At the workshop on the viewpoints and orientations for the development of policies and legislation on prostitution, held on March 28 in Hanoi, it was suggested that the old anti-prostitution method is ineffective and needs to apply new style management.
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According to Dinh Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Department of Maternal and Child Healthcare, the Ministry of Health, Thailand does not allow prostitution, but they have a view of "harmony of interests" and better management. They access to practitioners to assist them with physical exams and reduce risk interventions.
One of the method is using 100% condom that is very effective in the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. It is a considerable change in Thailand.
According to the representative of the Center for Community Development Initiatives (SCDI), in the current situation, it is not appropriate to legalize prostitution or to consider it a profession. The most appropriate, reasonable and useful point is that this is not a criminal offense.
Representatives from the Department of Social Evils Prevention of Hai Phong City and Can Tho City agreed with this view.
According to representative from Haiphong, the authorities determine not only sex workers in tourist attractions, but there are lines connecting through the Internet with customers in and outside the country, forming the tour with prostitution services.
Representatives from Can Tho shared the view that sex workers should be considered as vulnerable groups and need support. He said that Can Tho has just conducted the purchase of health insurance for sex workers.
Known as the world’s oldest profession, prostitution is something that some consider a necessary evil, and others consider a moral corruption.
In Vietnam, the mindset has always skewed towards the latter due to the country’s strong Confucian value system.
While prostitution has been made legal in about 70 countries worldwide according to the United Nations Development Program, it is still frowned upon in most societies even though there have been arguments to prove that banning prostitution doesn’t actually stop it from happening.
Trieu Huy Tao, an official in the central province of Thanh Hoa said that prostitution exists “whether you recognise it or not.” He added that different agencies have spent years fighting prostitution in vain.
“Instead of fighting it, we should focus on measures to reduce the negative impacts,” he said with regards to human trafficking, sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.
Phung Quoc Hien, the vice chairman of the legislative National Assembly, said that Vietnam should consider establishing regulated red-light districts in certain special economic zones at a meeting of the Assembly’s Standing Committee.
This is supported by proponents of legalisation of prostitution in Vietnam, who say the move is critical, as it will likely reduce the transmission of HIV among sex workers. They also claim that even though Vietnam had declared a “war on prostitution”, sex work still continues to thrive.
Khuat Thi Thu Hong, director of the Institute of Social Development Studies, said that strict prohibition could never work.
“There’s a lot of evidence showing that wherever prostitution is outlawed, it will operate in secret forms that cannot be controlled,” he added.
Hong also said that bringing sex services into special areas is something other countries have done, with positive results.
Tran Chi Dung, director of the tourism department in Kien Giang Province, told that “this is a sensitive matter.”
He said the decision to open a casino on Phu Quoc Island came after many rounds of discussions, and he feels that legalising prostitution should be dealt with in the same cautious manner.
When government officials debated the ban on local gamblers, opponents of the ban said Vietnamese gamblers went abroad instead.
In an article by Thanh Nien News, sex workers expressed their opinion about the possible legalisation of sex work.
T., a sex worker in Go Vap District, said she would not have been infected with HIV if the proposal had come sooner. She also said sex workers like her have to deal with exploitation by pimps and brothel keepers.
“I make around VND200,000 (US$9) a time and they would take nearly half. If I refuse, they would beat me and prevent me from finding new clients,” she added.
She said a legal red-light district would protect sex workers from such exploitation, and save them from fleeing at the sight of authorities.
The debate on legalising prostitution also introduces the dilemma of whether the country can uphold its traditional Confucian values while making way for increasingly liberal laws.
Opponents of legalisation also fear that a proper lack of enforcement could see prostitution spiral out of control, normalising it to a degree similar to the trade in Bangkok, which is cheekily referred to as the sex capital of the world.
However, even if sex work is actually legalised in Vietnam, no concrete plan details how the authorities will deal with the trade.
