Illustrative image (Source: VietnamPlus) DeputyMinister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha said that inVietnam, gender equality and gender-based violence prevention and response areamong the issues attracting attention from the Party, State, Government, andrelevant ministries and sectors as seen in institutional and policy solutions, awareness-raisingcommunications, capacity building, and pilot models of support services forviolence victims.
Despite many important resultsobtained, the prevention of and response to gender-based violence are stillfacing numerous difficulties and challenges, she noted, pointing that gender-basedviolence remains relatively popular, and most female victims haven’t soughthelp from official support services or local authorities.
Service supplying establishments still encounterinfrastructure, equipment and manpower shortages while their staff’s capacityis limited and especially, the coordination among related agencies and units isstill inconsistent, thus affecting the quality of assistance for victims and makingvictims reluctant to seek help, Ha said.
The officialunderlined the necessity to expand and improve the quality of the support servicenetwork, and boost the engagement of and coordination among all relevantagencies and organisations from the central to grassroots levels.
Matt Jackson, Representative of the United NationsPopulation Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, held that it is necessary to devise anintersectoral coordination mechanism and invest in expanding this mechanism to ensurethe timely delivery of assistance.
UNFPA pledges to continue helping the Vietnamese Governmentbuild an intersectoral coordination mechanism at the national and local levelsthat matches international standards and leaves no one behind, he affirmed.
That mechanismwill ensure efforts in gender-based violence prevention and response arecomprehensive and consistent, and victims can access support services in atimely and quality manner regardless of where they live or what circumstancesthey are in, he added.
At theworkshop, representatives of ministries, sectors, localities, and service suppliersdiscussed and gave many feasible recommendations. Information, experience, andopinions at the event will be taken into account during the formation of anintersectoral coordination mechanism in this regard at the national level./.
VNA
