Two remanded in police custody for baby smuggling

HA NOI — Ha Noi's Hoan Kiem District police have prosecuted and remanded a man and a woman in four-month custody for allegedly smuggling newborn babies.

Dang Quang Hy, 66, and Bui Thi Le Thuan, 48, were arrested by the Hoan Kiem Police's Investigative Unit on November 24.

The police had earlier called Thuan in for questioning after discovering her bringing up a month-old girl.

Thuan admitted to police that she was caring for the baby for Hy and his wife until the baby was sold and would be paid VND100,000 (US$5) per day.

The police, after examining Thuan's house in Hoan Kiem District, found two handwritten documents by mothers volunteering to give up their babies to Hy. They also found similar documents at Hy's house in Thanh Luong ward in Hai Ba Trung District.

At the police station, Hy admitted he had collected five newborn babies aged between three days to a month old, and claimed four of the babies had been successfully sold for VND10-17 million ($510-867) each.

However, police investigations revealed that Hy had sold a baby for VND35 million ($1,785) to an adoptive parent in the northern province of Phu Tho.

The police took the baby that Thuan had been caring for and placed the infant in the Ha Noi Centre for Orphans and Malnourished Children.

"Further investigations are now underway," said Director of Hoan Kiem Police Hoang Quoc Dinh.

Under current regulations, child smugglers can be sentenced to between three years and life imprisonment depending on the level of infringement, purposes and consequences of smuggling, said Ha Noi-based lawyer Nguyen Thai Hoa.

Violators would also be liable to administrative fines of between VND5-50 million ($255-2,550), he said.

Nearly 1,950 cases of woman and child trafficking cases have been discovered, involving more than 4,700 victims over the past six years, following the implementation of a national action programme on women and children trafficking prevention and control, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security. — VNS

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Reducing child mortality rates a top priority

Each locality should prioritize its investment in ethnic inhabited and poorer regions to protect the lives of children, an official of the Ministry of Public Health has said.

At a workshop on implementing an action plan for improving children’s lives in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, Head of the ministry’s Child and Mother Health Protection Department Nguyen Duy Khe said the mortality rate of children in mountainous and remote provinces and poor families is three to four times higher than that of wealthy families.

He emphasized the need for each locality to conduct surveys and have its own action plan to protect children’s lives, with a national program target of reducing the mortality rate of children under five to below 18 percent and that of newborn babies to less than 10 percent.

A special focus should be put on reducing the mortality rate of newborn babies, which represents around 70 percent of that of all children, said Dinh Thi Phuong Hoa from the Public Health University.

The mortality rate of newborn babies can be reduced from 6-42 percent with timely emergency treatment and 55-87 percent for early breastfed cases, she said.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Vietnam had around 28,000 children die under the age of five, including 16,000 newborns each year.

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Reducing child mortality rates a top priority

Each locality should prioritise its investment in ethnic inhabited and poorer regions to protect the lives of children, said an official of the Ministry of Public Health.

At a workshop on implementing an action plan for improving children’s lives in HCM City on Sept. 22, Head of the ministry’s Child and Mother Health Protection Department Nguyen Duy Khe said the mortality rate of children in mountainous and remote provinces and poor families is three to four times higher than that of wealthy families.

He emphasised the need for each locality to conduct surveys and have its own action plan to protect children’s lives, with a national programme target of reducing the mortality rate of children under five to below 18 percent and that of newborn babies to less than 10 percent.

A special focus should be put on reducing the mortality rate of newborn babies, which represents around 70 percent of that of all children, said Dinh Thi Phuong Hoa from the Public Health University.

The mortality rate of newborn babies can be reduced from 6-42 percent with timely emergency treatment and 55-87 percent for early breastfed cases, she said.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Vietnam had around 28,000 children die under the age of five, including 16,000 newborns each year./.

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