Organized Beggars: The Lucrative Exploitation

It was 2 PM, the Social Protection Center No 1, Dong Anh, Ha Noi was still quite. Spotting visitors, a child with a handkerchief in hands ran toward guests, excitedly spoke.

“ Are you here to visit me? Who are you going with? What’s your name? Do you bring me any present? Do you have any new clothes for me?”

For a complete stranger, it will be difficult to tell whether this child is a boy or a girl. She wore a ragged faded short-sleeve shirt. Her hair was cut short, swinging in the air. She smiled, her eyelid barely opened and her cheeks were swollen, black and blue.

Kim Lien Ward police handed over her to the center when she was caught begging around Luong Dinh Cua street on April 2nd 2019. Her name is Trang, 6 years old.

The child is illiterate but she can tell the value of every banknote. “Two 50.000 notes plus one 100.000 note equals 200.000 dongs”. That was the amount she was snatched by “the junkie” while she was napping under a bridge. She calls whoever steals her money junkie.

“The junkie”, “mom” and “the other one” are 3 characters showing up mostly in Trang’s messy memories. “Whenever the junkie grabs my money, he won’t pay mom, and she’ll beat me”. That explains the bruises on her face.

Trang rarely talks to “the other one”, either does she know who this person is. She only knew that was a man carrying Trang and her mom to the begging site every morning, tells Trang to stay put and picks her up every night. After Trang was robbed, he did not leave but sat down and had some tea nearby.

Trang only remembers a few places: Nhu Quynh market, “108” hospital, are the places she used to beg; Bay bridge, Thach Ban are where Trang and her mom rest; Sui market is where Trang got bitten by dog; So crossroads is where Trang was burned by a motorbike exhaust pipe. The only information about her identity is that she comes from Quang Xuong, Thanh Hoa.

In 2018, social protection centers in Ha Noi received 646 people in total. Many of whom from Quang Xuong admitted being hired to beg. A six-year-old girl’s memory fragments of a “other one”, and the name “Quang Xuong” suggest a business model that has lasted for decades.

In 2005, the European Commission provided Vietnam with nearly 7 million Euros to set up a project to bring street children home. The project then discovered hundreds of these children from the same area in Thanh Hoa.

The authority investigations revealed a large-scale business-model: “contractors” from big cities, go to small and poor villages, recruiting children to become beggars.

Numerous family signed handwritten contracts which permitted these children to “work” in cities. They then become professional beggars, having their own target, receiving well treatment if these targets are met, or else getting beaten up and starved.

After 15 years, in 2018, reports of Ha Noi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs still mentioned “the other one”: “Those who organise, run the business and oppose people on duty”.

There has been no large-scale investigation targeting this group. The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, in general, possesses insufficient resources to conduct such investigations.

Portraits of these people only appear in reluctant words of those who were brought to the protection centers as shadows next to beggars on the street. Only one thing is certain: They have devised coordinated business models.

A typical workday of such “companies” can be found in ideal places like “So Crossroads”, where around one million traffics pass through day and night. 

On the 31st of May, 2019, There were 5 beggars in this area. At the traffic light toward Tay Son and Lang street, two youngsters sat flat on nylon bags. They seemed intellectually and physically disabled, stiff arms on their thighs, goofy grin. One hardly even control his neck, kept nodding his head up and down, pleadingly looked at passengers. Many put money into their hats.

On the other side, a senior woman slipped through streams of traffic waiting for the green light. Holding out her hat to the man on a motorbike, she immediately switched to others when he shook his head, no pleading. Each stop lasts for 76 seconds, on average, out of 20 people she begged, 3 to 4 of them gave her money. 

While the green light was on, she counted cash in her hat then put all the bills into a nylon bag hung on a branch. That bag was confidently left there without any attention.

It was noon, two youngsters gathered under a bridge to have lunch. One stretched his shoulders, briskly walked, his arms were no longer stiff, he went to a small restaurant, ordered a beer, smoked two shots of rustic tobacco then returned to his place.

2 PM, Two elderly men showed up, one wore brown clothes, one in faded worker shirt, both donned broad-brimmed caps covering most of their face. They held out their hats, slipped through the flow of passengers.

3:30 PM, both five of them got off work. A Wave stopped by the crossroads. The woman held the money bag then mounted the motorbike, vanished into the stream of traffic on Tay Son street. The two youngsters on the sidewalk quickly disappeared. 

The two elderly men languidly walked on the sidewalk of Nguyen Trai street toward Thuong Dinh street, furtively looking back. They got on a motorbike waiting for them in Valley 44 Thuong Dinh. A youth raced the vehicle into the dark alley.

The next day, all five of them arrived at So crossroads. They stood, they sat in their spots, wearing the same clothes they wore the previous day.

It was rain. They gathered under the crossing bridge, counting money, cracking jokes. The two youngsters shook off their defects, lighting cigarette, joking around.

6:30 PM, the 1st of June, the presence of reporters was spotted. All five beggars took out their phone, one after another. The four men picked up their phone then broke into different directions. The woman picked up her phone last then crossed the street.

She deliberately walked into dead-end alleys then walked out repeatedly. After a few steps, she stopped to answer the phone. Finally, she went to Nguyen Trai street where two motorbikes dashed forward. She hopped on. The youngster wearing black clothes and a mask ran toward Thuong Dinh street.

The other blocked the reporter’s path. “How dare you follow the old woman?” said the man in a mask. “Stop sticking your nose into other people's business. Don’t say we didn’t warn you”. The vehicle left. Both license plates were covered.

“There are no freelance beggars nowadays”, said Mr Nguyen Van Hai, captain of The Mobile Social Security Team No 1. Hai is in charge of collecting beggars and he has no doubt about the organization of these groups. Collected beggars all admit having made direct agreements or indirect contracts through family members with their employers, “there is no difference from hiring builders”

Xa Dan - Le Duan Crossroads, 6th of March, 2019, in the morning, The Social Protection No 1 of Ha Noi City received 2 beggars. A woman, holding a baby on her lap, answered the Social Security Team with a local accent.

    - How did your employer hire you?

    - 4.5 million a month, pay at the end of the month

    - Does this child get paid the same amount of money?

    - Yes, he does

    - How much do you make every day?

    - 1 million if I work early. I work 25 days a month.

Le Thi Phuong, born in 1986, work under an agreement with “Ms Nhung” whose detail she refused to disclose. This is the third time Phuong has been in the center.

According to Le Thi Phuong, The total monthly revenue of a “mom and child” unit of which she is in charge can reach several dozen million dongs. Apart from the wage for direct labourers, the rest of the revenue was used to maintain the whole ring.

“Once they saw organized begging as a means of livelihood, they will develop a highly sophisticated system”, said Mr To Duc, deputy head of the Department of Social Protection, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

In another area, Dong Anh district  Ha Noi, in March 2019, Mai Lam police took testimony of Nguyen Van Tuan, 17, originally from Quang Xuong, Thanh Hoa.

    - Why was you summoned by the police?

    - The police summoned me when I was sneaking around National Road No 3, Mai Lam.

    - What were you doing in that area?

    - I was there to watch for the cars of the Social Protection Center.

     - Why did you spy on them?

    - Nguyen Mau Linh told me to sneak around National Road No 3 near the center, alert him when their cars go out.

    - How much did he pay you?

     - I was paid three to four million dongs at the end of the month.

“Mr Linh” turned off his phone as soon as Tuan was detained. Men like him who drive motorbikes with fake license plates have been around the center for a few years.

“Every time our cars leave the gate to enter the town center, those scouts alert their associates to carry the beggars away,'' said captain Nguyen Van Hai.

Mobile social security teams were founded to collect beggars in Ha Noi. On average, a member takes charge of one district. On the wall of the Team 1’s office, there was a white mica board full of names covering 3 shifts a day from 7:00 to 22:00 even on Saturday and Sunday.

These men have to face a well-organized system. That’s what they always envision though they have yet to know how this network operates and who is controlling it.

According to Mr To Duc, these groups constantly change locations which proves to be the most challenging obstacle for detection and investigation They infrequently appear in several places, usually bordering districts or provinces to avoid being noticed.

Truong Tuan Anh, captain of Social Security Team No 4, first encountered protection mobsters in front of Nghe market’s entrance in Son Tay about a year ago. Tran Cong Khi, 82, originally from Quang Xuong, Thanh Hoa was recorded by Team 4 while he was begging for money. Khi entered the Social Protection Center 6 months ago.

Tuan Anh approached Khi then 2 motorbikes rushed toward him. Two youngsters holding wrenches and a middle-aged woman wearing heavy makeup got off the bikes. The woman aggressively pulled Khi’s hand out of Tuan Anh’s hand. One of the youngsters clenched his fist.

“How dare you capture my father? I dare you to take him away” said the woman. With arms akimbo, she screamed: “Everyone, look”. Khi just silently bowed his head. His money bag was in the hands of “his daughter”.

Center’s employees are not authorised to use force. They helplessly watched Khi’s “relatives” taking him away. Everything lasted for a few minutes. By the time people came out to see, the two bikes whose plates were covered had already vanished.

The first time the team faced those racketeers, everyone was scared. Now they get accustomed to these so called “relatives” slamming the car doors to claims their people or following the team to the Center. They climbed the fence, shouting, demanding to release their “parents”, their “siblings” or their “grandparents”.

These crooks usually say: “I have AIDS. I am tired of living. Release my men at once”. This is not a mere threat.

In summer 2012, while gathering 3 beggars near Linh Dam Lake, Nguyen Van Hai was bitten in his arm by a girl whose boyfriend was HIV-positive.

Waiting for the result was the most agonizing period of a 26-year-old man who has just got married. In September, the result arrived, two blood samples were HIV-negative. Hai’s team had 5 times experienced this.

“Even if there is an agreement between the two sides, in essence, this is still a social exploitation and a social deception” said Nguyen Minh Thuyet, former Deputy Chairman of the Congress’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children. freelance beggars who are under no form of control has no reason to share the profits with others.

These forms of coercion are not the only factors that constitute a crime. According to the Palermo Protocol of the United Nations, which was approved by Vietnam government in 2012, the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered trafficking in children even if this does not involve any of the means of violence.

According to the research Trafficking in Boys in Viet Nam, which was conducted by the International Organization for Migration in 2012, even local authorities had fuzzy awareness of child trafficking for the purpose of forced labour. Most interviewees did not consider that “trading in human” since there is no monetary transaction involved. They only viewed it as “labour exploitation”, especially when labourers “willingly” participate in order to “support their families”.

“I think this is a case of exploitation because... there is a labour contract between the family and the employer, but the employer exploits the child exceeding the time allowed.” - the study quoted a Bac Giang communal official.

“It is time to criminalize such behaviors,'' said Nguyen Minh Thuyet. But the representative of the Department of Social Protection of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs worried that the process of criminalization could not be done immediately. “It shall take a very long time”

“I don’t see my mom. I haven’t seen her for days”. Trang mentioned her mom, gently wiping her swollen eyes. No one has come to the center to pick up this child for over a month. After officials here had some conversations with her and brought her some candies, the only information they got is that she is from Quang Xuong, Thanh Hoa. 

Trang missed her grandmother’s rustic tobacco field at home. She wanted to live in a new house, snuggle under her mother’s armpit. But she also hesitated. She both wanted to stay in the city and go home. She likes to stay because she can drink milk and eat watermelon. “Even if I went home, mom would bring me back in town”.

Written by: Lam Trang

Photos taken by: Lam Trang,

Disclamer: I do not own this article, I simply translated it. If you spot any mistakes in this post, kindly let me know. Thank you for your time.