Lê Thị Nga, chairwoman of the NA’s Judicial Committee at the meeting. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Investigations into child sexual harassment cases face hindrances in examination work, said a National Assembly (NA) deputy.

While discussing the amended law on judicial expertise on Thursday, chairwoman of the NA's Ombudsman Committee Nguyễn Thanh Hải said in cases of child sexual harassment or if there are signs of sexual harassment, the victim’s relatives must report the case to police. Within seven days after receiving the report, the police will decide whether to conduct an investigation.

However, the deputy said that seven days is too long and lawmakers need to make amendments to the regulation to protect the victims.

Vice chairman of NA’s Committee of Social Affairs Đặng Thuần Phong said there are no legal documents which recognise results of forensic tests in sexual harassment cases following requests of the victims’ families. If the case is found too late or left unsolved for a long time or the victims are threatened, there are no forensic tests. The important evidence is lost, allowing criminals to avoid prosecution.

The NA deputies agreed it was necessary to make amendments to the Law on Judicial Expertise which was adopted seven years ago. The law’s amendments aim to address current shortcomings to implement the strategy of judicial reform by 2020 and improve the efficiency of the judicial expertise in addressing corruption cases and economic violations.

Lê Thị Nga, chairwoman of the NA’s Judicial Committee told the NA Standing Committee’s meeting on Thursday that the shortcomings of the current judicial examination work is “mostly awareness and law implementation, especially from ministries, sectors and localities.”

The committee’s supervision outcomes show the shortcomings are mostly in economic and corruption cases in construction, banking, finance, natural resources and environment.

NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the shortcomings are in the implementation of the law, not the law itself, asking the lawmakers to clarify the law’s shortcomings to make proper amendments. — VNS