Every day there are 720,000 images of child abuse on the Internet.

Of the 1.8 billion images posted online every day, 720,000 depict child sexual abuse.

This is the figure given at a policy workshop on child protection in the online environment, organized by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Hanoi.

At the conference, delegates said that perpetrators of child abuse are becoming more sophisticated in concealing their identities. Most countries do not have hotlines to report such acts.

Mr. Hoang Xuan Phong, Department of High-Tech Crime Police - Ministry of Public Security said: Currently, Vietnam has 31% of the population participating in social networks, mostly teenagers and young people. The risk of child abuse through social networking sites is alarming. Taking advantage of social networks, criminals often get to know, approach, entice, and entice children to participate in illegal activities such as prostitution, drug use and trafficking, and theft.

Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Hong Lan.

According to Mr. Phong, in the period 2011-2015, nearly 10,000 children were abused nationwide, of which 65% were sexual abuse cases. This number is increasing every year. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of child sexual abuse. For crimes using high technology, investigation and handling are difficult.

Mr. Hoang Xuan Phong said: “It is difficult to collect evidence and data online, and evidence is easily deleted and destroyed. Members register fake information to avoid being prosecuted by the police. Criminal activities are becoming more sophisticated, tightly organized and professional. The victims are all children, not fully aware of society, and their families, after knowing about the incident, do not want to come forward to testify or report the violations of the subjects.”

According to Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Hong Lan, protecting children online as well as protecting children in general is always a concern. The figures given cause outrage and concern in the work of protecting and caring for children, and at the same time pose many challenges for the authorities, requiring specific solutions to limit the situation of children being abused directly or indirectly.

Deputy Minister Dao Hong Lan said: "To strengthen the protection of children in the online environment, currently, in the process of building the Law on Child Protection and Care (amended), the contents related to the protection of children in the online environment have also been included in the Law.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has also implemented the Prime Minister's direction. We are also developing a draft and project to protect children in the online environment to submit to the Prime Minister for approval, which clearly states the subjects that need to be focused on to strengthen this work, as well as the solutions, roles and responsibilities of the ministries and branches in implementing this project"./.

According to VOV