joint efforts are needed to create safe environments for children (Photo credit: Trinh Thu Nguyet)

The law is built to provide a legal foundation for children’s rights in Vietnam, and institutionalise the Party and State’s guidelines and policies on ensuring the enforcement of children’s rights in accordance with the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. It has also created a firm legal foundation to improve the efficiency of the prevention, control, detection and handling of child abuse.

Violence and abuse against children is a global issue. Statistics from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 120 million girls and 73 million boys across the globe are sexually abused, and 1 billion children globally experience some form of physical punishment. Asia is one of the regions worldwide which witnesses the highest rate of child maltreatment.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the country recorded 5,300 cases of child sexual abuse in the 2011-2015 period and more than 1,200 cases in 2016. Most of them happened in family situations or environments that are familiar to the victims.

In response to such cases, the Child Law 2016 defines the responsibilities of functional agencies, particularly the local authorities where the incident took place. In addition, Instruction No. 18/CT-TTg, issued on May 16, 2017 by the Prime Minister to enhance the prevention and control of child violence and abuse, has detailed the responsibilities of ten agencies, organisations and localities in properly and timely addressing the cases in a bid to minimise harm to the children and ensure that their legitimate rights are observed.

joint efforts are needed to bring the new law into life. Actions should be taken to improve the skills of parents and caregivers, educational managers and school teachers in order to reduce child abuse and create safe environments for children, particularly in the home and at school.

More importantly, initiatives should be promoted to ensure that Vietnamese children are encouraged and empowered to make changes and raise their voice in the fight against violence and abuse without fear. Stronger procedures on reporting, investigating and handling cases of child abuses should be established to bring the perpetrators to justice and force them to take full responsibility before the law.

UNICEF has suggested that Vietnam should perfect its legal system on child protection in order to strictly prevent and put an end to sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children under the age of 18, focussing on educating parents on parenting skills and empowering boys and girls in reporting and protecting themselves from acts of violence and abuse. UNICEF has also recommended enhancing human resources for child protection and to establish a collaborators network and services on child protection in communes.