Government delegations from China and Vietnam launched a joint campaign in Dongxing, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on June 3 to combat trafficking in their border areas.

This new campaign, launched with ceremonies on both sides of the border, marks another milestone in collaboration between the two countries on anti-trafficking.

The campaign appeals to communities to recognize the seriousness of trafficking as an abuse of human rights, to unite together to outlaw the crime within their communities and to give greater attention and care for the victims of trafficking.

Mehr Khan, regional director of the United Nations Children's Fund, called this cooperation the most active in the East Asia and Pacific region.

The new campaign would help educate vulnerable women, children and parents to protect themselves and also help to change attitudes and the social and cultural environment in which trafficking can take place.

"Women and children must be valued as people with rights, not commodities for trade," said Mehr Khan.

Huang Qingyi, vice-chairwomen of the All-China Women's Federation, said the trafficking of women and children is a serious violation of human rights and has to be tackled bilaterally.

"Through the joint efforts of China and Vietnam, the trafficking of women and children will be suppressed and eventually eliminated," said Huang.

The trafficking of girls over the China-Vietnam border is not anew problem since the two countries normalized relations in 1989, but in recent years, there has been evidence that the girls have been getting younger and more are being sold into illegal prostitution, rather than as wives as in the past.

The sheer size of the illegal immigration problem has also been increasing, with an estimated 60,000 Vietnamese illegally crossing the border into the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region between 1998 and 2001.

Bilateral cooperation between China and Vietnam to address trafficking in their border areas is already achieving results. Within one year of the outset of cooperation in 2001, the number of Vietnamese girls rescued and repatriated only in Dongxing city rose to 141 from 15 in the previous year.

Source: Xinhua