VietNamNet Bridge – From 2005 to 2012, 720 kids, both male and female, suffered from sexual abuse. Most of them were at the age of 13 to 16.

According to a seminar on fighting sexual abuse against children in HCM City yesterday, June 27, 145 children in HCM City were sexually abused in 2010-2012, with the highest numbers in Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts.

Ms. Luong Thi Toi, head of the HCM City Children Protection and Caring Department, the number of 720 victims in eight years (2005-2012) showed that the situation was very serious and it was an alarming sign for moral degradation.

Ms. Dinh Nguyen Thien Kim, deputy director of the HCM City Forensic Test Center, said that the highest number of victims were at the age of 13 to 16. Girls at this age usually go out with their boyfriends and are seduced to have sex. A lot of sexual abuse cases occurred during holidays like Christmas, Valentine Day and the New Year.

Kim stressed parent’s neglect as a major reason for child sexual abuse. Kim related that a 12-year-old girl who was pregnant for three months told her that she had sex at the age of 8. Asking him why until now she denounced the man who abused her, the girl said: “Because my boyfriend does not love me anymore and loves another girl so I denounced him to send him to jail.”

After telling seminar attendants about several child sexual abuse cases, Lieutenant colonel Le Ngoc Phuong, head of HCM City Police Department for Social-order Related Crime, said that besides parent’s neglect, moral degradation is also a main reason.

Phuong said that teen girls must be taught with measures to prevent sexual abuse. Kim suggested five groups of measures, including tightening control over children.

HCM City has approved the program to protect children in 2011-2015. The local police agency will strictly control inns, hotels, Internet cafes to prevent criminals from taking children to these places for sexual abuse.

Na Son