Vietnamese kids missing from Dutch shelters victims of human trafficking: Rapporteur

A massive 97 percent of Vietnamese children taken in by the protected asylum shelter in the Netherlands have disappeared, according to the National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children. "The suspicion that a large proportion of these children fall into the hands of human traffickers or people smugglers have been confirmed." The Netherlands must do something, Rapporteur Herman Bolhaar said, NU.nl reports.

In March last year, Argos and NRC reported that at least 60 Vietnamese children disappeared from the protected shelter between 2013 and 2017. A report recently published by the expertise center on human trafficking and people smuggling EMM and the migration chain analysis center APM concluded that at least 20 Vietnamese children disappeared in the past two year. In total, an estimated 1,750 children have disappeared, the researchers concluded.

Bolhaar calls it beyond time for new measures to protect children coming to seek safety in the Netherlands. "I find it incomprehensible that this has not happened yet. The Dutch State is also responsible for these children," he said, according to the newspaper.

State Secretary Ankie Broekers-Knol of Justice and Security, who is responsible for Asylum, said in a response that this matter is on the national and international agenda.