Up to 79.13% of deputies at the National Assembly (NA) on June 3 agreed that the NA will supervise the implementation of policies and laws on the prevention and fight against child abuse in 2020 as the issue has prompted public outrage across the country.
Illustrative photo. Source: Internet
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According to statistics from the NA, 3,499 cases of child abuse were recorded in 2017-2018 and the first quarter of 2019 nationwide, of which cases of children suffering from sexual-abuse account for more than 60%.
The above-mentioned numbers, however, may be just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, they may be larger because many cases remained unreported by victims’ families because they are afraid that making it public would affect their children’s pychology, said deputy Trieu Thi Thu Phuong from Bac Kan province.
In late 2018, local media quoted Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung as saying that parents and immediate relatives have to take greater responsibility in preventing child abuse and need to pay more attention to their children, because most of the molestations are perpetrated by a family member, a neighbor or a school employee, adults that the children are familiar with.
He added that Vietnam currently has a hotline for people to report sexual abuse, and the labor ministry will review the national Law on Children to specify responsibilities of agencies to increase collaboration between families and schools in preventing sexual abuse.
The minister cited the fact that repeated cases of child abuse, especially sexual abuse, and school violence are triggering public concerns. Meanwhile, related legal documents have a lot of loopholes.
