Human Trafficking Defined:

“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (United Nations)

Human trafficking is a major problem that is growing in Vietnam. Not only are human traffickers operating in Vietnam, but government officials and state enterprises have been involved in trafficking as well. Men, women, and children have been trafficked, sometimes with the Vietnamese government's complicity for labor and sexual exploitation.

The Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) was formed in February of 2008 through the joint efforts of BPSOS (formerly known as Boat People SOS), the International Society for Human Rights, the Vietnamese Canadian Federation, and the U.S. Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers to combat human trafficking in Southeast Asia.

CAMSA's mission is to rescue and protect trafficking victims, punish traffickers through economic and legal measures, and pressure the governments of the source and destination countries to enact and enforce anti-trafficking laws and policies.

The first CAMSA office was opened in April of 2008 in Penang, Malaysia. Since then, we have expanded our operation nationally in Malaysia and established operations in Taiwan and Thailand. Since early 2008, CAMSA has rescued over 4,000 victims in some 60 cases..