Vietnamese experts are debating whether the names of sexual service users should be made public following a suggestion by the Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs that these names should be publicized as a way to deter sex purchases.
> ” red light districts in ho chi minh city>> Vietnam removes ban on same sex marriage >> Peer education a safety net for sex workers Hoang Thanh Thai, deputy director of the department, told Tuoi Tre” />(Youth) newspaper on Thursday that the Hanoi People’s Committee has sent this suggestion to the law-making National Assembly, after reviewing the 10-year implementation of the Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Control.
Under the proposal, the identification of sex buyers should be informed to their working places and authorities of the localities where they are living, Thai said.
Pecuniary fines on those buyers should be heftier to bar them from repeating their acts, Thai said.
Whether the names of sex workers’ customers should be publicized has become a controversial issue.
VnExpress newswire cited Van Thanh Sy, a psychologist in Ho Chi Minh City, as maintaining that making these people’s names public can be considered a measure to battle prostitution and thereby purify society.
Such name publishing may not only affect sex workers’ customers but it can also have impacts on their family members, which may even lead to family break-ups, the specialist said.
Dr. Khuat Thi Thu Hong, head of the Institute for Social Studies and Development, said that it is necessary to make the names of sex buyers known to the public if prostitution is to be under control.
Prostitution is now illegal in Vietnam, Dr. Hong said, adding that if it remains to be considered illegitimate, the names of sex workers’ customers should be publicized to prevent them from relapsing into buying sex again.
Having their names known by everyone will affect sex buyers in every aspect, from family life and marital happiness to business, prestige and social relations, the expert said.
“These are the costs that anyone will have to think of whenever they intend to buy sex,” she said.
But competent bodies should differentiate between those who are single and want to satisfy their natural desire and those who are married but indulge themselves in having sex with prostitutes as an unhealthy pleasure, Hong noted.
“The issue that causes the most concern is that such name publicizing may break up families, so whether the names of sex buyers should be publicized and how it should be done remain controversial,” the expert concluded.
Only the names of sex workers are currently made public after they are caught offering sexual services to their customers.
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Đăng ký: VietNam News