'Europe accused of failing UK-bond children trafficked from Vietnam', 7 March 2019

Thousands of children trafficked to Britain from Vietnam are being abused and exploited while traveling through Europe as governments pass the buck on their protection amid growing anti-immigration sentiment, three charities said on Thursday.

Vietnamese children destined for Britain are often forced to work - from cultivating cannabis to painting nails - or sold for sex to pay off debts to their traffickers as they are taken through Europe, the anti-slavery groups said in a report.

As Britain uncovers rising numbers of suspected child slaves from Vietnam, European nations are failing to spot or protect them, instead placing responsibility on other states, said Anti-Slavery International, ECPAT UK and Pacific Links Foundation. […]

Vietnam is consistently one of the top source countries for modern slaves in Britain - at least 3,187 suspected Vietnamese victims have been identified since 2009, official data shows. […]

Authorities in Europe view the trafficking of Vietnamese as an issue to be dealt with by Britain as the destination country, while there is a lack of cooperation among various actors both within and between nations to tackle the trend, the report said. […]