HA NOI – The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the Viet Nam Women’s Union and the United Nations (UNFPA, UN Women and UNODC) in Viet Nam jointly organized a policy dialogue today to commemorate the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women, observed each year on 25 November. The dialogue, “Strengthening Responses to Violence against Women in Viet Nam”, is part of a series of events taking place throughout November as part of the global UNiTE campaign to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2015.
This is the first time Viet Nam has participated in the campaign, which was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2008. The campaign aims to mobilize governments, civil society, young people, the private sector and UN agencies to stand together to urgently end the global pandemic.
At the opening ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism stated that domestic violence is a violation of equal rights between women and men, as well as a violation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Viet Nam is one of the signatories. The ministry added that in the coming years, the work on prevention of domestic violence will further be implemented in the country’s socio-economic development policies and programmes – particularly in the Viet Nam Family Development Strategy 2011-2020 and Vision to 2030, and the National Action Plan on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control.
“Now is the time to act. Ending violence is in our hands. We need to work together to ensure that the women of Viet Nam are empowered to step up and speak out, and that Vietnamese men join their voices to end violence against women once and for all,” Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coorinator, said.
During the dialogue, the Women’s Union reaffirmed its role to protect women’s rights, to provide support to those who experienced domestic violence and to raise awareness in communities, especially among men. Representatives from UNAIDS and UN Women also released research findings on the linkages between HIV and domestic violence.
A ten-minute video by UNFPA on life stories of domestic violence survivors was also shown at the dialogue. The event concluded with the participants writing down their personal commitments to take action to end violence against women and girls in Viet Nam.
For more information, please contact:
Nguyen Thi Hong Thanh, tel. +84 4 3822 4383 (ext. 117), tnguyen@unfpa.org
'Love Journey' Social Media Contest Opens
HA NOI – 'Love Journey', a social media campaign aimed at preventing gender-based violence through interactions among youth, will begin accepting submissions from individuals starting 4 December. The campaign intends to promote activities and discussions on the attitudes and behaviours of youth towards relationships, while linking romantic love and friendship with gender equality.
Pham Anh Khoa, a well-known rock musician and advocate of gender equality, supports and is participating in the campaign: “I do believe respect, trust, understanding, love, equality and non-violence are key principles of a healthy relationship. There is no place for force and violence in love. True friends listen to and respect each other’s opinions. We, both men and women, should work towards making our relationships healthy.”
The contest will award winners with iPads and trips to Bangkok to visit the regional UN office.
Benjamin Swanton, Joint Campaign for Prevention of Domestic Violence Project Manager of Paz y Desarrollo (PyD), who is coordinating the campaign, said: “Love Journey takes a new approach to prevention of gender-based violence and promotion of gender equality in Vietnam. Instead of telling people to not perpetrate violence, we are focusing on encouraging positive, gender-equitable and non-violent attitudes among youth – who are still forming their ideas about gender relations and what it means to be a man and a woman. This activity will help young people to build relationship skills that they can take into adult life.”
Speaking about the need to involve men and boys, UNFPA Representative Bruce Campbell said: “More needs to be done to persuade men and boys to accept their role in preventing violence, and in protecting and respecting women. Men have a critical role to play. Women alone cannot end domestic violence. It must be done in partnership by all of us.”
Love Journey is supported by organizations dedicated to the prevention of gender-based violence: PyD, Partners for Prevention, UN Development Programme, UN Women, UN Volunteers, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, UN Viet Nam, and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The social media campaign, which is consisted of online photography and advocacy competitions, will culminate on 16 December in a music concert to be held in Danang.
To learn more, visit www.htyt.vn
