Children are naive: Nguyễn Văn Công, the
project’s founder, and director of Wellbeing social enterprise, talks about the
project at the launching ceremony
HÀ NỘI —
A new project has been launched to teach Vietnamese ethnic minority children
how to protect themselves against sexual harassment and assault by strangers in
such tourist hotspots as Sa Pa.
A group
of 20 volunteers travelled to Na Hang District of mountainous Tuyên Quang
Province to teach 170 children from among 15 ethnic groups studying at the Na
Hang secondary school.
The one-
year project, entitled Lớn Lên An Toàn (Growing up in a Safe Environment), will
include lessons about reproductive health and equip them with other skills to
protect themselves from sexual assaults risks.
In
addition, communication campaigns will be launched to raise awareness about the
need to protect children, in particular ethnic minority children working in the
tourism sector.
“Children,
in particular, ethnic minority children, are often very innocent and have to
face many risks, in particular the risk of sexual assault. To reduce those
risks, we will teach them the necessary skills to help them protect
themselves,” said doctor Đỗ Việt Dũng, the project’s adviser.
The
project is the idea of students taking part in the Autumn School of
Development, which was organised by the Institute of Sociology, Institute for
Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE).
ISEE’s
director Lương Minh Ngọc said this project had a significant importantce as not
many children and adolescents in Việt Nam know much about reproductive health.
“In many
families, parents still hesitate to talk with their children about reproductive
health. This remains a taboo. Many children are not ready to share with their
parents their intimate stories,” she said.
“During
the first year, we focus only on important tourist sites. After this year, the
project will be expanded to other regions of Việt Nam,” said Nguyễn Văn Công,
the project’s founder and director of Wellbeing social enterprise.
Last
year, the country welcomed 8 million foreign tourists, said the Việt Nam
National Administration of Tourism.
From 2011
to 2015, 8,200 cases of sexual assault of children were detected, affecting
10,000 victims, an increase of 258 in comparison to the five previous years.
Those
statistics were presented at a recent seminar about child protection in the
digital environment, which was organised in March this year by the Ministry of
Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and UNICEF East and Pacific regional
office.
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