Action month for children calls for efforts in child abuse combat

Ethnic children in Vietnam (Photo: laodongthudo.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Activities of the Action Month for Children 2022 this year will call for joint efforts in child protection and child abuse prevention and combat, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has announced.

The activities will take place throughout June annually to enhance the sense of responsibility among sectors and relevant organisations in child protection and to ensure a safe summer for kids.

In the framework of the action month, a launch ceremony is slated around May 27 to June 1, together with an event responding to the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12.

The People’s Committees of localities nationwide are asked to build plans for activities of the action month suitable to their conditions, and to bolster communication work to raise awareness and skills in child protection.

Measures to fight sexual abuse and violence against children in family as well as locations receiving tipoffs and offering shelters for children, and helpline 111, an emergency telephone number for child protection, must be popularised.

Localities are also required to regularly check so as to detect in a timely manner high-risk locations prone to child-related accidents and to call on organisations and individuals to support victims of abuse, orphans and poor, ethnic and pandemic-hit children.

According to the MoLISA’s report, in 2021, the Ministry of Public Security detected 1,914 child abuse cases nationwide, an annual decrease of 31 cases. However, a number of severe cases that outraged the public took place.

Meanwhile, child protection, particularly against domestic violence, had yet to receive adequate attention. A report by the helpline said children abused by their relatives accounted for the lion’s share of the total cases last year, at 72.84 percent, which represented an annual increase of 5.3 percent./.