thediplomat – It was past midnight and Ngo Thi Mong Linh had already gone to sleep when her cellphone suddenly rang. Linh knew all too well what to anticipate from the other end.

“A sex worker was urging me to come to rescue her,” Linh recalled in an interview. “Her client robbed her of all her money after severely beating her up. When I was there, all she could do was embrace me and burst into tears.”