• Project helps reduce domestic violence in Hanoi

• US group helps reduce domestic violence in Hanoi

Addressing the event, MCST Deputy Minister Le Khanh Hai highly appreciated UN agencies, especially UNFPA for helping Vietnam prevent and fight domestic violence.

He stressed that Vietnam’s policies on fighting 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, he said.

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

According to the UN official, combating 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 prioritized the issue in an UN plan for the 2012-2016, she said.

The project on developing a national response to domestic violence, sponsored by the MCST and UNFPA, is carried out from August 2012 to December 2016 at an estimated cost of US$1.846 million.