>> Paid to care, arrested for child abuse

>> Kindergarten cameras aim to reduce abuse

>> 14 year old suffers unthinkable torture

Vietnam is reported to have between 7,000 to 8,000 cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse towards children annually.

Dr. Nguyen Hai Huu

Little girl Ho Thi Thuy Ngan bathed in a violent way at a care-day centre

Ngan has been sent to a new, better nursery.

The figures were released by Dr. Nguyen Hai Huu, Head of the Department for Child Care and Protection, in an interview with Dantri/DTiNews. Huu, however, added that the real numbers would be much higher than those reported.

The recent cases of abuse given to a three-year old girl, Ho Thi Thuy Ngan, in Binh Duong Province, four children in a charity house in Dong Nai Province and Hao Anh, a 14-year-old boy in Ca Mau Province, have caused public outcry.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ reports, since 2008, the number of children suffering from violence and sexual assault have been on the rise. What does this say about Vietnam’s development?

Thousands of sexual abuse and violence cases involving children were reported since 2008. If only based on the reported figures, we can see that child abuse situations seem to to be on the rise. However, in reality, earlier statistic figures were often insufficient because many sexual assault and abuse cases were not reported. Our economic condition is better, and we are paying more attention to child protection, therefore, it can’t be said that protecting and caring for children has become worse and opposite to the society’s development.

Many people said that since the Committee for Population, Family and Children of Vietnam stopped operations, the shortage of human resources has caused difficulties in timely detecting abuse cases involving children. What are your comments about this?

Currently, the country has only 7,000 people working in family planning and children protection activities against 160,000 previously, including collaborators. Many districts now have only one person specialising in children protection activities compared to around 4-5 earlier.

Investment for child protection activities remains limited, estimated at less than VND100 billion (USD5 million) each year for 23 million children. Projects mostly focus on offering educational and healthcare services for children, while entertainment services and protection have not yet been given much attention.

Chairperson of the Committee for Social Affairs of the National Assembly, Truong Thi Mai, said more abuse cases detected shows an unstable society. Concerned agencies should take more drastic measures to deal with the situation as well as directly protect and take care of children. What do you think about this?

I think we should prioritise protecting and taking care of children as a way of development. It is clear that more child abuse cases reported will indicate the unsustainable development of society.

Under the prime minister’s Instruction 1408, chairman of the provincial and municipal people’s committees will take responsibility for the happening of child abuse cases. Has any chairman admitted such responsibility after thousands of abuse and violence cases have occurred?

The instruction stipulates that the responsibility belongs to chairman of the provincial and municipal people’s committees. However, the responsibility of none of them has not yet been taken into account in the cases. After every abuse case, it is unfair that only cadres who directly work in protecting children and violators have to take their responsibility. I agree that chairman of the provincial and district people’s committees have to settle many works, but they have to admit a certain amount of responsibility for child abuse cases in their localities. In the long-term, chairman of districts or communes should be dismissed if serious child abuse cases happen in their localities.

A number of child abuse cases have happened in industrial parks, which is due to lack of nursery schools, therefore, parents have to send their children to unlicensed day-care centres. What is the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs planning to do to improve the situation?

A number of investors do not pay attention to the construction of nursery schools in industrial parks, which may be due to many reasons, including profits. Many industrial parks have a high density of population, thus, nursery schools are often crowded and fail to meet demand. Besides, tuition fees are also higher against workers income. As a result, they have to take their children to unlicensed day-care centres where baby sitters do not have practice certificates.

The education sector must be responsible for building nursery schools in industrial parks. If the private sector does not build these schools here, the state should do it. Building nursery schools will play an important part in reducing child sexual abuse and violence cases.

What will the Department for Child Care and Protection do to prevent child abuse and violence cases?

The most important thing is studying and issuing documents timely. We will issue documents to manage the licensing of charity houses as well as the supervision mechanism on their operations, aiming to avoid cases such as in Dong Nai Province recently. We will revise the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education to clearly define roles of managers in cases of child abuse, particularly ward and commune authorities.

Thank you!