"The family work steering committee is currently operating ineffectively"

On March 8, the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs supervised the implementation of policies and laws on domestic violence prevention in the 2008-2017 period in Hung Chinh commune (Vinh city).

Ms. Le Thi Nguyet - Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Social Affairs led the delegation. Accompanying were representatives from the Department of Culture and Sports, Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vinh City People's Committee and related departments and offices.

Working session scene. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Reporting to the monitoring delegation, Mr. Bui Quang Phuong - Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Vinh city affirmed that after nearly 10 years of implementation, the work of preventing domestic violence has received attention, people's awareness has changed in a positive direction. Currently, in the city, there are 373 trusted community addresses and shelters. From 2008 to now, 998 cases requiring mediation have been received, of which 816 cases were successfully mediated; there were 318 cases of domestic violence and all of them have been handled with intervention measures.

Vice Chairman of Hung Chinh Commune People's Committee Nguyen Hong Quang also provided positive figures: from 2009 to 2017, the whole commune had only 24 cases of domestic violence!

Propaganda against domestic violence through dramatization has been implemented quite effectively by localities. Photo courtesy

While recording information from the base, the working group members also questioned many issues seen from the statistical tables. "Vinh City has 25 communes and wards, but there were only 25 cases of domestic violence in a year. Is this number accurate? How are the cases counted and collected?" - a member of the monitoring group asked.

In addition, issues regarding human resources in charge of family work and funding for this activity in the locality were also mentioned by the monitoring team.

Representatives of the People's Committee of Hung Chinh Commune and Vinh City People's Committee answered the questions raised by the monitoring team. Mr. Nguyen Hong Quang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the Commune said that the commune collected and reported data from hamlets and listened to people's opinions. The data table was prepared according to the instructions of the City People's Committee.

"The figures are real and not self-made," Mr. Quang affirmed, adding that the province and city do not have a budget for domestic violence prevention activities, and localities must balance it themselves. In 2017, there was only 6.7 million VND. Therefore, no victim of domestic violence has received medical support as prescribed.

Mr. Bui Quang Phuong - Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Vinh City frankly said: "The current family work steering committee is not operating effectively, the members only coordinate lightly but do not have clear responsibilities". In terms of human resources, each cultural officer is currently in charge of many tasks, so the depth of expertise in each field does not meet the requirements. He emphasized: "We have enough documents on domestic violence but the attention of localities, departments and branches is still limited! If we continue like this, it will not be effective".

Listening to and recording opinions from the grassroots, Ms. Le Thi Nguyet - Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Social Affairs said that the issue of domestic violence is no longer a problem of an individual or family, but has become a problem of the whole society. Domestic violence prevention and control activities are still facing many difficulties, to gradually resolve them, more attention is needed from Party committees and local authorities; increased propaganda and awareness raising of the community. Regarding the issues raised by the People's Committee of Hung Chinh commune and Vinh city, the monitoring delegation will synthesize and present them at the meeting with the Provincial People's Committee tomorrow morning, March 9.

Also during this monitoring trip, the delegation directly met and talked with women who were victims of domestic violence.