With his husband using his hands, or sometimes even a wooden stick to beat her, Xuân, not her real name, bore the full force of his drunken rage on a regular basis.

Eventually, enough was enough and the 37-year-old from the northern province of Quảng Ninh took action.

She decided to move out, taking her son with her, finding sanctuary, safety and peace of mind at Ánh Dương (Sunshine) House.

“The house has been really a lifebuoy saving my life,” she said.

“Having received violence for a long time, sometimes I just wanted to die. But coming here, with advice and support from the social workers in many aspects, I have stabilised my mind."

It’s not just her who is smiling again, her son too, who can finally begin to live a normal childhood, playing with toys provided by the shelter.

“The days when my son and I were beaten and physically abused by my husband are over,” she declared.

“Now we have found our own path in life and I feel satisfied.”

Xuân is among hundreds of women who have received support from Ánh Dương House over the years.

This is the first one-stop service centre established in Việt Nam in 2020 by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The house has been managed and operated by provincial social workers, under Quảng Ninh province's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The centre provides essential services to women and girls who are experiencing and are at risk of, gender-based and domestic violence.

Currently, Việt Nam has four Ánh Dương Houses in Quảng Ninh, Thanh Hóa, Đà Nẵng and HCM City.

Since 2020, the houses have provided support to nearly 1,600 women and girls. Their hotlines, together with a hotline run by the Việt Nam Farmers’ Union, have received more 3,500 calls from women living in fear.

Startling numbers

A National Study on Violence against Women in Việt Nam, conducted in 2019 jointly by the MoLISA, the General Statistics Office of Việt Nam (GSO) and the UNFPA, showed that nearly two in three women, or 62.9 per cent, aged between 15 and 64, experienced at least one form of violence by their husband or intimate partners during their lifetime.

It also showed that 4 per cent of women indicated that they had experienced child sexual abuse before the age of 15.

But this is still a taboo subject in many households the length and breadth of the country. Women suffer in silence, and instead of taking action, spend their lives living in fear.

It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of abused women never seek help.

Children too are often in the firing line. A survey on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) conducted in 2021 by GSO and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), revealed a staggering 72 per cent of children aged from one to 14 years old had experienced violent disciplining by household members.

Also most attacks go unreported, there were 2,000 cases in one year of child abuse, with 75 per cent being sexual.

Việt Nam is not unique. Violence against women and children remains one of the most widespread human rights abuses in the world.

A UN Study on Violence Against Women in Asia and the Pacific conducted in 2013 showed that the rates of violence by men against a female partner, ranges between countries from 26 to 80 per cent.

ASEAN Guidance

Representatives from ASEAN member states and UN agencies in Việt Nam, notably UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, have renewed their commitment to providing high-quality social services for women and children at risk and experiencing violence.

This was recently underlined with the roll-out of the ASEAN regional guidance on “Empowering women and children: Delivering quality social work services for those at risk of or affected by violence”, an important milestone towards increasing the prosperity, connectivity, resilience and security of women and children of ASEAN member states.

The ASEAN Regional Guidance is to support policymakers, managers and members of the social service workforce and allied sectors in the bloc to design and deliver quality social work services in this regard.

It will also serve as a reference point for developing legislation, policies and tools to deliver quality social work services.

The guidance has been developed in support of the 2020 Hà Nội Declaration on Strengthening Social Work Towards Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyễn Thị Hà said the work affirmed ASEAN's commitment to investing in promoting and strengthening the role of social work, including capacity building for social workers in the ASEAN Community.

She said: “With seven priority areas to realise 11 commitments of ASEAN leaders, the roadmap for implementing the Hà Nội Declaration has great significance for ASEAN member countries when social work being uncertain meet the needs of people, especially vulnerable groups, in the context of epidemics, population aging and climate change.”.

Matt Jackson, UNFPA Representative in Việt Nam, said that the launch of the ASEAN regional guidance marks another important step in supporting Việt Nam as well as other ASEAN member states.

He said: “I appreciate Việt Nam’s leadership and social work strengthening across countries in ASEAN. The guidance serves as a reference point for developing legislation, policies and tools to deliver quality social work services.

“Everyone, wherever they live, has the right to live with dignity and free of violence, and through our joint efforts we can make this a reality.”

Soukphaphone Phanit, Permanent Secretary of Lao Women’s Union, added: “The public launch demonstrates our collective aspirations to roll-out and implement this regional guidance in all ASEAN member states together.

“Towards this, the indispensable role of social workers and the wider social service workforce is crucial to the effective and coordinated implementation of social services.”

Soukphaphone commends the initiative of the 19th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD) for the term of 2023-24 that took place in Quảng Ninh last November.

“Việt Nam demonstrates the leadership in ensuring the rollout of the regional guidelines through the development of Việt Nam’s national action plan,” she added.

“Let us continue our collaborative work in strengthening social work and the wider social service workforce and in delivering quality social services that is favourable to the rights and needs of women and children in ASEAN.”

The MoLISA has set up Việt Nam’s plan of action to implement the guidance as part of its efforts to increase the number of social workers and to ensure the provision of high-quality social services.

These targets have set out in Việt Nam’s national plan on the development of social work profession from the period 2021-30 and the national programme on renovation and development of social assistance system by 2025.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from domestic violence, you can call Ánh Dương (Sunshine) House on 18001769 or Việt Nam Farmers’ Union on 18001768  — VNS