VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has announced the creation of a national action month on gender violence prevention and control, which will last from November 15 to December 16 each year.

The month will be held under the National Project on Gender Violence Prevention and Control, MOLISA said at a conference yesterday (June 30) in Ha Noi.

The project aims to raise people's awareness on the issue, decrease the number of victims of gender violence and improve the effectiveness of services for these crimes, said Pham Ngoc Tien, director of the Gender Equality Department under MOLISA.

National hotline

Victims of gender violence have 35 per cent lower incomes than those who haven't experienced gender violence, according to the UN in Viet Nam.

Under the project, a national hotline will be set up to help and provide consultations for victims.

Short-term and long-term training courses will be held for workers specialis-ing in gender violence prevention and control. The training will be organised by MOLISA, the Viet Nam Women's Union and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. At least eight offices supplying gender violence services will be set up across the country. The offices will act as temporary residences for victims of domestic violence.

Tien said MOLISA would review the project annually, making necessary changes and adding new services. It would also hand out leaflets with information on domestic violence, in Vietnamese and ethnic minority languages.

According to the National Study on Domestic Violence against Women released in 2013 by the General Statistics Office, 32 per cent of married women reported having been victims of physical violence, sexual violence or both by their husbands.

However, nearly 50 per cent of the women said they did not tell anyone about the violence, and 87 per cent did not seek any support from the Government or other organisations.

Ministry of Public statistics showed that between 2012 and March 2013, 550 human trafficking cases were discovered with 1,080 female victims.

More than 5,900 cases of sexual abuse of women and girls were discovered in the country between 2008 and 2012.

VNS