In October 2019, 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in an abandoned truck in the United Kingdom. The victims had suffered from asphyxia and hypothermia while trapped in inhumane conditions. On Tuesday 26th, the smuggling network allegedly responsible for this atrocity was finally apprehended. It was exposed thanks to an international operation involving officers from the UK, France, Belgium, Ireland and Europol (European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation). Prosecutors in Paris and Brussels announced that 26 people were arrested in total, with 13 in either city.
In an official press release, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST) stated the suspects are believed to have been smuggling dozens of people out of Asia every day for months. It claimed that the arrests will send a ‘strong signal to migrant smuggling groups that judiciary and law enforcement communities in the EU are joining forces to detect, investigate and prosecute this kind of serious organised crime’. EUROJUST also revealed that five migrants had been rescued during the raids in Belgium.
The Horrors of the CO2 Route
Days of uncertainty followed the initial discovery of the truck and the bodies it contained. Conflicting reports abounded as authorities tried to establish the victims’ identities. Some false claims that the migrants came from China even prompted accusations of anti-Chinese bias within the Western media. When the nationality of the deceased became clear Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xiang ordered an investigation to determine who they were, but many of the victims’ families already feared the worst. This included the relatives of 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My, who had sent a text message saying ‘Mom, I love you and Dad so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe`. The driver of the truck, Maurice Robson, has since pled guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter. Eamon Harrison, another driver, and Ronan Hughes, who owns the company that supposedly paid Mr. Robson to drive the truck, face the same charges. Hopefully now that the smugglers behind the scheme have also been apprehended, the families of victims might finally begin to have some closure.
This whole incident has offered a gruesome snapshot of the inner workings of the ‘CO2 route’. A popular term amongst smugglers, the CO2 route describes the journey that has been taken by approximately 18,000 Vietnamese migrants looking for a better life in Britain. The route covers 6,000 miles and can take months, if not years, to complete. As Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times writes, passengers are subjected to violence and sexual assault along the journey and often brutal working conditions when they arrive. The events of October 2019 demonstrate just how perilous the CO2 route can be. Many of the migrants are aware of these risks, yet they continue to pay up to $50,000 to travel.
The Origins of a Crisis
But why do the migrants pay so much money to put themselves through these perils? As Richard Broinowski of the Australian Institute of Foreign Affairs states, Vietnam has made remarkable economic advances since the end of the Vietnam War. However, the benefits of this economic expansion have not been spread evenly. Many citizens are still living in poverty, dealing with issues such as under-employment and pollution. These problems were worsened by the 2008 economic crisis, the effects of which are still being felt in poorer areas. According to Broinowski, the Vietnamese government has largely ignored the plight of its economic emigrants, while the efforts of the British government have been insufficient. The deaths of 39 people, including three minors, has given a human face to the horrific consequences of this inaction.
The arrest of 26 human smugglers is a cause for celebration. It represents justice for the families of the deceased and has the potential to save others from the same fate. However, the structural conditions that drove the migrants to risk their lives run much deeper than one gang. Without concrete action both in Vietnam and abroad, especially in the UK, there will always be the risk of more horrors.