Annually, there are on average over 100 murder, 800 sexual abuse, 50 kidnapping and trafficking cases against children in Vietnam, said a senior police official. According to Colonel Nguyen Chi Viet, vice chief of the Criminal Police Agency, police detected more than 700 abuse cases and 255 rape cases against children in the first half of 2010. He said that crimes against children are on the rise, especially in the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Dien Bien, and Lai Chau. Criminals took advantage of the isolated geography to break into homes to kill adults and kidnap children to sell to China. In the southern provinces of An Giang and Tay Ninh, many kids are swindled and taken to Cambodia to work as prostitutes. Some people took advantage of legal gaps to purchase or adopt children and then sold them to foreigners or to brothels.

Notably, there are around 800 sexual abuse cases against children annually. Victims less than six years old account for over 13 percent of cases and victims between the ages of 6-13 years old account for 37 percent.

The number of child criminals is also rising. Around 10,000 cases of crime caused by children, mainly between the ages of 16-18 years old, are reported annually. Around 4,300 cases caused by 6,500 children were recorded in the first half of 2010.

To deal with this situation, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs is about to implement the National Action Program for Children in 2011-2020.

PV