Illustrative image (Source: internet)Hanoi (VNA) – More than 60 experts from law enforcement agencies, international organisations and non-governmentalorganisations gathered at a seminar on December 8 in Hanoi to seek ways to address sexual and gender violence.
The event was jointly organised by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Women Empowerment (UN Women), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender-Family-Women and Adolescent (CSAGA) and the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS) under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA).
In his opening remarks, Christopher Batt from the UNODC Vietnam hailed Vietnam’s improvement in implementing international legal frameworks on addressing gender violence, reflected by the adoption of the Constitution 2013, the revised Marriage and Family Law, the revised Criminal Code and the revised Criminal Procedure Code, among others.
The seminar aims to collect comments and consultations on sexual violence, thus helping enhance the capacity of Vietnam’s law enforcement bodies in solving the issue, he said.
He stressed the need for a long-term, systematic and comprehensive approach to recognise and protect the equal and full rights of women.
Meanwhile, UN Women Country Representative in Vietnam Shoko Ishikawa called for coordination among relevant organisations and agencies in supporting victims of sexual violence and facilitating their access to justice.
Participants discussed difficulties female sexual violence victims are facing in seeking justice and how to improve relevant policies and laws.
The seminar formed part of the global campaign “The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.-VNA
