Decision 1629/QD-TTg 2021 approving the Program on prostitution prevention and combat for the 2021-2025 period

DECISION

Approving the Program on prostitution prevention and combat for the 2021-2025 period^[1]

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government, and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the March 17, 2003 Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 178/2004/ND-CP of October 15, 2004, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat;

At the proposal of the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the Program on prostitution prevention and combat for the 2021-2025 period (below referred to as the Program) with the following contents:

I. VIEWPOINTS AND OBJECTIVES

1. Viewpoints

 - To synchronously implement propaganda, education, socio-economic, administrative and criminal measures and other measures in the prostitution prevention and combat in order to protect fine customs and practices and beautiful cultural traditions of the nation, contributing to firmly maintaining social order and safety, protecting people’s health and advancing social progress;

- To regard prevention as the focus in prostitution prevention and combat; to combine prostitution prevention and combat with drug as well as HIV/AIDS infection prevention and control;

- To uphold the initiative and responsibility of grassroots-level administrations, organizations and mass organizations in the prostitution prevention and combat;

- To learn and bring into full play effective experiences in the prostitution prevention and combat from the previous periods, and at the same time selectively absorbing experiences of other countries around the world, especially from those with socio-economic conditions similar to Vietnam’s.

2. Objectives

To intensify the prevention, containment and push-back of prostitution; to create a significant change in awareness and actions of all levels, sectors, social organizations and communities in the prostitution prevention and combat; to increase the accessibility and use of social services for community integration of sex workers.

II. SPECIFIC TARGETS AND TASKS THROUGH 2025

1. To improve effectiveness of propaganda, communication and education on prostitution prevention and combat

a/ Targets

- At least 70% of communes, wards and townships (collectively referred to as commune level) will organize at least one form of propaganda on prostitution prevention and maintain it on a regular basis;

- Information on prostitution prevention and control will be published in the central and provincial mass media at least once a month;

- At least 70% of employees of service providers prone to abuse for prostitution activities; at least 60% of workers in industrial zones; and 70% of pupils and students of high schools, higher education institutions and vocational education institutions will be informed of policies and laws and provided with information and knowledge on prostitution prevention and combat.

b/ Tasks

- To develop and implement strategies for communication on the Party’s and the State’s guidelines and policies on prostitution prevention and combat; to reduce community stigma and discrimination against sex workers;

- To increase propaganda about prostitution prevention in the entire society, focusing on mountainous areas and localities with many migrants in order to limit the number of people involved in prostitution;

- To develop specialized pages, columns, reports and articles, and increase the time volume for communication about the situation of prostitution and prostitution prevention and control efforts in the central and local mass media;

- To renew methods and contents of communication to be lively and attractive for young people through the application of information and communication technology and via the Internet and social networks; forms of face-to-face communication in the community and highly interactive communication in industrial parks, schools, etc.;

- To integrate, design and develop communication and propaganda programs, materials and tools for prostitution prevention and combat suitable to each target group, locality and community, focusing on the following target groups: Teenagers, pupils, students and workers in service establishments who are vulnerable to abuse for prostitution activities, and workers in industrial parks about harmful effects of prostitution, the law on prostitution prevention and combat, and healthy and safe sexual behaviors;

- To organize commendation, honoring and rewarding of collectives and individuals that have made great contributions to the prostitution prevention and combat under current regulations.

2. To further step up the implementation of prostitution prevention activities through integration into related programs at the grassroots level

a/ Targets

- All provinces and centrally run cities will plan and organize the implementation of prostitution prevention and combat activities;

- At least 50% of the provinces and centrally run cities will integrate the task of prostitution prevention and combat with the implementation of socio-economic development, social welfare and assistance, drug prevention and control and HIV/AIDS infection prevention and control programs.

b/ Tasks

- To organize investigations, surveys, reviews, assessments and forecasts on needs of sex workers facing financial difficulties, unemployed youth, and workers in service businesses who are vulnerable to abuse for prostitution activities and local socio-economic development, social security and protection programs in order to direct the programs’ objectives toward these target groups;

- To develop integrated activities for women looking for jobs under programs on vocational training, employment seeking, loan support and poverty reduction to provide them with suitable job opportunities;

- To develop, and organize the implementation of, plans to integrate the implementation of social security, drug prevention and combat, and HIV/AIDS infection prevention and control programs in localities with the task of prostitution prevention and combat.

3. To intensify inspection and examination; to promptly detect and handle violations of the law on prostitution prevention and combat; to investigate and prosecute prostitution-related crimes

a/ Targets

- All denunciations, reports and complaints about violations of the law on prostitution prevention and combat will be received, verified, classified and handled in a timely manner;

- Every year, to increase by 3-5% the number of prostitution-related crimes handled in accordance with law, especially in key localities; to organize inspection of at least 20% of service businesses where prostitution activities are likely to occur in localities; by 2025, all of these businesses will be inspected at least once.

b/ Tasks

- To develop a coordination mechanism and handling process for receiving information about and investigating and handling violations of the law on prostitution prevention and combat among related state management agencies in the direction that each task will have a specific focal point responsible for it; to establish an interdisciplinary mechanism for performing the task of prostitution prevention and combat;

- To strengthen the interdisciplinary inspection team for prostitution prevention and combat (inspection team 178) under the Government’s Decree No. 178/2004/ND-CP of October 15, 2004, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat, ensuring its streamlined organization and effective and efficient operation;

 - To examine and strictly manage conditions for establishment and operation of business or service establishments where prostitution activities are likely to occur in accordance with law in order to prevent, detect and prevent the abuse of these activities to organize prostitution activities;

- To enhance the management of security and order; to organize investigations to uncover criminal cases and crack down criminal organizations involved in prostitution activities; to improve effectiveness of inspection and supervision of activities to prevent and combat administrative violations and crimes related to prostitution from the grassroots level; and to promptly prosecute prostitution-related crimes.

4. To plan and organize interventions to reduce harms, prevent transmission of social diseases and HIV/AIDS, and prevent and reduce gender-based violence in prostitution prevention and combat

a/ Targets

- At least 10% of district-level areas in the provinces and centrally run cities will develop and implement pilot models on prostitution prevention, provision of support for harm reduction intervention, and gender-based violence prevention and control, guaranteeing rights of workers in service businesses who are vulnerable to abuse for prostitution activities, and provide support services for community integration of sex workers;

- At least 60% of sex workers who have needs and are eligible may have access to and use social support services for community integration.

b/ Tasks

- To evaluate, include in documents and standardize conditions, regulations, standards and quality of harm reduction and social support intervention services in the prostitution prevention and combat in some localities for implementation guidance;

- To continue to build and multiply pilot models which have proved effective from the 2016-2020 period in the direction of supporting empowerment, increasing the participation of peer groups, self-help groups, and sex workers’ clubs in solving related problems;

- To form a network of establishments providing support services for harm reduction; gender-based violence prevention and control, and community integration for sex workers with the involvement of state agencies, social organizations, businesses, experts and individuals at home and abroad and some peer groups, self-help groups and sex workers’ clubs;

- To increase support and investment of resources to renovate, expand and upgrade physical foundations and equipment for establishments and networks providing support services in vocational education and health care, prevention of transmission of social diseases and HIV/AIDS, and support for community integration for sex workers.

5. To provide training and further training to acquire and improve professional qualifications and skills for cadres, civil servants, public employees and soldiers in performing the task of prostitution prevention and combat

a/ Targets

- At least 70% of cadres, civil servants, public employees and soldiers at the provincial level and 50% at the district and commune levels, and in agencies and organizations involved in prostitution prevention and combat work will be trained to acquire and improve professional capabilities in prostitution prevention and combat; to make harm reduction interventions; to prevent and combat gender-based violence; to provide support for community integration of sex workers.

b/ Tasks

- To develop training materials, roll out training programs to provide, guide and update knowledge, technology, counseling skills, and provide support for propaganda and guidance on prostitution prevention and combat for the community;

- To organize training and further training for cadres, civil servants, public employees and soldiers engaged in social vice prevention and combat at all levels and of related sectors; people directly providing social support services for sex workers to integrate into the community; and build the network of reporters, communicators, volunteers and collaborators at all levels for prostitution prevention and combat.

III. SOLUTIONS

1. Institutional improvement

- To review and complete the legal corridor on prostitution prevention and combat, taking into account cultural factors, customs and habits, awareness level of different segments of the population; to concretize responsibility of heads of agencies and organizations for letting prostitution occur in areas under their management;

- To propose revision and addition of strict sanctions for administrative handling and criminal prosecution of violations of the law on prostitution; to clearly specify measures, solutions, resources and implementation responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in the implementation of these solutions;

- To propose policies to prevent and protect minors from prostitution; to ensure early detection and strictly handle violations of children’s rights in the field of prostitution prevention and combat, and prostitution-related criminal activities; to build a legal framework for the implementation of harm reduction interventions, prevention and control of gender-based violence against sex workers in order to facilitate their community integration.

2. Organization of implementation

- Party committees at all levels shall include the prostitution prevention and combat program in their official documents, resolutions on and strategies for socio-economic development; regularly oversee, press for and inspect the implementation; promote propaganda activities, raise awareness and sense of responsibility of officials and party members for prostitution prevention and combat work; and link the responsibility of leaders to results of prostitution prevention and combat in their localities or units.

- Provincial-level People’s Councils shall adopt resolutions on prostitution prevention and combat and request People’s Committees to report on the implementation of such resolutions at meetings of same-level People’s Councils.

- To enhance the direction by the Government and the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention and Fight over the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees in the prostitution prevention and combat work according to their assigned functions and tasks.

- People’s Committees at all levels shall regard prostitution prevention and combat as one of the socio-economic development tasks of their localities; direct the incorporation of prostitution prevention and combat in social security, HIV/AIDS infection prevention and control, drug prevention and combat, and human trafficking prevention and combat programs. They shall focus on directing the implementation in key areas and provide resources first of all to deep-lying, remote and border areas.

- To intensify inter-sectoral coordination through formulating, signing and effectively implementing regulations on coordination, maintaining mechanisms of information exchange, reporting, inspection, assessment and review between central and local agencies and departments on prostitution prevention and combat;

- To maintain the regime of inspection, evaluation and review at all levels in order to draw experiences in directing, operating and multiplying highly effective models, methods and solutions.

- The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations are requested to increase their direction and organization of activities to oversee the performance of the prostitution prevention and combat task by ministries, sectors and administrations at all levels.

3. Resources

- To concentrate the State’s funds for pivotal and priority activities; to mobilize resources and involve agencies, organizations, individuals and communities in prevention activities, and provision of support for harm reduction and community integration for sex workers;

- To promote the mobilization of all social resources; to mobilize social organizations, community-based organizations, clubs, self-help groups and peer groups to participate in provision of social support and community integration support for sex workers;

- To incorporate the prostitution prevention and combat task in socio-economic development, social welfare and relief, drug prevention and combat, and HIV/AIDS infection prevention and control programs.

4. International cooperation

- To proactively and actively integrate and promote international cooperation in the field of prostitution prevention and combat, human trafficking for prostitution and child prostitution purposes, in order to obtain consensus, support and technical and financial assistance from foreign governments and international organizations; and to step up technical cooperation, training, exchange of experts, scientific research, technology transfer, domestic and foreign joint-venture cooperation for prostitution prevention and combat.

IV. BUDGET FOR THE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION

The state budget shall be guaranteed according to the budget decentralization and included in the regular expenditure estimates of agencies and units assigned to carry out prostitution prevention and combat in accordance with the Law on the State Budget and other lawful funding sources, in which:

1. The central budget will ensure expenses for activities of ministries and sectors carried out at the central level and involving many localities such as training, holding of workshops and conferences, dissemination of laws, pilot application of models of intervention related to prostitution prevention and combat, support for community integration, etc.

2. Local budgets shall be spent on activities involved in tasks and solutions of this Program on the basis of specific needs and situations of localities.

3. Financial aid and other lawful funding sources as specified by law.

V. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs:

a/ To assume the prime responsibility for planning, guiding and implementing the contents of the Program;

b/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, studying, elaborating, promulgating according to their competence, or submitting to competent authorities for promulgation, legal documents on prostitution prevention and combat; regulations, standards and technical standards to ensure the quality of social support services for sex workers;

c/ To assume the prime responsibility for designing and developing programs, materials and tools of communication on prostitution prevention and combat; to organize training and exchange of experiences to improve professional capabilities for social vice prevention and combat staffs at all levels and of related sectors and organizations;

d/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications and related ministries and sectors in, making and implementing plans on information and communication on prostitution prevention and combat in the mass media;

dd/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, strengthening the Central Interdisciplinary Working Group for Prostitution Prevention and Combat; to make plans on and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in directing prostitution prevention and combat work based on the Program’s contents;

e/ To direct and organize the implementation of measures to prevent prostitution; to build and develop a system of social support services for sex workers; to continue to build and pilot models in the direction of supporting the empowerment and increasing the participation of peer groups, self-help groups and sex workers’ clubs in handling issues related to sex workers;

g/ To develop a regime of reporting, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Program; to build a database on prostitution prevention and combat; to organize interdisciplinary teams to inspect and evaluate the performance of the prostitution prevention and combat task in the provinces and centrally run cities; to hold reviews of the Program implementation for reporting to the Prime Minister under regulations.

2. The Ministry of Public Security shall assume the prime responsibility for reviewing and proposing amendments and supplementations to regulations on security and order management of service businesses prone to abuse for prostitution activities; direct the public security forces at all levels to intensify the fight and crackdown of criminal gangs involved in prostitution activities, paying special attention to the crimes of human trafficking for prostitution and child prostitution purposes.

3. The Ministry of National Defense (the Border Guard Command) shall direct the border guards to promptly detect, fight, prevent and strictly handle acts of human trafficking for prostitution purposes in border and border gate areas.

4. The Ministry of Health shall direct and promote coordination with the labor, invalids and social affairs sector in implementing HIV/AIDS harm reduction interventions in prostitution prevention and combat; direct the health sector at all levels to provide periodical medical examinations for employees of service businesses under regulations.

5. The Ministry of Finance shall balance and allocate sufficient funds for the implementation of the Program in accordance with law.

6. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall enhance the direction of the inspection and examination of cultural and tourist service businesses in order to prevent and promptly handle erotic acts, acts of circulating harmful and depraved cultural products, taking advantage of tourism to organize prostitution activities; integrate contents of propaganda and education about prostitution prevention and combat with cultural, artistic, physical training and sports activities.

7. The Ministry of Information and Communications shall directs the press agencies nationwide and the grassroots information system to regularly carry out information and communication about prostitution prevention and combat; propose appropriate solutions to prevent websites with prostitution-related contents; coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, related ministries, sectors and localities in making plans on information and communication about prostitution prevention and combat in the mass media.

8. The Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall direct upper secondary schools, higher education institutions and vocational education institutions to organize propaganda and education about prostitution prevention and combat integrated in extracurricular activities for students; increase awareness-raising propaganda and education, education about morality, lifestyle and life skills regarding prostitution prevention and combat for students.

9. The Ministry of Justice shall direct and guide the dissemination of and education about  the law on prostitution prevention and combat; coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and related agencies in studying, amending, supplementing and improving legal documents on prostitution prevention and combat.

10. The Vietnam Television Station, Radio Voice of Vietnam, and Vietnam News Agency shall, based on their assigned functions and tasks, coordinate with related agencies in regularly including the prostitution prevention and combat propaganda contents in information and communication programs; improve content quality and increase time volume of programs on prostitution prevention and combat.

11. Other ministries and sectors that are members of the National Committee for AIDS,  Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control, and government-attached agencies shall proactively prepare and implement plans on prostitution prevention and combat according to their assigned functions and tasks and characteristics of their respective sectors and units; and take the initiative in allocating funds for this work.

12. Provincial-level People’s Committees:

a/ To plan and allocate resources for the performance of the tasks and solutions set forth in this Program in conformity with specific local characteristics and reality; to include the prostitution prevention and combat task in other related programs, plans and projects in their localities;

b/ To promulgate according to their competence policies and regimes to support community integration of sex workers; to step by step build and organize the provision of social support services and support for community integration of sex workers.

13. The Supreme People’s Procuracy and Supreme People’s Court are requested to direct and guide the procuracies and courts at all levels to raise the capacity of procurators and judges in the enforcement of laws on investigation, prosecution and adjudication of prostitution-related cases; coordinate with the same-level state management agency in charge of prostitution prevention and combat in collecting statistics on prosecution and adjudication of prostitution-related crimes.

14. The Central Committees of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and Vietnam Women’s Union, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and other socio-political organizations at the central level are requested to direct and guide their member organizations and individual members within their organizational systems to participate in mobilization and propaganda activities to raise awareness about and responsibility for prostitution prevention and combat.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front is requested to coordinate with socio-political organizations at the central level in implementing the programs of social supervision and criticism on policies and laws relating to prostitution prevention and combat.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Women’s Union is requested to coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in developing and piloting models of social support and social integration support for sex workers in the community.

Article 2. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decision.-

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
VU DUC DAM