Blue Dragon is expanding our work to fight human trafficking in central Vietnam

Nghe An is Vietnam’s largest province. It is home to expansive beaches, dramatic mountains and winding rivers – and some of the country’s most remote, vulnerable communities. 

Poverty in Nghe An is widespread, especially throughout the western highlands where ethnic minority communities are scattered among vast and unforgiving terrain. Many villages there are so remote that they are most easily reached by boat. The earth is tough on crops and job opportunities are scarce. 

Because of this hardship, thousands of desperate people from the province leave home every year to look for work elsewhere. On multiple occasions, the International Organization for Migration has identified Nghe An as the Vietnamese locality that sends the most migrant workers abroad. 

Many of these migrants pool their families’ life savings or acquire large debts to be smuggled into Europe. In the process, some of them become exploited and some tragically perish. Vulnerability is greatest for those in the most impoverished areas, where no savings are available, and the riskiest options to migrate are often the only choice. This makes them easy targets for exploitation. The deaths of 39 people in a lorry in Essex is a story that made headlines around the world; more than half were from the province of Nghe An.

Since Blue Dragon conducted its first rescue of a victim of human trafficking in 2005, we have supported over 2,800 survivors of human trafficking. More than 10% of them come from Nghe An. From children enslaved in forced labour, women and girls in sexual slavery and forced marriage, and people trapped in forced online scamming, we have brought people home and helped them reclaim their lives.  

Blue Dragon is making home visits to vulnerable families in Nghe An.

Among the poverty, we have seen people doing their best with what little they have. Community leaders have been mobilising transport, travelling from village to village, to get children back in school. Women’s groups are running small cooperatives, producing wine and managing farm-based livelihoods. But the poverty runs too deep for them to create lasting change on their own – they need help from organisations like Blue Dragon.

Now, with this recent expansion, we are able to implement programs and initiatives – similar to those we run in many northern communities – to prevent people from being trafficked in the first place. 

We are offering scholarships so children have the education to pursue their dreams, and vocational training so young people can gain the practical skills they need to find steady jobs. Trafficking survivors are receiving our one-on-one support, ensuring they can rebuild their lives in safety. And our legal and social work teams are partnering with Nghe An-based authorities to improve their measures against trafficking and exploitation.

Together, we can meet the challenges head on – in a province where the risks are high, but so too is the potential for real, lasting change.