The discussion was part of the consultative workshop held by the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs in collaboration with the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family – Women and Adolescents (CSAGA) to review the draft amended DVPC Law.
High on the agenda of the workshop, which was jointly supported by UNFPA and the Government of Australia, was the presentation by the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs relating to the latest revision of the draft DVPC Law, following the comments by National Assembly in June 2022.
Representatives from the Viet Nam’s GBV Net and CSAGA shared the participants with their experience and best practices in DV prevention and control, especially innovative communications activities to raise public awareness and to address DV.
The participants also heard international experiences in a video message shared by Ambassadors and Heads of Delegations in Hanoi, including Australia, Canada, EU, Spain, Sweden, and the UN.
Addressing the forum, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs, Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy, said: “We acknowledged the information and experience shared at the workshop today, including international experience and best practices in addressing domestic violence, especially from Australia with the highlight of the mechanisms of engaging social organisations in delivering services as well as the development of specialist courts for domestic violence, and the evidence-based policy development.”
As part of its efforts to continue to get feedback and comments from the local authorities of the Northern and central provinces and cities in Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs will organise two more consultative meetings in Vinh Phuc and Nha Trang in coming weeks.
In her opening remarks, the UNFPA Representative for Viet Nam, Naomi Kitahara said that they have recommended to strengthen the effectiveness of state institutions, while creating favourable conditions for community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations to contribute to the implementation of policies and programmatic interventions to tackle domestic violence in Vietnam.
"The survivor–centred approach has been applied to ensure the rights of domestic violence survivors, and their needs and voices have been taken into account seriously," she said.
Founding Chairwoman - Director of CSAGA, Nguyen Van Anh shared that in the past 15 years, social organisations and non-governmental organisations made a lot of positive contributions to the Government’s efforts to end domestic violence.
"With the revision of the current Law, favourable conditions can be created for social and community-based organisations to be fully engaged in the Government’s programmes to prevent and control domestic violence," she said. "We trust that our perspectives shared at this workshop will be considered and incorporated in the draft amended Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control in order to promote community-based activities in the coming years.”
The DVPC Law (amended) is expected to be approved by the NA XV at its 4th plenary session in October 2022.
