Hanoi officials want to publicise names of people using prostitutes

Following 10 years of implementation of the Ordinance on Prevention of Prostitution, the People's Committee has asked the National Assembly to replace the ordinance with the Law on Prostitution Prevention.The city also recommended supplementing Article 22 by increasing the administrative penalties on sex buyers and publicly naming them in the local community and changing the concept "sexual trade" of Article 3 and replacing the words “sexual intercourse” with "sexual satisfaction" in order to cover behavior causing sexual arousal and the sex trade of homosexuals.
Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Hoang Thanh Thai, pointed out shortcomings in the current policies. He said that after the National Assembly Resolution 24/2012/QH13 took effect, prostitution in public places increased.
"The resolution stipulates that a prostitute is fined VND100,000 and VND300,000 or has to be given a warning only. The sanctioning is gentle, so most prostitutes return to crime," he said.
He also complained about difficulties in implementing the policy to help prostitutes with vocational training and get a job after they leave rehabilitation centers. This happened because most prostitutes could not meet the condition of having a permanent residence status in Hanoi.
In addition, the financial assistance of VND2 million ($100) for vocational training and VND1 million ($50) per person to find a job was insufficient. Because of this, since 2010, no prostitute has received financial support from the state budget.