Sex Trafficking in Vietnam

Prostitution in Southeast Asia, primarily due to sex trafficking and slavery, "has grown so rapidly in recent decades (20% annually) that the sex business has assumed the dimensions of a commercial sector, one that contributes substantially to employment and national income" in the region, (Economics, 1999, p. 62). Prostitution is primarily driven by the need for rural poor to make income in places like Vietnam, China, Thailand and others. Approximately 80% of the prostitutes in Vietnam are under age 16 with 86% of them sold to brothels by friends or relatives, (Bartlett, 2005, p. 73). Michelle Kuo (2000, p. 43) reports that the growth in the sex industry in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations is not solely due to poverty, however, but represents "a systematic strategy of economic development" that flourishes to a large degree because of "government neglect to enact specific policies to halt its growth."

The widespread sex trafficking and slavery in Vietnam also supplies China with tens of thousands of prostitutes annually. The rise of HIV infection in the region is second only to Africa, with Western tourism providing another lucrative source of American dollars for underdeveloped nations. This analysis will discuss sex trafficking and slavery in Vietnam, followed by a conclusion that will address measures to stop its growth and undermine its potential health consequences.

There are currently more than 6,000 prost

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anguage is a major barrier for these women and girls that prevents access to healthcare and prevents them from escaping the sex trade. Most of the clients in the SEZ are truckers from both China and Vietnam. Beyrer and Stachowiak (2003, p. 112) maintain that this zone represents a potential epidemic of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, "The epidemiologic situation is strikingly like that in African and Indian trading centers and could have disastrous implications for both China and Vietnam." In both of these trading center regions the rate of HIV and AIDS is staggering and continues to rise. However, the spread of HIV in Vietnam is mainly due to intravenous drug users sharing needles more than it is from prostitution, according to health officials. HIV rates among sex workers in Vietnam are relatively low compared to other Southeast Asian locations like Thailand, hovering at eight percent, (Beyrer, & Stachowiak, 2003). Beyrer and Stachowiak (2003, p. 112) report that there are higher HIV rates among sex trade workers in the Vietnam-Cambodia border zone in the Mekong Delta and several Vietnamese islands in the South China Sea, where sex trade thrives due to fishermen and crews on trading vessels. However, these is

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