Reintegration shelter for human trafficking victims in Lao Cai
Nguyen Thi Van (not her real name) from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai was lured across the border to China and sold off as a wife when she was 16 years old.
Three months later, she escaped from her husband and returned to Vietnam, but it was not easy for her back in her hometown where villagers criticised her for going in the first place.
She decided to leave her village and move to a reintegration shelter which was also a home for human trafficking survivors in Lao Cai.
Lao Cai province, located on the border with China, is a hot spot for human trafficking. Between 2015 and October 2019, the province welcomed home 436 trafficking victims from China.
