As many as 87% of women suffering from violence do not seek any support from public service providers according to a survey on violence against women in Vietnam conducted by the General Statistics Office.

Partners in the second National survey on Women's Health and Life Experience attends the workshop in Hanoi on January 25.

The survey was announced at the second National Survey on Women's Health and Life Experience workshop held today in Hanoi by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in collaboration with the General Statistics Office (GSO), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam. 

The survey, which was carried out in 2010 with support from United Nations in Vietnam, showed that 58 percent of married women aged from 18-60 have experienced violence at least once in their lives.

According to the workshop, violence against women and girls is a serious human rights violation and has harmful socio-economic consequences.

The study confirmed that violence against women in Vietnam is a serious problem. However, this is only the figure on violence against women within family settings, the workshop heard.

Addressing the event, Director of Gender Equality Department of MOLISA, Pham Ngoc Tien, said: "In order to develop appropriate, effective and practical policies, apart from staff's capacity, we need reliable data and information as evidence for guiding and building laws and policies. I also hope that the data collected from this survey will continue to be further analysed to understand different effects of violence on the country's socio-economic development. The data collected will be very helpful for policymakers, programmers at national and provincial levels, Government agencies, social organisations, services providers for the survivors of violence, communities and people in the society."

UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, Astrid Bant, said: "I hope this study will help us collect up-to-date data and measure the impact of joint efforts in ending violence against women and girls in the last decade. Let's work together towards a Vietnam where no woman should have to live in fear, no matter where she is, and where all women are treated with dignity and respect." 

With technical assistance from UNFPA in Vietnam, the second national survey will be implemented by the GSO in March 2018. MOLISA will be the lead agency in co-ordinating the survey, as well as in disseminating the results in early 2019, and advocating for using data in the development, implementation and monitoring related programmes and policies in Vietnam.

Dtinews