Viet Nam Human Rights
Abandoning a newborn is illegal
6/8/17
How
will mothers abandoning their newborns in public places be handled in Vietnam?
As
provided in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was
ratified by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989,
every child has the right to live and to be cared for and nurtured before as
well as after birth. Specifically, parents have the responsibility to
raise and educate their children and make sure their children have food and
clothes.
According
to Vietnam’s Law on Child Protection, Care and Education, children, whether
female or male, in or out of wedlock, biological or adopted, born to one party
or both parties to a marriage, are all protected, cared for and educated, and
enjoy rights provided by law. All acts of infringing upon children’s rights or
causing harms to normal development of children will be severely punished by
law. In addition, the Law on Marriage and Family requests parents to look
after, raise, care for, and protect the lawful rights and interests of their
children.
In
any circumstance, the abandonment of a newborn violates the above-mentioned law
and regulations and is therefore subject to sanction(s) prescribed in
Government Decree No. 144 dated October 29, 2013, on sanctioning of
administrative violations in social protection and relief and child protection
and care.
Specifically,
a fine of between VND 10 million and
15 million will be imposed for act of abandoning or refusing to take care
of or nurture a child after birth or on a parent or guardian who fails to
fulfill his/her nurturing obligation, severs sentimental and physical relations
with a child, intentionally abandons a child in a public place, abandons or
forces a child to not live together with his/her family, leaves a child in
self-care, and refuses to take care of, nurture and educate a child, or lets a
child fall into special circumstances.
Abandoning
a newborn is against the law and morally unacceptable and should be fiercely
condemned. However, such an act will only be criminally handled in some
specified circumstances where it has a fatal consequence, i.e. death of the
newborn, and is therefore regarded as a crime. As a result, a mother who
abandons her newborn may not be criminally charged if the abandoned child is
found alive. She may only be administratively handled or morally condemned.
Only
in case the abandoned child is found dead, may his/her mother be criminally
charged depending on the following circumstances:
If
the abandoned child is under seven days old:
The
mother may be accused of murdering a newborn under Article 94 of the Penal
Code. Depending on the severity of her criminal act, she may be sentenced to
imprisonment of between three months and two years or to non-custodial reform
for up to two years.
If
the abandoned child is over seven days old:
The
mother may be examined for penal liability for murdering a newborn if she could
foresee the death of her abandoned child but was still willing to do so or let
such consequence occur. Under Article 93 of the Penal Code, she may be sentenced
to imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years, life imprisonment or death.
In
case the mother wishes and does believe that her abandoned child will soon be
found alive and kept safe by someone, she will be regarded as having
accidentally caused human death and will be examined for penal liability under
Article 98.1 of the Penal Code. In this case, she may be sentenced to
imprisonment of between six months and five years. If she has several
extenuating circumstances specified in Article 46.1 of the Penal Code, the
court may apply Article 47 of the Penal Code to decide to impose a penalty of
under six months in prison or change to a lighter penalty.-
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All comments [ 10 ]
What goes through a mother's mind as she leaves her baby and walks away? I'm obsessed by this question every time I hear of babies who are abandoned.
This might ring alarm bells for potential mothers forced to think of leaving their babies somewhere and walking away.
In some countries it is no longer illegal to abandon a child, on condition that the child is left somewhere safe.
Unfortunately, the mums involved lack someone to tell them that raising the kid themselves would be worth any sacrifice they had to make.
Walking away from your babies is not only morally wrong, it is also legally wrong.
Many women are not aware that abandoning a baby is against the law. And they might not know that leaving a baby in an unsafe place is exposing it to hunger and attacks by wild animals and insects.
Being strong and responsible is easy to preach, but harder to practice. The fact is that the mothers need to be calm, clear and think carefully. And any consultancy or sharing from social workers or individuals is of great help.
the traditional Vietnamese mindset was a huge hindrance in these types of situation. Most people still thought that even studying sex was not the thing to do - and that having babies without being married was immoral.
With such prejudices, the number of abandoned babies is likely to increase. We need better emotional reactions and smarter behaviour.
The consequences of child abandonment were established through reviewing the literature and legislation in each of the partner countries.
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