Dozens of Vietnamese citizens rescued from an illegal casino operation in Pampanga Province, the Philippines, were repatriated to Việt Nam in June this year. These individuals were reportedly deceived and trafficked to the Philippines, where they were held captive and made to participate in online scams. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam expressed its readiness on Thursday to work with the United States for a more objective and accurate appraisal of the human trafficking situation in the country.

During a regular press briefing in Hà Nội, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng stressed that the position of the government of Việt Nam is to promote legal, safe, and orderly migration, in response to questions over the US State Department's 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report released on June 15, 2023.

"We resolutely oppose all forms of human trafficking and illegal migration," Hằng noted.

Over the past years, Việt Nam has been actively implementing the programme on preventing human trafficking, Hằng said, adding that such efforts have yielded important results, such as effectively bolstering interdisciplinary cooperation in this matter, improving statistical work, investigations and punishing human trafficking offenders, as well as raising public awareness on the matter.

"Việt Nam is also actively making efforts to realise the goals under the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) in line with a plan adopted by the Prime Minister on March 28, 2020, so as to consolidate a transparent migration environment, protect the lawful rights and interests of migrants, and prevent the risks of human trafficking in international migratory activities," the diplomat said.

Hằng stated that Việt Nam takes note of the US's increasingly positive assessment of the situation pertaining to human trafficking around the world in its 2023 report.

"In this spirit, we hope that the two sides will continue to work closely so that the US can have more objective, accurate and comprehensive assessment on the situation in Việt Nam and on Việt Nam's active efforts on the ground."

"We also stand ready to exchange and cooperate with the US and relevant parties on concrete collaborative activities, so as to together effectively implement anti-human trafficking efforts," Hằng noted. — VNS