Migration and Sexual Exploitation in Vietnam

Young women from rural areas in Vietnam are encouraged or forced to migrate to urban areas to help their families. Young women feel obliged to migrate and are then exposed to highly vulnerable situations of sexual exploitation. Employing interviews with young migrant sex workers, par-ents of women migrants in the sending communities and key informants, this study documented the migration process leading to trafficking and sexual exploitation. Findings show that young women often migrate for employ-ment due to obligations to their family. Upon arrival in the city with the help of networks, young women find themselves tricked, lured or forced into selling sex to supplement the family income