In-depth
Illegal cross-border marriages
  • | dtinews.vn | April 26, 2011 12:09 PM

>> Marriage mirage: Vietnamese women marry foreigners

Some foreign and Vietnamese brokers have set up trans-border networks that allows men in other countries to choose Vietnamese wives.

Creating jobs and enabling women in rural areas to improve their lives is key to fighting illegal human trafficking.

An illegal "wife-picking" session was busted in Ho Chi Minh City. Young girls came with hope to become married in South Korea

The first choices for most of the women are often places like South Korea and Taiwan, but a large number also go to mainland China. The frequency and number of these arrangements has been rising in recent years.

Northern Hai Duong Province reported 4,600 such cases. The figure in Lang Son Province is 4,800 and in Thai Binh, it is 4,200, Major-General Do Kim Tuyen, Deputy Direct of the Ministry of Public Security’s Police General Department for Crime Prevention and Control said.

In the meantime, the provincial Department of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs of Quang Ninh said between 2006 and 2010, a large number of local women have got married with Chinese men who live in remote and underprivileged areas. As many as 2,400 women of this group were forced to come back to Vietnam along with their children due to their hard life in the neighbouring country.

Some of the women have become “traffickers” themselves, said Tuyen. Once abroad, some of them collude with their brokers to smuggle other Vietnamese women and children across border, he added.

“These brokers have set up trans-border human trafficking links that arranged dating and marriages illicitly,” Tuyen emphasised.

Between 2008 and 2010, police in Quang Ninh brought 34 such cases cases to trial. Ho Chi Minh City has dealt with 38 between 2007 and 2009.

Tuyen attributed the situation to loose management of immigration, residency and marriage registration.

“Most of Vietnamese women who get married with foreign men are poor and underprivileged. They easily fall in traps because they would like to improve their lives,” Tuyen added.

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