Lao media tie in to combat human trafficking

Lao journalists from various media joined hands with international organisations to help combat labour trafficking in Lao PDR. The one-day workshop organised by the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in Vientiane on November 15, 2011 gave way for the intended collaboration.

World Vision Laos shared stories of human trafficking survivors who were assisted in the Voice of the Victims project. The sharing also stressed the importance of media in addressing issues in human trafficking. Journalists play a crucial role in highlighting all forms of trafficking

The booklet published by World Vision International about “10 things you need to know about labour trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region,” particularly picked the interest of the 46 media participants. Various trafficking issues affecting the Mekong sub-region surfaced like how Lao migrant workers end up into exploitative working conditions.

The workshop challenged the media to publish or broadcast issues that will encourage wider participation from the private sector and the civil society to protect Lao citizens from the dangers of labour trafficking.

World Vision in the East Asia Region has been working to combat trafficking in persons since the latter part of 1990s. Currently, World Vision is implementing 13 national and two regional projects in the six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries: Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The projects focus on prevention, risk or vulnerability reduction, protection and policy advocacy.

World Vision aims to assist in the establishment of a positive and enabling policy environment to effectively combat trafficking in persons, especially children, to reduce and ultimately eliminate the problem in the GMS. The main approach involves developing regional infrastructures and mechanisms for sharing information and learning, and developing appropriate strategies for advocacy to influence the GMS governments.