Villagers expelled husband from the area for beating his wife.

Separated by domestic violence

Whenever talking about domestic violence, many households in the villageThanh Phong1, Muong Noc commune (Que Phong) often mentions the case of Mr. Tran Van Ch.'s family as a valuable lesson. Mr. Ch. is from Thai Nguyen, married and has lived with his wife's parents in Thanh Phong 1 village for 12 years. Although the couple's life is not rich, it is quite stable. However, according to Mr. Vi Kim Chuong - Head of Thanh Phong 1 village, in the past few years, Mr. Tran Van Ch. often gets drunk. Every time he gets drunk, he comes home to quarrel and beat his wife and children. Ch. even threatened to burn down the whole house, beat his mother, and chase his father-in-law out of the house. Therefore, the peaceful family suddenly became chaotic. For the past few years, Ch.'s wife and children have been poor and mistreated.

Village chief Vi Kim Chuong informed about the security and order situation in Thanh Phong 1 village. Photo: PV

The hamlet executive committee and the mediation team repeatedly tried to dissuade him, but to no avail. “Although he has lived with his wife and children in Muong Noc commune for 12 years, Tran Van Ch. only registered for temporary residence. Therefore, in August 2020, the village management board held a meeting and agreed to apply the village covenant regulations, voted to expel Tran Van Ch. from the area, and forbade him from staying in the village to quarrel with his wife and children,” said village chief Vi Kim Chuong. Because the family was poor and could not afford to raise two children, the wife had to let Ch. take their son and leave the area; the daughter stayed with her mother and grandparents.

Also in Que Phong district, in August 2018, in Minh Chau village, Tri Le commune, there was an incident where Ms. VTT and her husband had a conflict due to jealousy and drunkenness, leading to the husband beating his wife. When a cousin came to intervene, a fight broke out between the husband and his relative, injuring him. The local authorities and organizations had to resolve and reconcile many times. And until now, although the incident has calmed down, the peace of Ms. VTT's family is no longer the same as before.

A corner of Thanh Phong village, Muong Noc commune. Photo: Hoai Thu

Or like the case of Ms. VTM in Chan village, Thach Giam town (Tuong Duong), because her husband M. often got drunk and came home to quarrel and beat his wife and children. Despite being advised and reconciled by the authorities and relatives many times, Ms. M.'s husband still had the same problem. "Because she could not stand her husband's violence, Ms. VTM decided to divorce, each of them raised one child, sold the house and left the locality" - Ms. Luong Thi Loi - President of the Women's Union of Chan village said. Although the incident happened a long time ago, it still leaves people with pain every time it is mentioned. In order to prevent such unfortunate incidents from happening again, Chan village has established the "Men Against Violence" Club.violence"family" not only attracts more and more members but also helps reduce incidents that cause family instability.

According to statistics from the Department of Culture and Sports, hundreds of domestic violence cases occur in the province each year, some of which must be prosecuted. For example, in 2019, there were 429 cases of violence in 389 households. Of these, 285 were physical violence cases, accounting for 66.4%; 117 were mental violence cases; 17 were economic violence cases and 10 were sexual violence cases.

Join hands to act

Not only in Chan village, to repel domestic violence, in 17 communes and towns of Tuong Duong district, each commune maintains a "Sustainable Family Development" Club. In addition, localities have also deployed 10 more models of "Family, studious clan", "Exemplary grandparents, filial grandchildren" to foster and connect emotional ties in families and clans. Accordingly, 95% of households in Tuong Duong district are propagandized and disseminated laws on family work, gender equality, etc.

Not only in Tuong Duong district, but also in 21 districts, cities and towns in the province, models such as "Group for preventing and combating domestic violence" and "Happy Family" Club have been built and put into operation... Hotline numbers have been maintained to receive information about domestic violence in the area to prevent, detect and promptly handle acts of domestic violence, and support victims of domestic violence. Particularly, the Department of Culture and Sports has built 2 pilot models for preventing and combating domestic violence in Nghi Thu ward (Cua Lo town) and Chau Ly commune (Quy Hop) since 2019, which are currently showing positive results.

Districts, cities and towns build and maintain effective models of domestic violence prevention clubs. Photo courtesy of Tuong Vy.

In addition, departments, branches, sectors and organizations that are members of the Provincial Steering Committee for Family Work have also implemented many measures and forms to prevent and combat domestic violence based on their functions and tasks. For example, the Provincial Women's Union has organized 1,245 training sessions on thematic talks on preventing and combating domestic violence; preventing and combating social evils; gender equality; reproductive health care; the art of behavior in the family and social issues related to women and children. The Veterans Association at all levels has also built 613 clubs, including 244 "Happy Family" Clubs, 109 "Gender Equality" Clubs, etc.

According to Dr., Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Head of Trong Hai and Associates Law Office: In addition to propaganda and mobilization, strictly handling cases of violations of the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence is also an effective measure to quickly reduce this situation.

Dr., Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai:Article 42 of the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control (DLV) 2007 stipulates: “People who violate the law on domestic violence prevention and control, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, will be subject to administrative sanctions, disciplinary action or criminal prosecution…”. Article 43 of this Law also clearly states: “People who frequently commit acts of domestic violence and have been criticized in the community, but within 6 months from the date of application of this measure, still commit acts of domestic violence but not to the extent of being prosecuted for criminal responsibility, may be subject to educational measures at the commune, ward or town level.” In addition, “According to Section 4, Chapter 2, Decree 167/2013/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the prevention and control of domestic violence, those who beat or injure family members may be fined from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 VND. Those who commit acts of domestic violence or child abuse may also be prosecuted under the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017) when there are sufficient elements constituting crimes such as: Crime of intentionally causing injury Article 134; Crime of torturing others according to Article 140; Crime of mistreating or torturing grandparents, parents, spouses, children, grandchildren, and people who have raised them according to Article 185''.