IOM’s Chief of Mission Park Mihyung (second from left) speaks at the workshop (Photo: VNA) Participants at the workshop agreed that the Vietnam BorderGuard plays an important role in the fight against trafficking in persons (TIP)and the provision of protection and support for trafficking victims. Overseeing4,639km of land borders and 3,444km of coastlines, the Border Guard is at theforefront of cross-border crime prevention and control.
After three years of implementation, the project hasachieved a number of significant outcomes that profoundly enhanced thetechnical capacity of Vietnam's border guards, especially frontline officers inhotspot border areas, to better detect, investigate and handle TIP cases, aswell as identify, protect and assist trafficking victims.
Within the framework of this project, the trainingcurriculum on counter-trafficking and victim protection for frontline officerswas developed by the Vietnam Border Guard High Command and approved by theMinistry of Defence for use in training. The Training Curriculum was disseminated to border guard stations and border guard academies in 12 target provinces and was used to conduct 12training workshops for 436 frontline Border Guard officers in 12 targetprovinces in the northern and southern regions. The project also creates aforum for the officers to exchange effective methods, professional skills andpractical experiences that have been successfully applied in retracing,investigating and prosecuting TIP cases.
“I am a strong supporter of this project from the verybeginning and IOM is very proud to cooperate with the Department of DrugControl and Crime Prevention of the Vietnam Border Guard to contribute to enhancingcapacities of Vietnam Border Guard officers, who are at the frontline toreceive, protect and identify returning trafficking victims. Facilitating safe andorderly cross-border human mobility for migrants, while maintaining bordersecurity, supporting border guards’ engagement is one of the criticalcomponents in IOM’ mandate,” Park Mihyung, IOM’s Chief of Mission stated.
“Trafficking in persons is a complex global problem thatrequires a coordinated response. This project is a significant part of IOM’swork to support the Government of Vietnam to just strengthen its bordermanagement, but also contribute to the comprehensive effort under the nation’sHuman Trafficking Prevention and Control Programme 2021-2025 and the NationalImplementation Plan for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and RegularMigration (GCM), of which Vietnam is an active member," she added.
IOM also coordinated with Department of Drug Control andCrime Prevention to conduct end-of-training assessments at six hotspotprovinces including An Giang, Kien Giang, Tay Ninh, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Cao Bangand Lang Son. The assessment results not only provided valuable information onthe ongoing trends and modus operandi of TIP criminals and irregular migrationactivities in border areas but also revealed the challenges that border guardsand victim support agencies must face in implementing processes and proceduresfor the investigation of TIP cases as well as trafficking victim protection andsupport.
The frontline officers who participated in the assessmentalso contributed useful intervention ideas and recommendations to addressongoing obstacles for consideration by IOM and the DDCCP in future cooperation./.
VNA
