

The victim's last text message is heartbreaking to read.

According to "2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery", the top 3 countries on the list are: Albania, Vietnam and China.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2018-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery

Calvin Thai

Independent Researcher

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