Vietnam Joins Training Program to Fight Child Sexual Abuse

Dozens of police officers from Vietnam and representatives from 18 countries have participated in a three-week training program held in Hanoi starting May 31 to promote joint efforts to combat transnational child sexual exploitation, showed a statement from the Australian Embassy in Vietnam. The 40th Asia Region Law Enforcement Management Program (ARLEMP), which is held in Vietnam for the first time, will tackle issues involving online child sexual exploitation, child trafficking for sexual exploitation, and sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. Participants in the program that will last until June 17 are from Vietnam, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Timor-Leste. Australian Federal Police Manager of Victim Based Crime, Commander Glen McEwen, said at the opening ceremony of the event on May 31 that “One of the most serious transnational crime threats in the Asia-Pacific region is child sexual exploitation, both via online exploitation through the production, access and distribution of child exploitation material and through abuse perpetrated by traveling child sex offenders.” Chief Constable Frans Heeres of the National Police of the Netherlands remarked that “Combating child exploitation features high on the global law enforcement agenda. Close cooperation with South East Asian countries is essential in tackling this cross-border issue. ARLEMP is an excellent instrument to practice what we preach.” The exchange of information and the cooperation between police forces around the world is crucial because crime is no longer restricted to one country’s borders, he added. ARLEMP is a long-term partnership between Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, the Australian Federal Police and RMIT International University in Vietnam. Around 750 police from different countries have attended the course since 2005. (VnExpress.net June 1, Lao Dong – Lao Dong June 1)