“(When) the first friend (was) kidnapped, I was so worried. (I thought) ‘This is not safe. Is anyone going to kidnap me or kill me? How do I live now?’. But after two or three friends were kidnapped, I thought, ‘maybe this is normal? Or maybe (this time) my friend wanted to go?’” 25-year-old Ab Cai from Sapa town, Vietnam, describes.
“(When a girl is kidnapped,) every family will be looking (for her) but everybody knows that, ‘when your girl disappears for two or three days, you won’t find her.’”
Between 2011-2017, the Vietnamese Police recorded approximately 2,700 cases of human trafficking with nearly 6000 victims. Only around 600 ever returned to Vietnam.
“In Vietnamese society, the most common belief is that ‘the victim is guilty’ instead of realizing that the trafficked girls are the casualties of social issues”, Hagar Vietnam’s Project Manager, Dang Thi Thanh Thuy explained. “Many believe that these girls ‘asked for it’, and label them as ‘bad girls’ and that they ‘deserved to be trafficked’, or are ‘lazy’, ‘greedy’ and ‘want to make quick cash’. These labels only deepen the wounds of the girls, and further traumatize them.
To support trafficking survivors’ recovery and re-integration into the community after returning to Vietnam, Hagar provides them with education, vocational training, and psychological therapy among other support services.
Hagar pursues the highest degree of care and protection for each of its clients. To protect the identity of our clients, names have been changed and images do not necessarily represent the individual profiled.
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By partnering with Hagar, you’re supporting survivors to heal from the trauma of severe abuse. Our work is dependent on charitable giving by people like you.
Help us transform lives
Donate now
By partnering with Hagar, you’re supporting survivors to heal from the trauma of severe abuse. Our work is dependent on charitable giving by people like you.
Help us transform lives
Donate now
By partnering with Hagar, you’re supporting survivors to heal from the trauma of severe abuse. Our work is dependent on charitable giving by people like you.
Help us transform lives
Donate now
By partnering with Hagar, you’re supporting survivors to heal from the trauma of severe abuse. Our work is dependent on charitable giving by people like you.