What makes a Vietnamese girl accept danger to come to England? That is the promise of a high-income nail salon.

Several families in Ha Tinh reported missing relatives in the UK, fearing they might be victims in the Essex County police case that found 39 bodies in containers last week. Among these is Pham Thi Tra My, 26 years old. Family members said that before losing contact, Tra My sent a message to mother with the content "I die because I cannot breathe". The Vietnamese Embassy in the UK is working with police to find out the victims' nationalities.

For many years, anti-slavery organizations have been trying to raise an alarm about the increasing number of Vietnamese children and young people being illegally brought into the UK.

For many Vietnamese and English, perhaps the most popular destination in Europe, said Tamsin Barber, a lecturer in political sociology at Oxford-Brookes University. He is a place with high demand for low-skilled labor in Vietnamese restaurants, nail salons and illegal marijuana farms.

They think that if they come to the UK, they will be able to find good jobs and send a lot of money to their families in Vietnam. There is also a network of many Vietnamese living in the UK that can help newcomers find accommodation and employment.

However, "there is currently no legal path for low-skilled Vietnamese workers to work in the UK, so they clearly have to come to England through long and dangerous journeys" arranged by traffickers. people, Barber said.

The cost of boys and girls paid to traffickers to the UK often varies between $ 10,000 and $ 40,000, according to Precarious Journeys, the report of human trafficking organizations from Vietnam, published in this early year.

Traffickers often lure young people into job prospects abroad. Bored with the village life and lack of employment opportunities, the lure of wealthy opportunities abroad is enough to tempt many to embark on risky trips.

Boys and girls in their 20s and 30s are easily affected by social media posts. They see many relatives and friends brag about life abroad on Facebook and the money sent home. That makes them feel the journey to England is dangerous but worth it.

"In recent years, hundreds of Vietnamese victims of human trafficking have been identified in the UK," British ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward wrote in an editorial on September 29. "There are cases of illegal immigrants injured when being chased. There are cases of frostbite or asphyxiation in container trucks. Many people have not even set foot in the 'promised land'."

"Traffickers say that you are 'El Dorado'," said Paris migration expert Nadia Sebtaoui, referring to the famous "golden city" in the West. They are often promised a salary of up to 3,000 pounds (3,800 USD) per month, about three times the annual income in the poorest provinces of Vietnam.

But reality is often different. Young boys and young men are sent to work on marijuana farms, locked up in these homes and tended to plants day and night. Meanwhile, girls and girls work in nail salons. They may also be forced into prostitution, both men and women.

"They really lack awareness of the reality of jobs in Europe," Sebtaoui said.

Most Vietnamese who work in cannabis farms or nail salons are aware that they are residing illegally and their families owe a lot of money. Therefore, they must try to work to pay back the debt and dare not seek help despite being exploited or abused.

It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of Vietnamese trafficking victims because most of them live in hiding and without paperwork. However, the Salvation Army, a charity that helps victims of trafficking, said that between July 2018 and July 2019, they received more Vietnamese than any other nationality. The organization worked with 209 Vietnamese people during that time, an increase of 248% compared to the previous 5 years.

Ecpat Charity, which helps children who are victims of trafficking, also receives more and more Vietnamese people being introduced to the organization, from 135 in 2012 to 704 in 2018.

In January 2018, British police found two Vietnamese girls working at the Nail Bar Deluxe in Bath. Both work 60 hours a week. One is paid around £ 30 a month while the other is unpaid. They slept on a mattress in the attic of the nail salon owner. They arrived in England by hiding in a container truck.

In an interview with British media last year, Stephen (whose name was changed) described being sold to England to grow marijuana at the age of 10. Stephen was a homeless child in Hanoi, brought to Europe and brought to England by a refrigerated container truck. In England, Stephen was locked in a house converted into a cannabis farm and forced to work for four years for the Vietnamese gang that brought him here.

Stephen could not look out the window because they were all covered with plastic sheets. He did not know if it was night or day and did not know how long he was locked up in one location. Every few days, in the evening, a group of Vietnamese men would come to inspect the tree and bring food for Stephen. "Sometimes when I do something wrong and some trees die, they will get angry and hit me. My life is much worse than when I was in Vietnam," Stephen said.

Once a group of British drug dealers came to break the door, tied Stephen up and robbed all of the harvested marijuana plants. When Stephen's boss returned, they got angry and moved Stephen to a new location where he had to replant marijuana from scratch. At this new home, they no longer lock Stephen but threaten that they will find and kill him if he tries to escape. Stephen never tried to run away because he didn't know where to go.

"I was just trying to live day to day," Stephen said. "I cannot hope for the future. No one is kind to me."

Debbie Beadle, from Ecpat, said most of the people they helped came to England by hiding in container cars. "They often describe it as one of the most terrifying experiences of their life."

See more:

Disclosure of a container trafficker into the UK

Loose control in entry to the UK

Belgium - 'transit point' on the trafficking route

Why did immigrants risk their lives to come to England?

The tragedy used to cause 58 Chinese people to suffocate in containers

Tragedy of 39 bodies in containers in the UK