PROTECTION
Authorities provided limited information about trafficking victim identification and assistance in 2014, but appeared to maintain minimal victim protection efforts. The government did not provide sufficient information to ensure data on trafficking victim identification did not include individuals involved in human smuggling.The government issued a statement reporting ONDOFT assisted eight potential labor trafficking victims from Bangladesh in 2014. This statement also reported ONDOFT assisted 36 trafficking victims in 2013. Of these victims, 16 were reportedly exploited in sex trafficking and 20 in labor trafficking; 17 were Venezuelan citizens, while other victims were from Ethiopia, Ecuador, the Philippines, Somalia, and Bangladesh. Previously, the government had not reported how many trafficking victims it had identified or assisted annually since 2011.The government did not specify the kinds of assistance provided to the victims in 2013 or 2014. An Ethiopian victim of domestic servitude was repatriated in 2014 with funding from an international organization. Some child sex trafficking victims identified in law enforcement operations during the year did not appear to be included in ONDOFT victim identification statistics. The government did not report on the existence of formal procedures for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including people in prostitution, and referring them to victim services.Victim referrals to different government entities, including ONDOFT and the women’s ministry, seemed to occur on an ad hoc basis.
Victim services remained limited.There were no specialized shelters

for trafficking victims in the country. Victims could reportedly access government centers for victims of domestic violence or at-risk youth, though services for male victims were virtually nonexistent. NGOs provided some specialized services to victims of sex trafficking and forced child labor.The government reportedly made psychological and medical examinations available to all victims of violent crime, including trafficking victims, but additional victim services—such as follow-up medical aid, legal assistance with filing a complaint, job training, and reintegration assistance— remained lacking.Trinbagonian officials reported coordinating with Venezuelan officials regarding services and repatriation for three Venezuelan victims of sex trafficking exploited in Trinidad and Tobago.There were no publicly available reports of government assistance to repatriated Venezuelan trafficking victims during the reporting period.There was no information made publicly available about whether the government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. There were no publicly available reports of victims in Venezuela being jailed or penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking, and NGOs and international organizations reported this did not generally occur. Foreign victims who faced retribution if returned to their country of origin could apply for refugee status, but it was unclear if any victims did so in 2014.

PREVENTION
TheVenezuelan government conducted limited efforts to prevent human trafficking during 2014, similar to the previous year. No permanent anti-trafficking interagency body existed, and the government did not have an anti-trafficking plan or strategy. ONDOFT was responsible for coordinating government anti- trafficking efforts but ceased social media activity raising awareness on human trafficking as of April 2014. Authorities continued some awareness efforts, including a public service announcement and distribution of anti-trafficking posters and pamphlets, most of which focused on sex trafficking of women and girls.There were no publicly available reports of new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions for child sex tourism offenses in 2014. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.The government did not report any specific activities to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts during the year.

VIETNAM: Tier 2 
Vietnam is a source country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor within the country and abroad.Vietnamese men and women migrate abroad for work independently or through state-owned, private, or joint-stock labor export recruitment companies. Some are subsequently subjected to forced labor in the construction, fishing, agricultural, mining, logging, and manufacturing sectors, primarily in Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Laos, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan. Vietnamese women and children are subjected to sex trafficking abroad; many are misled by fraudulent labor opportunities and sold to brothel operators on the borders of China, Cambodia, and Laos, while others are subjected to sex trafficking in Thailand and Malaysia. Some Vietnamese women who travel abroad for internationally brokered marriages, mostly to China and increasingly Malaysia, are subsequently subjected to domestic servitude or forced prostitution. Debt bondage, passport confiscation, and threats of deportation are tactics commonly used to compel Vietnamese victims into servitude. An increasingly reported

tactic is men using the internet to lure young women and girls into online dating relationships and persuading them to move abroad where they are subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking. Victims are often recruited by relatives or acquaintances, often with the knowledge, consent, or urging of close family members. Vietnamese organized crime networks recruit and transport Vietnamese nationals, especially children, to Europe—particularly the United Kingdom and Ireland—and subject them to forced labor on cannabis farms; they are lured with promises of lucrative jobs and compelled into servitude through debt bondage. Vietnam’s labor export companies—many affiliated with state-owned enterprises—sometimes charge fees in excess of the law for work abroad, leaving workers with exorbitant debts and vulnerable to forced labor and debt bondage. Upon arrival in destination countries, some workers find themselves compelled to work in substandard conditions for little or no pay, with large debts and no credible avenues of legal recourse. Recruitment companies are sometimes unresponsive to workers’ requests for assistance in situations of exploitation.
Within the country, Vietnamese men, women, and children are subjected to forced labor. NGOs report street children and children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. Children are subjected to forced street hawking and forced begging in major urban centers of Vietnam. Some children are victims of forced and bonded labor in informal garment and brick factories or urban family homes and privately run rural gold mines. Children, many from rural areas, are subjected to sex trafficking. Vietnam is a destination country for child sex tourism, with perpetrators reportedly coming from Asia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, and the United States.The government implemented a new legal provision in 2014 that requires a judicial proceeding before a drug user is sent to a compulsory drug detoxification center and restricted the number of hours a detainee can work to no more than three hours per day. During the reporting year, some drugs users serving administrative sentences under the previous legal provision remained in the detoxification centers and were subjected to forced labor. NGOs report trafficking-related corruption occurs, primarily at the local level, where complicit officials at border crossings and checkpoints accept bribes from traffickers and opt not to intervene on victims’ behalf when family relationships exist between traffickers and victims.
The Government of Vietnam does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Vietnamese authorities continued to prosecute and convict internal and transnational sex traffickers, but did not pursue criminal prosecutions for labor traffickers exploiting victims transnationally or within Vietnam.The government reported an increased number of officials received anti-trafficking training; however, many officials were unable to identify and investigate labor trafficking cases, resulting in a failure to identify victims and to pursue criminal investigations in 2014. Often, government responses to overseas workers facing debt bondage or forced labor situations were inconsistent and inadequate. However, government officials abroad assisted with the return of trafficking victims in 2014 and worked with NGOs to help repatriate victims from China and Malaysia. NGOs report border officials in high-risk trafficking areas increased their engagement to investigate trafficking cases, but official complicity remained an impediment to anti-trafficking efforts in Vietnam.