A project on development of a national response to domestic violence was signed and launched in Hanoi on August 24 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister Le Khanh Hai highly valued effective help from the international community, including UN agencies, especially UNFPA with efforts on preventing and fighting domestic violence in Vietnam .

He stressed that Vietnam ’s policies on fighting against domestic violence are clearly manifested in legal documents such as the Labour Code, the Civil Code and the laws on marriage and family, child protection and care, gender equality, particularly the law on preventing and fighting domestic violence.

The country has also issued a family development strategy to 2020 with a vision for 2030, and a national action plan on preventing and fighting domestic violence is on the pipeline.

Acting chief representative of UNFPA in Vietnam Mandeep K. O’Brien stressed the UN agency’s commitment to continuing close cooperation with the Vietnamese Government, development partners and civil social organisations for the advancement of women and promotion of gender equality.

According to the UN official, violence regarding gender is considered as a key indicator in the fulfillment of the UN Millennium Development Goal on gender equality in Vietnam . Therefore, the UNFPA has prioritised the issue in an UN plan for the 2012-2016, she said.

The project on developing a national response to domestic violence is carried out from August 2012 to December 2016 at an estimated cost of 1.846 million USD, by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and UNFPA.-VNA