Vietnam has seen an alarming increase in cases of child sexual abuse in recent years, with some victims as young as six years old.
At a recent conference on child abuse in Hanoi, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reports that most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims, either as 'friends' of the family, babysitters or neighbors. Only in a small number of cases are they complete strangers.

In some shocking cases that have caused much outrage in the public, parental incest occurs where the father or stepfather assaults the victim.

Alcohol has been identified as one of the contributing factors to the crime, as most offenders have been known to make the assault under the influence of alcohol.

The number of child sexual abuse across the nation has increased considerably from 200 in 2005 to 1,427, a sevenfold increase, in 2008, according to the MOLISA report.

In 2010, the number of victims dropped to about 1,000 but the actual figure is believed to be higher as many victims failed to report the crime to the authority due to a sense of shame, family dishonor, social ... Xem thêm