~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

Year :      [2005]      [2004]      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

Vietnam's capital to manage prostitutes online

HANOI - Vietnam's Hanoi capital will, this month, store information of prostitutes in interconnected computers, local newspaper Pioneer Friday quoted a municipal official as saying. When prostitutes are arrested, they have to fill in a form, which, along with their most recent photos, will be stored in computer networks accessible to all relevant agencies, Nguyen Vi Hung, head of the Hanoi Anti-Social Evil Bureau, said. Frequent sex sellers are supposed to attend rehabilitation centers, the official added.

The city's initiative aims at better managing prostitutes, especially those who are addicted to drugs, since relevant agencies can only fine the prostitutes 50,000 Vietnamese dong (nearly 3.2 US dollars) and then release them after detaining them but failing to prove that they engage in prostitution frequently. With the computerized records, the agencies will find it much easier to prove the "operation frequency" of prostitutes, Hung said, noting that under prevailing rules, prostitutes who are drugaddicts have to attend rehabilitation centers for one year or three-four years in case of relapse into prostitution.

"When their files are being recorded, prostitutes are afraid ofrelapsing into crime and being arrested for the second time.. Sending prostitutes to rehabilitation centers is good, since a number of them are addicted to drugs and infected with HIV," he stated. Some experts at Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs suggested that the ministry should implement Hanoi's initiative nationwide. The country currently has file records onabout 13,000 prostitutes, including around 3,000 in Hanoi.

Xinhuanet - October 7, 2005.