Social News 28/10 Several draft laws discussed at 14th NA’s second session Lawmakers discussed a number of draft laws during the plenary sitting of the second session of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi on October 27. NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu chaired the event. In the morning, the deputies heard reports verifying the draft Law on Foreign Trade Management, the draft revised Law on Legal Assistance, and the draft revised Law on State Compensation Liability. In the afternoon, they discussed in groups the aforesaid draft laws. On October 28, the deputies will hear and discuss in groups reports of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy on prevention of crime, legal violations, and corruption, and judgment enforcement. Artists hold fund-raising music shows for flood victims Vietnamese artists and singers continue to raise funds for people in the central provinces who have been severely affected by the historic flooding. Well-known singer Dam Vinh Hung, along with other artists, visited Ha Tinh Province on October 26 and handed over 2.7 billion VND (120,000 USD) in donations. They also distributed essential commodities to locals. The singer had organised a fund-raising music show, Central Region Heart, which saw artists such as Dam Vinh Hung, Thanh Hoa, Quang Linh, Quang Dung, Duong Trieu Vu, Le Quyen and others performing without honorarium. More than 700 million VND (31,000 USD) was raised from the event. “Artists were passionate about being part of a fund-raising music show. They wanted to accompany me to the central provinces to offer their support to local people,” Hung said. Hung had also called on people to donate and aid the country’s flood-hit citizens, and by October 24, he had received donations to the tune of 2 billion VND (90,000 USD). Also on October 26, many artists, including composer Tran Tien, singers Anh Khoa and Dong Lan performed in a street music show on Nguyen Van Binh Street in HCM City to raise more funds. It was organised by First News publishing company and directed by Tung John. Everyone involved performed for free. The money from the show, which is estimated to be 500 million VND (22,300 USD) will be handed over to affected people on October 29 and 30 by Seeds for the Soul, a charity group. The group, founded by director of First News and other journalists and writers, has collected another 300 million VND (13,400 USD). Recently, MC Phan Anh also collected more than 20 billion VND (900,000 USD) to help people in the central provinces. Saigon Outcast will also host an arts event on October 30 to raise funds for flood victims in the central provinces. The event will feature music performances, poetry readings and arts creation. There will also be an auction for food and artworks. All donations will be given to the HCM City Red Cross. The event will take place from 2pm to 11pm at 188/1 Nguyen Van Huong Street in District 1. The heavy rain and flooding in the central region claimed 15 lives and left at least 18 others injured. The storm damaged more than 100,400 houses, 1,600ha of rice and over 3,000ha of aquatic farms. Thua Thien-Hue: Formosa compensation paid to fishermen As of October 27, 40 billion VND (1.79 million USD) compensated by Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation was distributed to fishermen in Phu Loc, Phu Vang and Quang Dien districts, central Thua Thien-Hue province in the first phase.  The sum went to the fishermen in 11 of the 28 communes and towns in these districts as they have been greatly affected by the marine environmental incident sparked by Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh.  According to Chief of the Thua Thien Hue People’s Committee Office Hoang Ngoc Khanh, the districts have set up seven teams in charge of delivering the compensation to local people. Phu Loc district received the highest amount of compensation with 201.6 billion VND (9.025 million USD) in total, while Phu Vang district got over 137 billion VND (6.133 million USD). Operations of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. Ltd resulted in mass fish deaths along the coast of the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue in April. The pollution damaged about 400 hectares of coral and affected over 260,000 people who earned their living in sea-related activities.  The firm compensated over 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) to support local fishermen switch to other jobs and recover the polluted maritime environment. It also vowed to deal with shortcomings in waste and wastewater treatment.  Total compensation for those affected by the incident in Thua Thien-Hue is nearly 750 billion VND (33.6 million USD), 400 billion VND of which has been disbursed. Vice President takes over Chair of NFVC Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh took over the Chair of the Council of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) from former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan at a ceremony in Hanoi on October 27.  Addressing the ceremony, former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan expressed thanks to the council’s members and domestic and foreign donors who have worked closely with her and the fund over the past four years to improve welfare for Vietnamese children.  Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh praised the hard work and dedication of the NFVC council members, particularly former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan in the past tenure, to the cause of child protection and care.  She pledged to continue making efforts to build on the achievements made by the fund.  The NFVC is the only State-run fund for mobilizing resources for the child protection, care and education cause. After nearly 25 years in operation, the fund has raised more than 5 trillion VND (225 million USD) and provided support to over 30 million children from disadvantaged background.  The fund has set the goal of raising 80 billion VND (3.6 million USD) and offering support to 55,000 children each year.  On the occasion, agencies and organisations committed more than 18 billion VND (810,000 USD) to the fund. Monument to Vietnamese volunteer soldiers inaugurated in Phnom Penh A monument dedicated to Vietnamese volunteer soldiers was inaugurated in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on October 27 after a period of restoration. The inaugural ceremony was jointly held by the National Council of the Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodia’s Motherland, the Phnom Penh City Hall, and the Vietnamese Defence Attache Office in Cambodia. Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of State at the Cambodian Ministry of Cults and Religion Ngem Valy highly appreciated efforts made by relevant sides in restoring and embellishing the monument in Phnom Penh and others in localities in Cambodia in general, saying that those contribute to strengthening the Vietnam-Cambodia relations. He thanked Vietnam’s Party, State, Government, National Assembly and the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), soldiers and their families for helping Cambodia escape from the Pol Pot genocidal regime . Colonel Nguyen Anh Dung, head of the Vietnamese Defence Attache Office in Cambodia, said the monument is a symbol of the Vietnam-Cambodia friendship and a reminder of Cambodia’s hardship times in the past, adding that it will help educate both nations’ young generations on the bilateral ties. Previously, at their working session in late 2013, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hunsen and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan agreed on a plan to restore and upgrade 17 monuments to Vietnamese volunteer soldiers across Cambodia. The Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodia’s Motherland has coordinated with the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence to implement the work. To date, eight out of 17 memorials were restored. The remaining ones are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017. Photo, documentary exhibition features ASEAN Community An exhibition of photos and documentaries on the ASEAN Community opened in the northern province of Phu Tho on October 27.  The event, jointly held by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the provincial People’s Committee, is part of the working agenda of the Government on introducing and promoting the ASEAN Community and its benefits to member states.  On display are over 300 photos and nearly 60 documentaries featuring beauty of landscape and people, traditional cultures as well as environmental protection efforts in ASEAN countries.  They were finalists in international photo and documentary festivals on ASEAN in 2010, 2013 and 2015.  Stamps and seal samples of the ASEAN countries are also introduced.  The three-day exhibition will help Phu Tho residents gain an insight into culture, people and life style of regional countries and enhance their awareness as well as responsibility for protecting the environment and combating climate change.  It also offers an opportunity to introduce and promote images of people and culture as well as economic and tourism potential of the province to Vietnamese citizens and regional people.  Speaking at the event, Hoang Vinh Bao, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications stressed the event is a milestone of ASEAN’s affiliation process that Vietnam plays a significant role in ensuring solidarity and unity over the past 49 years.  It is also an appeal to Vietnamese people to join efforts with other nations of the bloc to build an ASEAN community of peace, stability and development, he added.  All photos and documentaries will be handed over to the provincial authorities to continue popularising the ASEAN Community after the event. Modern general hospital opens in northwest region A new general hospital with 500 beds was inaugurated in hamlet 1, Phuc Loc commune, the north-west province of Yen Bai on October 27. Yen Bai general hospital was built on an area of 12.67 ha at the cost of 52 million USD that consists of 45 million USD in ODA loans from the Republic of Korea and 7 million USD of reciprocal capital of the Vietnamese government.  It is a key project in the health network planning in Yen Bai province and the northwest region. The general hospital aims to meet with the increasing training demand for health workers, as well as the needs of high-quality treatments of people in Yen Bai and other provinces of the region. Farmers in flooded regions in dire needs of seedlings, breeding stock   The brutal floods in this central Vietnamse province earlier this month left many farmers struggling. Now more than ever they need urgent support in seedlings and breeding stock to resume production and stabilise their livelihoods. In Quảng Bình Province, the farmer’s main job is cultivating rice; but, on average, most households own just about four acres of paddy field each. Therefore, in recent years, farmers have also gone into raising livestock to provide them with valuable additional income. But in many areas of the province, which borders the sea to its east, virtually all the pigs, chickens and fish they were raising were washed away by swollen floodwaters. Thuận Đức Commune was spared major deluges in previous years, but this year was innundated with severe flash floods that followed torrential downpours on October 14 and 15. Incomplete figures by Quảng Bình authorities show that the floods inundated about 1,500 hectares of crops, swept away 1,000 hectares of aquaculture farms, and killed 150 cattle plus thousands of fowls. The floods laid waste to 242 farms – 238 of which were integrated farms and aqualculture farms – with total losses estimated at nearly VNĐ100 billion (US$4.5 million). In Hà Tĩnh Province, 30,000 households were impacted by the floods, totaling VNĐ1 trillion of damage. In many areas of Hà Tĩnh Province, especially in worst-hit areas like Hương Khê and Vũ Quang districts, one week after the downpour and floods, fields were still covered in water and crops submerged. “Preparing for the winter crop season, district-wide people had planted some 2,000 hectares of maize and 830 hectares of other types of crops. However, in the historic floods, 18 communes were inundated, nine of which were critically hit, and these plants stood no chance to survive,” said Lê Quang Vinh of the Hương Khê District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Regarding the loss of animals, 108,000 fowls and 500 cattle and pigs were either swept away or drowned,” Vinh added. Trần Minh Liên from Hương Giang District was disheartened to find that the floodwater had ruined his entire orchard. “Just last week, the orange and grapefruit trees were all laden with near ripe fruits, I decided to wait a bit more before picking. Now, oversaturated soil leads to root rot and hundreds of trees are dying,” he said. Food and clothing donations, as well as financial aid, were valuable short-term support, but residents of the flood-hit areas need much more to secure their livelihoods in the longer term. Lê Công Toán, Chairman of the Quảng Bình Province’s Farmers’ Association, said that after the calamitous floods, with tremendous nationwide support, difficulties were partly alleviated and farmers gradually overcame the disaster. But now authorities and the people are struggling to obtain seedlings and breeding stock so that production can be resumed and livelihoods stabilised. For the coming winter-spring crop season, thousands of tonnes of rice seedlings are needed and thousands of tonnes of other crop seedlings. In Lệ Thủy District (Quảng Bình) alone, to cultivate 10,000 hectares of rice each year, farmers need upwards of 1,200 tonnes of rice seedlings. In previous years, they could secure about half this amount and the rest was obtained via State grants. However, the damning floods this year swept away or damaged all the seeds they had stored. Farmers not only need assistance for this winter’s crop season, but also for the following spring, said Nguyễn Thanh Sơn of the Vũ Quang District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Hà Tĩnh Province. “In addition to rice, people in flood-hit areas also need maize and peanut seedlings, fertilisers. Help in supplying fowls and sows would be greatly appreciated,” he added. Đặng Quốc Khánh, Chairman of the Hà Tĩnh Province People’s Committees, recently asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Government to urgently assist in seedling supplies - specifically, 2,000 tonnes of rice seeds, 30 tonnes of maize seeds and 10 tonnes of vegetables seeds for the spring crop. Man sentenced for transporting banned goods The Hà Nội People’s Court yesterday sentenced Vũ Thanh Hưng, 31, residing in the central province of Hà Tĩnh, to nine months’ imprisonment for transporting banned goods. On August 12 last year, the General Department of Việt Nam Customs, Nội Bài Customs and their partners checked the luggage of Hưng and Phạm Văn Luật, 27, from the northern port city of Hải Phòng while it was being transported from South Korea to Hà Nội and discovered elephant tusks and rhino horns in it. The police investigation revealed that Hưng was working abroad as a mechanic and a builder in Angola since October 2013. On August 7 last year, Tống Sơn Giang, 31, one of Hưng’s acquaintances living in Angola, hired Hưng to transport the tusks and horns from Angola to Việt Nam in exchange for US$1,300. Hưng flew from Angola to Việt Nam on August 10 last year, transiting via South Korea. Hưng entered Việt Nam at the Nội Bài International Airport, but did not declare the tusks and horns, which weighed 4.76kg, at customs. He left without completing procedures to receive the goods, which were inside two suitcases. Hưng was seized by the police on August 30 this year. Luật managed to escape. The police determined that the tusks belong to the elephant species with the scientific name Loxodonta africana, whose origin is in Africa, The horns belong to the rhino species with the scientific name Ceratotherium simum. The two species are listed as rare, valuable and endangered animals. The police will investigate Giang’s case further before defining the charge against him.  Man held for attacking policeman A 25-year-old man in Hà Nội was taken into custody and faced legal proceedings for assaulting a policeman who tried to stop him after he violated traffic rules. The Đống Đa district police on Monday initiated legal proceedings against Nguyễn Thanh Tùng, a resident of Hà Nội’s Hoàng Mai District. The incident took place on October 13 at Trường Chinh-Ngã Tư Sở intersection in Đống Đa district, where lieutenant Phạm Văn Tùng was on duty. The policeman stopped Thanh Tùng when he noticed him breaking a traffic rule, but instead of obeying, the accused crashed his motorbike into the lieutenant. Both men fell on the road, but violator got up and started hitting the policeman on the face. The police officer lost his two front teeth and had to be hospitalised for loss of blood. He has been discharged from hospital since then and is recuperating at home. The violator, Thanh Tùng, can get from three months to six years of imprisonment for assaulting a policeman on duty, said laywer Phạm Thị Bích Hảo, a member of the Hà Nội Bar Association. Trường resigns, Thắng takes charge of Sông Lam Nghệ An Coach Ngô Quang Trường of Sông Lam Nghệ An resigned yesterday, the club’s managing board announced. Trường had sent in his request months ago but was persuaded to continue till the end of the season. However, his club failed to make it to the top three positions in the V.League. Sông Lam Nghệ An finished ninth among 14 teams. He will now take charge of the U15 squad. His assistant, Nguyễn Đức Thắng, will replace him and guide the former champions who have been summoned to begin practice on October 15 for the coming season. Thắng, who played as a goalkeeper during his career that ended in 2014, will be supported by Nguyễn Văn Thịnh who has been promoted from the U15 team. VN lacquer works promoted at Malaysia art fair A group of Vietnamese artists attended the 2016 Malaysia Art Expo last week, seeking to promote their country’s lacquer paintings. They took large lacquer works by contemporary artists Trần Phi Trương, Ngô Hải Yến, Hiền Nguyên, Nguyễn Đức Việt and Vũ Tuấn Dũng on themes like daily life in modern Việt Nam. According to Vũ Tuấn Anh, director of Viet Art Space and a Vietnamese representative to the event, it is the first time that Việt Nam has participated in the art expo in Malaysia. Việt Nam’s lacquer works have been researched and collected, but not many people know about the genre, he said. The Malaysia Art Expo is a major annual art fair. This year’s event at the Matrae Exhibition & Convention Centre from October 20 to 22 featured 60 booths from 30 countries. WWF starts petition to end wildlife trade in Vietnam, decries lack of action The NGO asks activists to demand tough measures from the Vietnamese government to end the trade of ivory and rhino horn. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is calling activists around the globe to come together and demand that the government of Vietnam do more to save rhinos and elephants. The campaign, “Act Now to Save Rhinos,” urged people to join and sign a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, asking the Vietnamese government to take “concrete action” to tackle the poaching of the two endangered species. Vietnam and its neighbor China have been identified by international conservation groups as the world’s biggest consumers of rhino horn. Rhinos are being poached in South Africa at the rate of one animal every eight hours. The country has lost nearly 6,000 rhinos since 2007, while its elephant population has shrunk by a fifth in the past decade. The Vietnamese government has indeed committed to combating wildlife trafficking, by outlawing commercial use of rhino horn and ivory as well as signing a pact with South Africa on biodiversity management to curb the rampant illegal trade. But little has been achieved, according to conservationists. “Illegal rhino horn and ivory are still openly for sale in wildlife markets and on social media/online. Yet there has not been a single recorded prosecution of a rhino horn or ivory trafficker,” the WWF wrote in its petition letter, which can be found on its website. The organization said its representatives will personally deliver the letter to Vietnam’s government officials during an important conference in Hanoi on November 17-18. "As the host of the Hanoi Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, Vietnam has a golden opportunity to crackdown on wildlife crime and contribute to saving two of the world's most iconic species," the group wrote in the letter. It is not the first time wildlife conservationists have chided Vietnam on this issue. PM Phuc last month issued a directive ordering agencies to combat the trafficking of wild animals, two days after the WWF threatened trade sanctions against Vietnam. The group urged Vietnam to crank up its efforts to end the illegal trade of rhino horn. It suggested signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora bring sanctions against the country if it continues avoiding action. Colman O’Criodain, trade analyst with the WWF, told the Associated Press last month that Vietnam had resisted taking action against wildlife trafficking for years. “For the past six years it’s been known that Vietnam is the biggest market for rhino horn,” he said. “So far, over six years, there has not been a decision to suspend trade with Vietnam.” Rhino horn is sought after in Vietnam by those who believe that it can cure cancer, despite no scientific basis. The last known Javan rhino in Vietnam, which belonged to a rare Southeast Asian species, was found dead in 2010. Its horn was hacked off. The ivory trade in Vietnam has also been rampant despite a ban introduced in the 1990s.  Large hauls of elephant tusks are seized in the country from time to time, including three shipments of 3.3 tons this month alone. The WWF on Thursday also issued a global report warning that the world is at risk of losing more than two thirds of its wildlife by the end of the decade. The WWF’s Living Planet Index said 56 percent of fish, mammals, birds and reptiles worldwide have vanished since 1970, or at a rate of 2 percent a year. The reasons are habitat loss, over exploitation of resources, pollution and climate change. “This is definitely human impact, we’re in the sixth mass extinction,” WWF conservation scientist Martin Taylor said, as cited by CNN. Restoration begins on 88-year-old market in HCM City Work has begun on the comprehensive restoration of Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Tay Market, an 88 year old structure that has borne witness to the history of the city’s Chinese-Vietnamese community. Merchants at Binh Tay Market in District 6 have a November 15 deadline to move their business to a temporary market to make way for a 365 day restoration project on the historic building. The temporary market is located on Thap Muoi Street, just opposite the existing market, with space for up to 1,077 stalls. The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon at a meeting between the People’s Committee of District 6, the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the municipal Department of Construction, which had previously agreed upon the restoration plan. The upcoming restoration is the most comprehensive project of this nature done on the market since its construction in 1928, with two previous restorations in 1991 and 2006 carried out at a much smaller scale. All damaged fixtures in the market will be restored and replaced using the same materials as the originals, while the architectural components will be left untouched to preserve the market’s design. Binh Tay Market was listed as a national relic of architecture and arts in 2015 by the Ho Chi Minh City Monuments Conservation Center, making the preservation of the market’s architecture and historical value a top priority, according to District 6's Management Authority for Construction Investment, investor of the restoration project. All 12 entrances of the market will be left untouched, while decorative patterns and other architectural details will be measured, photographed, and sketched in order to help replicate their current condition after restoration. Two hectares of the market’s roofing will be taken apart and replaced with new tiles of the same material. Other objectives of the Binh Tay Market restoration project include replacing the current rafter system, repainting walls and pillars, restoring damaged decorations, renovating the staircases and railings, retiling the entire market with grindstone material, elevating the whole structure to prevent future flooding, renovating the market’s yard, and building a new basement in the open area inside the market. There is also a proposal to re-erect the statue of Quach Dam, a wealthy Chinese merchant that funded the market’s construction in 1928, inside the market’s yard. Quach Dam was born in the Chinese city of Chaozhou in eastern Guangdong Province, and settled in southern Vietnam at a young age to start a scrap selling business. He soon became one of the wealthiest tradesmen in the area at the time. Quach Dam hired a French architect to design Binh Tay Market, which explains its incorporation of both Western and Eastern architectures. Quach Dam’s statue, originally placed at the center of the market, is being preserved at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts. HCM City gears up for Japan Festival Ho Chi Minh City is preparing for the Japan Festival to be held in the city from November 18-20. The event will include cultural exchanges, traditional performances, trade promotion activities, and agricultural workshops. At a meeting with special advisor to Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Tsutomu Takebe in the city on October 27, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem said the city is honoured to host the event, the largest of its kind between the two countries, this year. Preparation work is on schedule, he said, adding that the city is ready for the opening ceremony on November 18. Takebe, also head of the organising board, suggested the southern economic hub work with Japan to ensure a successful event. The annual Japan Festival in Vietnam was first held in 2013 at the September 23 Park in HCM City. This year’s event is expected to welcome 180,000 visitors. About 6,520 Vietnamese living in Japanese Kanto’s prefectures About 6,520 Vietnamese people reside in three northern prefectures, namely Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma, in Japan’s Kanto region, an increase of 2.5 percent from 2010.  The figure, revealed by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on October 26, shows the close economic ties between Vietnam and the Japanese localities. Most Vietnamese people in the prefectures work in agriculture and manufacturing.  Vietnam ranks sixth among countries with people living in the three prefectures, rising one spot from seventh in 2010.  Among 104,930 total immigrants in the three prefectures, China forms the biggest group with 21,154, followed by Brazil, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Peru. RoK supports schools improvement in Quang Ngai A memorandum of understanding on social charity programmes was signed on October 27 by representatives from Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam, marine veterans association of the Republic of Korea and Quang Ngai’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. The MoU aims at improving the training environment for schools, providing educational equipment, sponsoring welfare works to serve the locals and conducting voluntary activities for schools in the central province of Quang Ngai.  Under the MoU, Doosan Heavy Industry Vietnam and the RoK marine veterans association will conduct programmes to improve facilities for schools while providing assistance to infrastructure in Quang Ngai.  The provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs pledged to create favourable conditions for the projects. The first charity project was launched at a secondary school in Binh Hoa commune, worth 300 million VND (13,437 USD), after the signing ceremony. Inspectors ask Government to collect 36,000 billions from corruption cases and law violations Through 2,000 administrative inspections and 74,578 other inspections in the third quarter  Government inspectors detected hundreds of corruption cases and violations of law, worth VND42,600 billion (US$ 1,908,174,692), said inspectors at a press brief in Hanoi on October 27. Deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate Ngo Van Khanh said that inspectors issued fines to violators as well as suggested administrative punishment to 346 individuals and teams, transferred document to police investigators for 16 cases and 30 people. Inspectors also uncovered violations in giant  economic groups Inspectors collected VND12,462 billion from violations in bank sector.  The amount is excluded VND56,882 billion collected by inspectors for violations of loans and debts. Worse, government inspectors also handled complaints concerning to corruption and detected 14 cases with 24  individuals involved in corruption and transferred to police investigators. Deputy chief Khanh said at the press brief that government inspectors paid visits to all sector including the Ministry of Industry and Trade and people’s committees in cities and provinces. Moreover, inspectors liaised with People's Supreme Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security about criminal violations. Meeting strengthens multinational cooperation in fight against child-sex tourism The second regional legal research group meeting on sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism was held in Hanoi on October 27 by the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The meeting, following the first edition held in Bangkok, Thailand in September last year, attracted the participation of representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, the UNODC, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, among others. At a time when Southeast Asian countries have become some of the most popular destinations for tourists in the region and around the world, the countries also face the risk of increasing child sexual abuse cases in travel and tourism. In that context, delegates at the meeting shared their research results and made recommendations to enhance law enforcement and methods to strengthen international co-operation in combating travelling child sexual exploitation crimes. According to Christopher Batt, UNODC Officer-In-Charge in Vietnam, stressed that child sexual exploitation seriously violates children’s rights, warning that the problem has seen complicated developments. The robust development of tourism in the Southeast Asian region has helped increased the number of tourist to the region, but it has also turned the region into a meeting venue for so-called traveling child sex offenders. In the fight against such crimes, the Governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have focused on reforming legal and judicial systems, he said, praising Vietnam’s efforts to amend its Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, and relevant laws in order to consolidate the legal foundation in combating child sexual exploitation crimes. Speaking at the meeting, Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, Head of the Department of Criminal and Administrative Legislation under the Ministry of Justice said that the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to boost co-operation between legal research groups from judicial and law enforcement agencies in the Mekong region in preventing and controlling sexual crimes and better protecting children at risk of sexual exploitation by sex offenders. She called for further multinational cooperation among countries in order to fill the cracks in their legal systems, targeting to successfully prosecute child sex offenders in the future. Japan to hold film festival in major cities The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam will organize a Japanese Film Festival in Hanoi, HCMC and Danang from October 28 to November 27. Eight movies of different genres, namely What a Wonderful Family!, Tsukiji Wonderland, Creepy, The Magnificent Nine, Chihayafuru part 1, Chihayafuru part 2, The Boy and the Beast, and The Anthem of the Heart, will be screened at the festival with English and Vietnamese subtitles. Interested people can come to watch the movies at Dong Da Cinema in HCMC from October 28 to November 6, the National Cinema Center in Hanoi from November 11 to 20, and the Le Do Cinema in Danang from November 25 to 27. For further information, visit http://vn.japanesefilmfest.org/ Novotel Phu Quoc Resort gets five-star certification The Novotel Phu Quoc Resort on Tuesday announced that the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) had recognized the facilities and services of the resort on Phu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province as meeting five-star standards. Novotel Phu Quoc was the first internationally managed property on the island to receive this accolade. VNAT sets rigorous standards for its star ratings, with five stars denoting the highest possible standards of physical facilities, service quality, and ability to meet diverse demands. Lee Pearce, the resort’s general manager, said Phu Quoc is a destination with boundless potential and limitless opportunities. As the only international five-star resort on the island, the Novotel is positioned to capture an emerging, upscale segment of the island’s tourism market. “We are confident that the investment of CEO Group, the resort’s owner, will pay dividends as the island continues to grow. Indeed, as the nearby airport continues to increase uplift, both domestically and with the addition of new international flights, the prospect for our resort to be at the center of the emergence of this destination is tremendous,” Pearce noted. With total investment capital of nearly VND5 trillion, the resort has 366 rooms and beach-front villas, two swimming pools, two restaurants, two bars, a gym, a spa, a kid’s club and a 60,000 square meter landscaped garden. Novotel Phu Quoc, which has been operational since early this year, is situated on Truong (long) Beach and is 15 minutes away from Phu Quoc International Airport. ROK loosens visa policy for Vietnamese tourists Vietnamese tourists, already owning a Visa Platinum credit card issued by Shinhan Bank of the ROK, will be exempt from providing specified documentary evidence of financial capacity, said Jung Chang Soo, CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization during his recent working visit to Vietnam. He attributed procedures relating to documentary evidence of financial capacity to a major obstacle to Korean visa application, noting that his nation will provide more staff to the General Consulate of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Vietnam aiming to facilitate visa granting for Vietnamese tourists.    Vietnam and the ROK have signed an agreement on tourism development in 2017 under which the Southeast Asia nation is expected to welcome 2 million Korean travelers and bring 400,000 tourists to the ROK. Vietnamese tourists account for 1.4% of total international arrivals to the ROK and Vietnam’s  tourism growth rate reaches more than 50%, second only to Taiwan in the Southeast Asian region.  Cultural exchange event highlights Vietnam-Philippines ties A cultural exchange, themed ASEAN friendship: Vietnam - Philippines, took place in Ho Chi Minh City on October 26.  Speaking at the event, Phan Thi Hong Xuan, Chairwoman of the Vietnam-Southeast Asia Association in Ho Chi Minh City , said Vietnam and the Philippines have been active members of ASEAN in recent years, praising their bilateral cooperation in culture-education, trade and defence.  She said Ho Chi Minh City has received a number of delegations of Philippine leaders and held activities with the Philippines in human resources training, art and cuisine.  Philippine Honorary Consul General in HCM City Le Thi Phung said the 40-year friendship between the two countries has created solidarity between the two peoples.  Highlights of their bilateral ties can be seen in politics, trade and education, she added, noting that joint education programmes have produced positive outcomes.  The event is part of a series of cultural and academic exchanges between Vietnam and the Philippines in celebration of 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. PM urges preparations for amnesty in 2016 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently asked relevant ministries and sectors to implement the 2016 amnesty plan. Accordingly, the Central Council for Amnesty Consultation issued Directive No.325/HĐTVĐX on October 25 on the implementation of the President’s 2016 amnesty decision. PM Phuc reiterated the determination of the Party, State and Government to duly punish anyone who deliberately causes harm to the nation and to give leniency to people who have successfully repented while serving their sentences. He asked the ministries, sectors and localities to carefully review the Amnesty Law, the President’s Decision and instructions given by the Government and the Amnesty Council before making decisions that would allow prisoners to enjoy amnesty. He also requested the Ministry of Public Security, the Inspectorate and the Court to properly consult with the Amnesty Council to help them perform their duties at their best. The Ministry of Public Security has also been asked to complete the project on the integration of released prisoners into the community and to quickly submit it to the Government for final approval. The Ministry of Information and Communications has been asked to direct news and press agencies to popularise the President’s Decision as well as the 2016 amnesty plan in order to raise the awareness and responsibility of all levels and sectors, social organisations and people to facilitate the community integration of released prisoners. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE