Solar lamps in the fight against trafficking in Vietnam

June 12

NGO Blue Dragon has installed 108 solar lights to help improve security and prevent trafficking in northwest Vietnam. The organization worked with communities to install lights in three districts of Vietnam's Dien Bien province from May 2023 to March 2024.

According to the US State Department's 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Vietnamese government identified 255 victims of trafficking in 2022, including 195 victims of labor trafficking and 14 victims of sexual exploitation.

Children and young people from disadvantaged and poor backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, according to a 2019 survey, which noted that around 5.6% of children in Vietnam may have trafficking-related experiences.

Dien Bien's poverty rate is 34.5 percent, making it one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. With a population of almost 635,000, it is home to many disadvantaged ethnic minorities such as the Thai, Koh Mhu and Hmong communities.

Bordering Laos and China, Dien Bien is mountainous and isolated, with some villages not connected to the national electricity grid. Traffickers sometimes exploit Dien Bien's dim lighting, targeting their victims in the dark. Carlota Torres, Blue Dragon's media relations manager, told FairPlanet that many children in the province take steep, winding dirt trails to get to school and by the time they arrive home , it's already nighttime.

According to her, this poses many risks for children, especially girls. There are boarding schools in the area. However, these schools often require students to remain there, for example by living at least 7 kilometers from the school. Due to security risks and travel difficulties, some children stop going to school.

The lighting installation project was a significant community effort to address this issue. Blue Dragon staff worked with around 250 villagers and 50 youth union members to install the lights near schools and in residential areas in three districts. The team installed nine lights in Tuan Giao, 23 in Muong Ang and 76 in Dien Bien Dong.

An anti-trafficking committee set up by the organization reported that the lights had already dawned to help prevent a trafficking crime from occurring in a commune. A group of four men, according to the committee, arrived in the village, presumably intending to coerce a young woman they had approached on the street into a forced marriage.

“The council said this was all happening on the street where we had recently installed the lights, so a neighbor saw what was happening and alerted the police. The four men were escorted out of the village by the police and the young woman ultimately suffered no harm,” Torres said.

In addition to installing the lights, Blue Dragon took other steps to encourage children in Dien Bien to return to school. Torres said the organization works with teachers to visit the homes of students who have stopped attending classes. Blue Dragon discovers the specific difficulties of each family to help them during these visits. Support includes providing students with books, uniforms, backpacks, boarding money and bicycles to make school travel easier. The organization also helps parents develop stable income by creating farms or small businesses.

Over the past year, Blue Dragon has helped 193 children in Dien Bien return to school, 63 of whom come from the communities where the lights were installed.

Image by Adina Voicu.