ABSTRACT
French colonial authorities have early knowledge of the traffic in Vietnamese women and children to China by the virtue of missionary, military, and consular accounts. In Cochinchina the Directeur de linterieur informs French colonial inspectors that it is necessary to put an end to a 'shameful' traffic conducted by a few Chinese who are kidnapping Vietnamese women from villages in order to sell them in Singapore. Briere, the Resident superieur in Tonkin write a letter to the residents, the vice-residents, and the provincial chiefs under his supervision to inform them of the scope and the methods of human trafficking in Tonkin. Rolande Berger traces the international concern over la traite des femmes to the nineteenth century and analyzes the role of the League of Nations and other organizations in efforts to end the trafficking of women and girls. International associations also condemned France's tolerance and regulations of prostitution as one policy which encouraged the trafficking in women and children.
