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Vietnam boosts efforts to combat prostitution

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is working on an anti-prostitution law although the relevant existing ordinance has proved effective in holding back prostitution, particularly at public sites.

At a meeting with the press in Hanoi on December 23, Le Duc Hien, deputy head of the MoLISA’s Anti-Social Evil Department reported that during 2004-2008 the police force smashed over 6,100 prostitution cases, a drop of 13.9 percent over the 1999-2003 period, in which over 19,400 brothel owners, brokers, sex workers and clients were detained.

Of those incidents, 4,100 cases with 6,400 involved people were prosecuted, a 33 percent drop in the number of cases over the 1999-2003 period, Hien said.

In the mentioned period, more than 25,000 sex workers nationwide have been provided with medical treatment and 15,500 of them have been sent to rehabilitation centres where they have been supplied with vocational training that enabled them to reintegrate into society.

The outcome, however, is unsustainable, Hien said.