To make the journey possible, his parents borrowed about US$10,000 from a bank. Little did they know what following his dream would entail.

After being smuggled across several countries, Van tried to cross the English Channel in the back of a lorry in September, but border agents caught him and threw him in a detention centre in northern France.

Van’s experience took place about a month before 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in a refrigerated truck in Essex, east of London.

Van was lucky not to have been one of them, but the tragedy has not put him off trying to reach Britain.

The 22-year-old is still waiting to hear if he will be deported back to Vietnam. If not, he will try to find his way back to one of the temporary camps set up by smugglers and attempt to board a lorry bound for Britain.

The remains of the 39 Vietnamese who died in Britain were sent home last week for final rites; Van is still waiting for another chance to cross the border.

Essex truck deaths: tip of the iceberg?

For some, these are stories of migration gone wrong. But even as families mourn their relatives, others are waving off loved ones whose journeys have only just begun.

While many migrants were willing to embrace the risks of the journey, some have become victims of the thriving human-trafficking trade.

Experts say there is no simple solution. But most agree it is important to create job opportunities in their home country and, at the same time, for countries such as Britain to be more open to migration by low-skilled workers and offer better protection to those who are vulnerable.

“People will migrate for better opportunities, because they need to,” says Archana Kotecha, head of the legal department at non-profit organisation Liberty Shared.

“Stricter policies, when you have more people being carried on refrigerators, is not a realistic solution,” she says.

RISKY JOURNEY

As police started releasing the names and ages of the 39 people discovered in the refrigerated truck on October 23, the scale of the tragedy began to sink in – from England to Vietnam and beyond.

All of the dead – 31 men and eight women aged between 15 and 44 – were Vietnamese pursuing the promise of a better life.

The incident is one of the biggest cases of people smuggling uncovered in Britain. But while it received media attention worldwide, experts say many more Vietnamese have died making the journey, though it is nearly impossible to know how many.

In Vietnam, families contemplate the journey of truck victims

When Van left his home country, he never thought that more than a year later he would still be making his way to Britain.

His family was able to pay for one of the cheaper services available, which covered a flight to Moscow and a visa to enter. Once in the Russian capital, he was kept in a house for three weeks, until he was smuggled into Ukraine – where he slept for a couple of weeks in a forest. He then crossed into Slovakia and finally got into a car that took him to the Cho Dong Xuan Vietnamese market in Berlin, Germany.

“I lived in a house in Berlin for seven months and sold fake medicines from Poland to Germans at the entrances and exits of train stations,” Van recalls.

He says he doesn’t know what kind of “medicines” he sold, as he could read neither German nor English. But he earned 20 per cent commission on the sales, making him about 40 euros (US$45) on an average day.

He continued on his journey, taking a train to Paris and then a car to Arras, a city in northern France, along with other Vietnamese migrants.

“I was taken into a forest with more than 30 people … Mostly Nghe An and Ha Tinh [provinces in north-central Vietnam] people,” he says. At some point, “I was hiding in a container, but the driver didn’t know I was there.”

They stole my mum’s organs: a Vietnamese trafficked to UK

It was late September when he was taken to a detention centre in Coquelles, close to Calais, after being caught by French border guards. Van and six others were already on a lorry making their way to England when they were found in an inspection before the vehicle entered the UK.

Some migrants take a different route, boarding trucks in Belgium and the Netherlands, but all must at some point cross the English Channel. As controls have grown tighter, riskier options such as refrigerator containers have become more common.

APPEAL OF BRITAIN

So why are some Vietnamese attracted to Britain over other European countries such as France, with which the Asian country has colonial ties?

Tamsin Barber, a senior lecturer in Sociology at Oxford-Brookes University, says that until about 15 years ago there was a small Vietnamese community in Britain made up mostly of refugees. But in the early 2000s the diaspora branched out and started businesses, including restaurants and nail saloons, which sparked a demand for low-skilled labour and Vietnamese speakers.

“That was a bit of a draw for other family members to come across and work … And, then, the cannabis industry, of course,” Barber says.

“In the late 1990s, the cannabis industry was pretty much monopolised by the Vietnamese in Canada, but the Canadian rules around drug classification and labour laws changed … So they moved to the UK, where cannabis use [had been reclassified] making it a bit easier under the law.”

Barber says “the very liberal and unregulated labour market” in Britain enabled the cannabis industry – despite being illegal – to flourish. With this sort of “shadow economy”, there were plenty of job opportunities for Vietnamese, along with the promise of quick money.

According to the latest census, Britain’s Southeast Asian diaspora had probably doubled in size between 2001 and 2011, with around 400,000 believed to be living in the country. Vietnamese were the second-largest group – about 142,900 people. But community organisations estimate there could be a further 20,000 undocumented Vietnamese migrants.

Yet there is still scant information about the Vietnamese community in Britain. Many spend most of their time within the community and speak little English. Some fear sharing with outsiders any information that may jeopardise their stay.

“We try to do some research on the returnees in Vietnam, because they are more willing to speak,” Barber says. “We have seen in the sending areas of Vietnam some development, there is remittance money, mostly from the UK.”

According to the World Bank, overseas workers sent nearly US$16 billion in remittances to Vietnam last year – a rise of 130 per cent over the past decade.

“We know that some people have not been able to get the golden eggs they were hoping for, but for others the money is coming through – and it’s seen in new houses, motorbikes,” the professor says.

Experts say that most know roughly what they are getting themselves into when they embark on their journey, although to what extent is hard to tell. “The majority planned and were prepared to take risks but sometimes things go wrong,” Barber says.

Chung Pham, a British-based anti-trafficking and Vietnam specialist with the charity Locate International, says that while some have agreed to exploitative work because they think they can pay off their debts quickly, others have no other option.

Essex truck horror highlights risks desperate migrants take to reach UK

“There are real victims, like those who are locked up at the cannabis farms looking after the plants. Some have absolutely no freedom,” Chung says.

“A number of them are also minors, who are the most vulnerable. Some are tortured if they don’t do their job properly, and many develop a number of health problems even after being rescued.”

BIG BUSINESS

Mimi Vu, an independent Vietnam-based trafficking analyst, says most Vietnamese migrants who travel to Britain have low-income backgrounds, and live in villages where other relatives send money from overseas.

“They grew up believing that the best way to make money is to go abroad, especially to the UK,” she says.

Many migrants also end up hiding from their families and friends the hardships of their lives abroad. At the same time, smugglers promote their businesses on social media, often sharing pictures of streets cobbled with gold and skewed information about the trip as well as about the jobs they will find.

“Some smugglers tell the parents they don’t have to pay anything upfront, only when they are safe in the UK. Parents think it’s a great deal,” Vu says.

“Many borrow money from loan sharks and pay something like between US$30,000 and US$50,000, thinking they are sending their kids through a safe route.” Some even use their houses as a guarantee – and end up losing them when they are not able to pay back their loans.

Some reports have estimated that networks from Vietnam are smuggling about 18,000 people a year to Europe, and fewer than 1,000 to the United States.

While Vietnam has seen a significant reduction in poverty as well as a booming economy in recent years, the wealth distribution remains unequal across regions and population groups.

According to a 2017 study by the British Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner about modern slavery experienced by Vietnamese nationals en route to, and within, Britain, smuggling agents marketed different services to transport migrants to Britain. A premium service advertised as a direct route with minimal risk could cost up to £33,000 (US$43,000), while economy services could vary from £10,000-£20,000 and take several months.

Those who were found dead in Essex, for instance, are believed to have bought a “VIP package”. According to the report, it is common for migrants to experience modern slavery en route to Britain, which may include both sexual and labour exploitation, particularly in countries such as China, Russia, France and the Czech Republic. Perpetrators who exploit Vietnamese nationals are often of the same nationality, but foreign nationals are complicit, the study says.

A British-based investigator and intelligence expert, who requested anonymity, says “there are recruiters in Vietnam – both on social media, in communities, and around training centres – who make the initial arrangements as well as soliciting the fees.”

Then, “there are facilitators who help the passage of people from Vietnam to Europe”.

Researcher Vu says this is a very profitable “shadow trade”.

“It’s one of the most lucrative businesses in the world, as they operate outside the law, make millions, and don’t have to pay any taxes. And, if someone dies, that is often not reported.”

Vu notes that many of these networks move not only people, but also counterfeit goods, tobacco, wildlife and drugs. “There are multiple tiers of cooperation.”

LEGAL ROUTES

Michael Brosowski, founder and co-CEO of the Vietnam-based non-profit Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, says focusing on education and creating opportunities for people to stay in Vietnam should be priorities.

Cross-border cooperation between government and law-enforcement agencies to make migrants less vulnerable is also needed, observers say.

“I think Vietnam is on the right track by working with the UK … but I fear that the international commitment may die down … and Vietnam can’t do it on its own,” Brosowski says.

Experts warn that limiting the entry of migrants and asylum seekers to Europe will make the situation worse.

Pia Oberoi, senior adviser on migration and human rights at the United Nations, says the idea of criminalising “small fish” and strengthening borders won’t reduce crimes like the one that ended in the death of the 39 migrants in England.

“There is a very serious crime involved … so there needs to be an answer to that. But structurally nothing will change if you just do that,” Oberoi argues. “The question is: what are the pathways that need to be put in place … how can we ensure that the labour sectors are regulated and protected.”

Barber, the scholar, says Britain should be open to admitting more unskilled and low-skilled migrants. “There are many low-skilled jobs that need be done in a range of sectors. But because there is no legal route, migrants need to work in illegal industries,” she says.

With the temperature dropping and winter descending on Europe, Van hopes he can make it to Britain before he turns 23 in February.

Despite hearing about the deaths and exploitation of fellow migrants, he still clings to the hope of a different fate – that, against the odds and more than 10,000km from home, he can become that one success story that will make his parents proud. ■

*Van’s interview was conducted at the Coquelles’ detention camp in Northern France by independent trafficking researcher Mimi Vu and its transcript was shared with This Week in Asia. His name was shortened to protect his identity