Three
Vietnamese Organizations in Diaspora Protest against
Selling
Viet Women on E-bay
The following is a letter addressed to Ms Meg Whitman, President/CEO of E-bay by The National
Congress of Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee,
and Vietnamese Professionals Society - D.C. Chapter protesting against E-bay
for condoning human trafficking:
NATIONAL CONGRESS OF
VIETNAMESE AMERICANS
Nghi Hội Toàn Quốc Người Việt Tại Hoa
Kỳ
6433 Northanna Drive • Springfield, VA 22150
Phone/Fax (877) 592-4140 • Phone/Fax (703) 719-5764
www.ncvaonline.org • info@ncvaonline.org
March 5, 2004
Meg Whitman
President/CEO
eBay, Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San José, CA 95125
RE: Trafficking of Human Person
Dear Ms. Whitman,
We are outraged and offended at eBay’s lack of
respect for human decency and its promotion of the trafficking of human persons
on its website. The auction item in question is # 2791370283 - the selling of
Vietnamese women to Taiwan.
(http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2791370283#ebayphotohosting)
Your enforcement of human rights is lacking and
deplorable. This auction item and all similar ones should not be an auction
item on your website for any length of time. Although a foreign government may
condone the trafficking of its citizens as an export product, this does not
relieve eBay of its corporate responsibility to conduct itself in an ethical
and lawful manner.
We understand that you are not the perpetrators of
the trafficking of human persons; however, the use of your system and network
to conduct such illegal transactions makes eBay a culprit and conspirator to
the criminal act. Additionally, eBay does not list the trafficking of human
persons as a “Prohibited and Restricted Item” on your website.
We demand a review of auction items on eBay and the
removal of any prohibited items under eBay’s rules and International Law. We
encourage the development of a system to review items to be auctioned prior to
their postings on eBay and the barring of any individuals who are known to have
violated the law and eBay’s rules of conduct.
We will regularly monitor and review your site for
any future illicit auction items.
Undersigned by the following organizations,
The National Congress of Vietnamese Americans
Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee
Vietnamese Professionals Society - D.C. Chapter