Vietnam-China human trafficking a growing malady(3)

TOUGHER PUNISHMENT

The ordeal of trafficked Vietnamese women highlights the dire need for harsher laws and more effective anti-trafficking cooperation, in addition to improved border management.

Sun called for legislation to deter buyers of trafficking victims. "Under the current Chinese law, traffickers are heavily punished, while purchasers are not held responsible," he said.

Also, the governments in the two countries should improve public legal education, Chen said. "We have found both traffickers and victims lack basic knowledge of the law, since in many backward places, women and children are simply seen as commodities," he said.

To tackle the crimes, China and Vietnam set up an anti-abduction cooperative mechanism as early as 2001. However, the escalating problem has highlighted the need to build a regional cooperative organization to further facilitate bilateral emergency responses, said Wu Guanghong, an associate law professor with Guangxi University for Nationalities.

For Xiang Xiang, not a day goes by without thinking about escaping, even if she knows the odds are very slim. "I am so tired. They don't even give me a break during my period," she said.

Xiang Xiang is at considerable risk for HIV infection, because most of her clients refuse to use condoms, and she said she is subjected to sexual torture.

"I will return home one day, whatever the cost," she said.