Forcing children to beg, what are the administrative penalties?

Lawyer Ho Thu Trang, YouMe Law Company Limited answers:

Clause 2, Clause 4, Article 24 of Chapter II of Decree No. 98/2026/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of social protection, social assistance and children (effective from May 16, 2026) stipulates violations of regulations on prohibiting abuse and exploitation of children as follows:

2. A fine of between 300,000 VND and 40,000 VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts that are not serious enough to warrant criminal prosecution:

a) Organizing and forcing children to beg;

b) Renting, lending children or using children to beg for food;

c) Leading, inciting, instigating, seducing, luring, inciting, taking advantage of, forcing to act as intermediaries in transactions of child exploitation activities;

d) Leading, inciting, instigating, seducing, luring, inciting, taking advantage of, and forcing children to work against the provisions of law.

4. Remedial measures:

a) Forcing the return of illegal profits obtained from the act of violating the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;

b) Compulsory payment of all medical examination and treatment costs for children in cases of violation of the acts specified in Clause 1, Clause 2, Clause 3 of this Article that cause injury or harm to children's health but not serious enough to be prosecuted for criminal liability.

Article 6 of Decree No. 98/2026/ND-CP stipulates penalties for administrative violations in the field of social protection, social assistance and children, stipulating the level of fines and the authority to apply fines as follows:

2. The penalty level specified in Chapter II of this Decree is the penalty level applied to administrative violations of individuals, except for Articles 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 34, Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 35 and Clause 2, Article 37 of this Decree. For the same administrative violation, the penalty level for organizations is twice the penalty level for individuals.

Thus, from May 16, 2026, organizing and forcing children to beg may be fined from 30,000 VND to 40,000 VND for individuals and from 60,000 VND to 80,000 VND for organizations, and at the same time be subject to remedial measures according to the above regulations.