US embassy cable - 03HANOI1797

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001797 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, PGOV, SOCI, VM, TIP 
SUBJECT: NEW EFFORTS TO COMBAT PROSTITUTION IN VIETNAM 
 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  A new ordinance should strengthen efforts 
aimed at combating prostitution in Vietnam and its related 
effects.  The most striking point of the new ordinance is 
its inclusion of purchasers of sex, specifically focusing on 
government officials, thus expanding prohibited acts to 
include demand-side offenders.  Doubts remain about its 
practical application, however.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) On March 17, the National Assembly Standing 
Committee (NASC) passed a new Ordinance on Prostitution 
Prevention and Combat, which came into effect July 1. 
According to Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social 
Affairs (MOLISA) official Nguyen Thi Hue, previous laws and 
regulations had been insufficient, overlapping, or even 
conflicting.  This new ordinance aims at rectifying gaps in 
the Criminal Code and at unifying overall policy, with an 
emphasis on prevention and education. 
 
THE ORDINANCE AND IMPLICATIONS 
------------------------------ 
 
3.  (U) The ordinance's Article 4 provides a broad listing 
that "strictly prohibits buying and selling sex, harboring 
or organizing prostitution activities, forcing, brokering, 
or protecting prostitution, abusing the service business for 
prostitution activities, as well as other acts related to 
prostitution activities as prescribed by law."  "Buying" is 
the new element here; previous legislation failed to 
designate purchasing sex as an offense.  The ordinance 
defines "sex" as "sexual intercourse." 
 
4.  (U) Although the ordinance breaks no new ground on 
criminal liability, it does define cases that entail 
administrative penalties.  Article 22 provides that "sex 
buyers shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of 
their violations, be administratively handled in the form of 
caution and fine."  For public officials, the measures 
become even sterner:  Article 27 requires that "officials, 
public employees and/or people's armed force personnel who 
commit acts violating law provisions on prostitution 
prevention and combat shall, apart from being handled under 
the provisions prescribed in articles of the ordinance, have 
their acts notified to the heads of their competent managing 
agencies, organizations or units for education and 
disciplining . . .  [and] during the period of being 
disciplined, not be appointed nor stand for election . . . 
nor be appointed or re-appointed to equivalent or higher 
posts in the State agencies or the people's armed forces." 
According to the media, the NASC decided against a 
requirement to inform family members of cases in which 
government officials were caught with prostitutes. 
 
5.  (U) The ordinance reaffirms penal liability for buyers 
of "sex with minors" and for those who "though being aware 
of their HIV infection, deliberately transmit the disease." 
It also specifically reiterated penal liabilities for those 
who engage in trafficking in women and/or children, as well 
as those who act as "go-betweens for" or harbor or coerce 
prostitution.  The ordinance retains existing administrative 
sanctions, including possible re-education and/or medical 
treatment, for prostitutes themselves. 
 
GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
6.  (U) The ordinance tasks MOLISA with "formulating, and 
organizing the implementation of, policies and plans on 
prostitution prevention and combat" in coordination with 
other agencies and organizations.  The Ministry of Public 
Security (MPS) "shall have to organize the prevention and 
combat of crimes of prostitution and trafficking in women 
and children in service of prostitution activities as well 
as law violations related to prostitution."  MPS shall also 
coordinate with MOLISA and other agencies "in directing, 
guiding and organizing the community-based management and 
education of prostitutes as well as persons committing 
prostitution-related acts."  Article 24 defines persons 
committing prostitution-related acts as "those who protect 
prostitution, contribute capital for use for prostitution 
purposes."  This latter group shall be administratively 
sanctioned or examined for penal liability "depending on the 
nature and seriousness of their violations." 
 
7.  (U) According to media, USD$1.5 million will be 
allocated for implementation of this ordinance, which one 
MOLISA official admitted to reporters was a "very 
insufficient" sum. 
 
8.  (U)  Comment:  The GVN takes seriously its efforts to 
combat trafficking in persons, although it remains 
chronically strapped for operational funds.  Both the GVN 
and Communist Party of Vietnam have also spoken repeatedly 
and forcefully about the need to improve the moral tone of 
officials and to ensure more suitable conduct in order to 
preserve the dignity and authority of the State and Party. 
Given the ever-more open nature of Vietnamese society, 
endemic corruption, and access to prostitution and other 
"social evils," there are widespread doubts that even this 
new ordinance will prove particularly effective in dealing 
with the general problem of prostitution, however. 
BURGHARDT