Vietnam promotes efforts to fight child violence and sexual abuse
6/4/19
In
recent years, the number of law violations and crimes of several kinds,
especially violence and sexual abuse involving children, has increased, making
the situation even more complicated.
According
to reports from various police units and information from the press and media,
although the police forces and relevant agencies took various drastic measures,
the situation of violence and sexual abuse against children still remained
complex in various areas, causing public worries and anxieties.
In
order to promote the efficiency of the prevention, detection, investigation and
handling of such crimes, General To Lam, Minister of Public Security, on April
4 issued a Public Document to order all police units to make more efforts to
detect, investigate, handle and curb crimes and law violations, particularly
violence and sexual abuse cases related to children, in a timely and effective:
1.
Advise local Party committees and authorities, and promote coordination with
other functional forces to implement directions of the Party and laws of the
State on prevention and fight against violence and sexual abuse involving
children.
2.
Coordinate with functional forces, particularly the education, culture and
labor sectors to promote social preventive measures, enhance education and
management of children, students and youngsters; mobilize families, schools and
entire society to participate in preventing, detecting and reporting crimes and
acts related to violence and sexual abuse against children.
Additionally,
the Department of Information and Communications of Public Security is assigned
to promote law dissemination and education on child violence and sexual abuse
prevention; training courses, seminars and workshops on gender equality so as
to raise public awareness of preventing and fighting child violence and sexual
abuse.
Meanwhile,
a project is underway in Ho Chi Minh City to promote child-friendly education
environment and protection for vulnerable children, aiming to help build a
sustainable society.
The
municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs held a workshop on
April 5 to share experience in the implementation of this project, which is
carried out by Save the Children Vietnam and funded by the IKEA Foundation of
the Netherlands.
The
second phase of this project is implemented from September 2016 to August 2019
at 50 schools in the districts of Go Vap, Cu Chi, Binh Tan and Thu Duc, aiming
to promote disadvantaged and immigrant children’s access to basic services like
education and health care and their right to be protected in a safe and
friendly environment.
The
project has benefited about 55,000 children aged between 6 and 16 and 48,000
adults who are school managers, teachers, parents, child protection workers,
and volunteers.
Under
the project, a survey has been conducted with the involvement of 628 students,
26.4 percent of whom are from immigrant families. Results show that 29.9
percent of the respondents said they would strive to escape from family or
community violence if they faced such acts, while 28.4 percent opted to report
to trustworthy adults. About 22.9 percent of the interviewees chose not to do
anything, and 31.3 percent said they knew the places or persons from whom they
could seek assistance when suffering from abuse or violence.
A
representative of Save the Children Vietnam said the project’s findings show
that it is necessary to step up educating children on their rights to raise
their voice and be protected. Information about trustworthy places where
children can seek help in trouble also needs to be provided for them.
The
organisation also called on activities of student consultation rooms to be
diversified to attract more students.
Vice
Chairman of the Go Vap district People’s Committee Tran Van Tinh said the
project should hold exchanges among students of different schools so that they
can share their thoughts and learn from one another. He recommended providing
more books on children’s rights for schools, and increasing training for
teachers in this field./.
All comments [ 11 ]
I recommend providing books on children’s rights and measures to protect children for school libraries, and tightening supervision work at grassroots levels.
Vietnam still lacks mechanisms to prevent the abuse of children in various forms and support children victims, participants.
Vietnam faces various challenges, including a degrading environment and prolonged child poverty. As Vietnam is among those nations hardest hit by climate change, the frequency of natural disasters and climate change-related weather incidents are likely to badly affect the country’s development potential.
It is necessary to build a comprehensive program on the violence based on gender prevention and combat, in which clearly defining the responsibility for explaining and closely connecting with the stakeholders to develop and implement overall, comprehensive and timely interventions.
The Government of Vietnam with the support of partners should improve the status of women and promote gender equality.
Vietnam has gained many achievements in protecting women's and children' rights.
The Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs should continue to coordinate with relevant agencies to promote communication activities to raise awareness; continue to review the legal documents, build models of gender-based violence prevention; promote scientific research; strengthen international cooperation in the field of gender-based violence prevention.
Vietnam's Children Law has created a firm legal foundation to improve the efficiency of preventing, controlling, detecting and handling child abuse.
The Vietnamese Party and State always affirm their consistent policy of ensuring rights of people, including women and children.
The current legal framework on gender equality, domestic violence, healthcare, education, human rights and women’s development has also improved.
The State provides free health insurance to all children below six year old and nearly 100 per cent of children under one year old under the national expanded immunisation programme.
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