Nguyen Minh Giang, programme manager at anti-trafficking NGO Pacific Links Foundation, said Vietnam is a country with a high incidence of trafficking (Source: VNA)Speakingat a workshop on the child abuse and trafficking situation and ways to combatthem held on June 16 by the HCM City Child Welfare Association, they said theseorganisations should collaborate to develop a common strategy and action planto improve the effectiveness of measures to safeguard children from abuse andtrafficking.
Withoutsuch cooperation, they could well duplicate each other’s work, leading to awaste of human resources, they said.
Ly Thi ToMai, a member of the HCM City Association for Child Rights Protection’s lawyerspanel, said not only girls but also boys face a grave risk of abuse andtrafficking.
“Thelatest case, which I do not know how to resolve, involves a 12-year-old boy inDistrict 9 who was seduced by a 28-year-old man. The boy dropped out of schoolto go and live with the man.”
When Maimet the boy and asked him if he was seduced, he denied it.
“How toprotect such boys?”
Nguyen VanTinh, deputy head of the children protection and care division of the cityDepartment of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said many families with boysare not aware of the risks and allow them to stay at others’ places overnight.
In thecity, there have been 100 cases of child sex abuse and violence in the last 18months, he said.
But inreality, many more are unreported by victims’ families for various reasons, headded.
NguyenMinh Giang, programme manager at anti-trafficking NGO Pacific Links Foundation,said Vietnam is a country with a high incidence of trafficking.
“Of thevictims aged less than 18 trafficked in the UK, the number of Vietnamese is thehighest.”
ColonelPhan Van Tang of the HCM City Police’s criminal police division admitted thepolice are yet to uncover a single child in the city trafficked to othercountries.
Accordingto Mai, social organisations in the city should have programmes topropagate the skills and knowledge required to prevent children abuse andtrafficking.
More mockcourts should be held in schools, she added.
Pham DinhNghinh, head of the Social Welfare Centre for Children, said such courts shouldalso be held in residential areas and industrial parks to warn people.-VNA
