Joining hands to combat child sexual exploitation

Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh, Head of the General Department of Anti-Crime Police under the Ministry of Public Security, said as Vietnam attracts millions of visitors every year, there is a sharp increase in the sexual exploitation of children in tourism services.

Most of child sexual victims are poor or street children living near tourist attractions, he said, adding that the detection and investigation of such cases is no easy task because they are too young and scared to give accurate testimony.

In addition, General Vinh said, there are no separate regulations on child sex-related while some internationally-recognised monitoring techniques are not effectively applied in Vietnam.

The Criminal Statistics Bureau under the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam reported that in the 2007-2011 period, there were more than 6,500 child sex-related cases involving nearly 6,800 defendants.

Participants in the seminar shared experience in preventing and combating child sexual exploitation by equipping the police force with information technology knowledge and new investigation methods.

They considered close coordination between the police force and related agencies as an effective way to collect information.