Children protest trafficking, labour

HANOI – Donning the red scarfs of the patriotic Young Pioneers group, Vietnamese children demanded schooling and protection in a meeting with regional policy makers fighting child labour and trafficking.

“We need to be given protection, education and fair treatment,” a boy from the group said on Wednesday at a hall draped with children’s paintings, poems and articles about their dreams and their lives. “Let your voice be heard and stop the trafficking in children and women,” added a girl, reciting another point in a 15-item list from the 150 young participants.In the first forum of its kind organised by U.N. agencies and charity groups the children met for four days this week to discuss the problem amongst themselves and with justice and police officials.Co-organised by the International Labour Organisation and non-profit organisation Save the Children UK and joined by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the Vietnam meeting kicked off similar ones to be held in China, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.”Child trafficking and child labour remain serious problems in Southeast Asia,” a statement from the organisers said, adding that the new approach to the issue was to involve children.”In Vietnam… children themselves are rarely consulted and their voice seldom heard on these issues,” said the statement.While accurate figures on the abuses are not available, officials say “a few thousand” case files that were opened in the past decade were just “a small faction” of the total number.State media in June cited police reports as saying 1 758 Vietnamese women and children were trafficked abroad in 2003, mainly to China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and only 870 of them had managed to return.Poverty, family disruptions and easy travel across the borders with China and Cambodia are among the reasons Vietnamese children are sold to brothels or to rich families, officials say.Participants of the forum included several young victims whose identities were guarded by the organisers, who declined interview requests.”The forum is important because on this occasion it is the young people themselves who are speaking,” Anthony Bloomberg, Vietnam representative of Unicef, told a news briefing.Children make up less than 20 million of Vietnam’s 81 million population.- Nampa-Reuters”Let your voice be heard and stop the trafficking in children and women,” added a girl, reciting another point in a 15-item list from the 150 young participants.In the first forum of its kind organised by U.N. agencies and charity groups the children met for four days this week to discuss the problem amongst themselves and with justice and police officials.Co-organised by the International Labour Organisation and non-profit organisation Save the Children UK and joined by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the Vietnam meeting kicked off similar ones to be held in China, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.”Child trafficking and child labour remain serious problems in Southeast Asia,” a statement from the organisers said, adding that the new approach to the issue was to involve children.”In Vietnam… children themselves are rarely consulted and their voice seldom heard on these issues,” said the statement.While accurate figures on the abuses are not available, officials say “a few thousand” case files that were opened in the past decade were just “a small faction” of the total number.State media in June cited police reports as saying 1 758 Vietnamese women and children were trafficked abroad in 2003, mainly to China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and only 870 of them had managed to return.Poverty, family disruptions and easy travel across the borders with China and Cambodia are among the reasons Vietnamese children are sold to brothels or to rich families, officials say.Participants of the forum included several young victims whose identities were guarded by the organisers, who declined interview requests.”The forum is important because on this occasion it is the young people themselves who are speaking,” Anthony Bloomberg, Vietnam representative of Unicef, told a news briefing.Children make up less than 20 million of Vietnam’s 81 million population.- Nampa-Reuters