Raising awareness against child sexual abuse
(Baonghean.vn) - According to statistics from the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, from 2015 to 2022, there were 128 cases of child sexual abuse reported in Nghe An province. The data shows that the number of children being sexually abused and in need of protection is very high.
On the morning of October 29, in Vinh City, the Legal Consulting Center (Vinh University) organized a workshop to introduce the project "Enhancing access to law and justice in combatingsexual assaultfor ethnic minority children in Thanh Chuong district and children in some communes in Do Luong district, Nghe An province".
Currently, child sexual abuse is considered a sensitive issue. According to statistics from the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in the whole Nghe An province, from 2015 to 2022, there were 128 cases of child sexual abuse reported. The above data only reflects cases reported by victims or families, in addition, there are many cases that are not reported by families. This has a major long-term impact, especially psychologically, on children.
It is recognized that Thanh Chuong and Do Luong are two rural districts with many communes in difficult economic conditions. In addition, grandparents and parents have limited access to information and policies, so they have little or no knowledge of how to educate their children about sex and the law on children's rights as well as preventing sexual abuse.
In order to limit and contribute to overcoming the above situation, the Legal Consulting Center, Vinh University has built and implemented the initiative "Enhancing access to law and justice on preventing sexual abuse for ethnic minority children in Thanh Chuong district and children in some communes in Do Luong district, Nghe An province".
Previously, in June 2023, this project was honored to be one of 18 projects to receive funding from the Justice Innovation Fund (JIFF), managed by Oxfam in Vietnam. This is part of the project "Strengthening the rule of law and justice in Vietnam" funded by the European Union.
The project is assessed as very practical, has development potential and is suitable for the actual situation in the province. The project implementation period is 11.5 months (from June 15, 2023 to May 31, 2024).
The project is implemented in the scope of 2 communes Thanh Son, Ngoc Lam of Thanh Chuong district and 4 communes Nhan Son, My Son, Thai Son, Quang Son of Do Luong district.
The project's goal is to raise awareness among women, children, especially girls and caregivers about preventing child sexual abuse, through communication activities and training for core groups such as: Women's Union officials, commune health stations, village chiefs... on basic knowledge. Not only that, the project also hopes to launch a handbook on knowledge and skills to prevent and combat child sexual abuse with familiar, easy-to-understand images and a set of legal documents on protecting children's rights.
At the workshop, many opinions were presented to improve the effectiveness of enhancing access to law and justice in preventing sexual abuse not only for ethnic minority children in Thanh Chuong and Do Luong districts but also for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the whole province.
