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Sexual violence in conflict becomes more serious in the face of Covid-19. Conflict-related sexual violence became thorny at an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on April 14 as all participants took it a critical opportunity to take stock of the issue in order to eradicate the scourge of it. The open debate, which was hosted by Vietnam, the UNSC President for the month of April, drew attention to the chronic underreporting of wartime sexual violence, especially at a time being compounded by Covid-19 containment measures. The participants thanked Vietnam for keeping this important topic on the agenda of the Council. Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations said the victims should be assisted to access psychological, medical, training and legal services, integrate into the community and seek livelihood sources. He emphasized the need to take a comprehensive approach to the problem, noting the prevention and full and equal participation of women in decision-making and peace processes, much-needed development assistance, capacity-building, technical support and training. Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, stressed the need of prevention, saying that “prevention is the best and only cure” to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war. Citing over 2,500 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 18 countries last year alone, Patten said there was a “chasm between resolutions and reality”. She mentioned the long litany of battles fought on the bodies of women and girls in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria and other places to remind others of what they did to honor their commitments to solving the problem. The Delegation of the EU to UN said they owe this to all victims and …

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The C04 and local police also determined 106 major drug trafficking routes, 169 complicated places of drug crimes and 2,000 suspects in the above-mentioned localities. According to Major General Nguyen Van Vien, Head of the Ministry of Public Security's Drug Crime Investigation Department (C04), the traffickers are increasingly sophisticated acts and tricks to camouflage and hide their drugs. They often sign in to social networks for trading so the functional forces are difficult in the detection, arrestment, investigation and handling. Police forces arrest many suspects related to drug trafficking violations. Regarding the fight against drug crimes, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, Deputy Minister of Public Security suggested that the functional agencies should further connect with local police forces to get achievements in anti-drug operations. The information was released at a summary conference about the Ministry of Public Security’s anti-drug criminal plan. By Chi Thach- Translated by Huyen Huong …

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Deposits at banks modest due to low interest rates A person arranges stacks of Vietnamese banknotes. Capital has been poured into other sectors rather than banks due to their low deposit rates According to the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors under the State Bank of Vietnam, in the first quarter of this year, the deposit growth reached only 0.54%, well below the credit growth of 2.93% and the average deposit growth of 2.28% in the first quarter of the past seven years, Lao Dong newspaper reported. At present, the rate for savings of less than six months is 3%-4%. Meanwhile, tenors of six to less than 12 months and over 12 months enjoy a rate of 3.5%-5.5% and 4.6%-6%, respectively. Although some banks have revised up their deposit rates by 0.1-0.4 percentage points, the banks’ average deposit rate in the first quarter remained some 2 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year. If the trend continues, the banking system’s liquidity will no longer be ample this year, according to Bao Viet Securities Company. Meanwhile, the General Statistics Office stated that capital had been injected into other sectors, with life insurance premium soaring 11%. Meanwhile, the securities market mobilized nearly VND55.6 trillion, surging 42% over the same period last year. Pham Lam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, attributed land fevers over the past few months partly to residents’ idle money and their expectations of higher prices of real estate products. According to Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the central bank, as of mid-March, banks’ outstanding loans for the property sector grew 2.13%, higher than the current credit growth of 2.04%, despite the central bank’s close control over credit for the sector. Market rebounds, VN-Index returns to 1,250 point-level Shares settled higher on Wednesday, reversing their morning course on recoveries of materials and banking stocks. The benchmark VN-Index …

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