VN’s efforts to reduce gender violence praised

Vietnam’s efforts to reduce gender violence and build policy frameworks for the field were praised at a seminar held in Hanoi on August 9.
Vietnam’s efforts to reduce gender violence and build policy frameworks for the field were praised at a seminar held in Hanoi on August 9.

Addressing the seminar, Asia-Pacific regional coordinator of the Peace and Development (PyD) Yolanda Martinez and coordinator of the UN programme for partners for violence prevention James Lang agreed that gender violence is a global issue. It occurs in every society and in many forms, such as family violence, rape, trading of women and sexual harassment at school and at work. Men and male children are affected, but women and female children were the main subjects of gender violence.

Seminar participants agreed that Vietnam has become more active in dealing with gender violence but relevant Vietnamese agencies need to look further than the central issue of family violence to tackle gender violence in its many forms and persuade men and male children to accept their role in preventing violence and protecting and respecting females.

Managers should ensure appropriate support is available, including initiatives and services for victims of violence and culprits of violence. Sectors, levels, the community and families should improve coordination to prevent and overcome violence.

On gender equality education, Deputy Director of the Department for Student Affairs under the Ministry of Education and Training Ha Thi Dung said that recently, the overall awareness of gender equality in Vietnam has seen progress and the spirit of male chauvinism has gradually been reformed, while family and society encourage both male and female children to attend school.

According to the General Office of Statistics, the rate of literacy in females above ten years of age is high in comparison with other countries in the region, increasing from 86.46 percent in 2000 to 89.3 percent in 2002, 90.2 percent in 2004 and 90.5 percent in 2006 and 2008.

Participants to the seminar heard a dozen of reports on prevention of violence at school, intervention in schools in Vietnam and the application of the most appropriate remedies for Vietnamese society./.

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