For a Community Without Violence

ASEAN countries have had specific plans and roadmaps to realize the Hanoi Declaration on Promoting Social Work towards a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community.

Delegates officially launched the ASEAN Guidelines on Empowering Women and Children. (Photo: Pham Hang)

On March 28 in Quang Ninh, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and representatives of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women organized an international workshop combining in-person and online implementation of the ASEAN Guidelines on Empowering Women and Children: Providing Quality Social Work Services to People at Risk of or Affected by Violence.

The workshop was attended by Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha, UNFPA Representative Matt Jackson, UNICEF Representative Rana Flowers, UN Women Representative in Vietnam Caroline T. Nyamayemombe, Acting Development Counselor of the Australian Embassy Majdie Hordern, representatives of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) of ASEAN countries and delegates from many provinces and cities of Vietnam.

In her opening speech at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha emphasized the process of obtaining the ASEAN Guidelines on Empowering Women and Children. Accordingly, after the Hanoi Declaration on Promoting Social Work towards a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders in 2020, the Roadmap for the Implementation of the Declaration continued to be acknowledged by the ASEAN Leaders in 2021. This has affirmed ASEAN's commitment to investing in promoting and enhancing the role of social work, including capacity building for social workers in the ASEAN Community.

With 7 priority areas to realize 11 commitments of ASEAN Leaders, the Roadmap for the Implementation of the Hanoi Declaration is of great significance to ASEAN member countries in the context of the current social work situation that has not met the needs of the people, especially vulnerable groups in the new context of the pandemic, population aging and climate change.

Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha delivered the opening speech at the Workshop. (Photo: Pham Hang)

According to Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha, within the framework of the Work Plan of the ASEAN Association of Social Workers for the period 2021-2025 and the Roadmap of the Declaration, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, as the focal agency of the Association in Vietnam, is taking the lead in developing the ASEAN Regional Guidelines: Empowering women and children, providing quality social work services to people at risk or affected by violence.

The Guidelines were recently acknowledged by ASEAN Leaders at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since the beginning of 2023, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, as the host agency, has closely coordinated with the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN member countries and with the support of UNICEF, UN Women, and UNFPA to establish a working group to develop and finalize the Guidelines.

This document aims to support ASEAN member countries in implementing the Roadmap more effectively; strengthen social work systems that contribute to addressing and preventing violence against women and children; and help policy makers and relevant sectoral agencies design and deliver quality social work services to people at risk of or affected by violence, especially women and children.

Speaking at the workshop, UNFPA Representative Matt Jackson highly appreciated the efforts of Vietnam and ASEAN in empowering women and children.

“Together with UNICEF and UN Women, UNFPA is pleased to have had the opportunity to coordinate the development of these ASEAN guidelines and to provide funding for countries to translate the guidelines into their own languages,” said UNFPA Representative Matt Jackson.

According to Mr. Matt Jackson, the objective of the ASEAN Guidelines is to support policy makers, managers, members of the social service workforce and other stakeholders in ASEAN Member States to design and deliver quality social work services to support women and children who have experienced violence. The Guidelines should be used as a reference point for developing legislation, policies and tools to deliver quality social work services in this area.

Lao representative shares Laos' experiences online at the Workshop. (Photo: Pham Hang)

Regarding Vietnam's efforts, Mr. Matt Jackson assessed that over the past decades, the Vietnamese Government has coordinated with United Nations agencies, specifically UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, to end violence against women and children and to strengthen support services for victims of violence.

Viet Nam has participated in the important pilot programme “Basic Package of Services to Support Women and Girls Subject to Violence”, with four interventions on social services, health, policy, justice and coordination. Social work plays an important role in supporting survivors of gender-based violence and linking other services.

This joint programme therefore emphasises the principles and approaches of high-quality social work support that respect women and children who have experienced violence. The approaches in social work are promotion, prevention and response.

In an effort to improve the social work profession, Vietnam has also launched the National Program for Social Work Development for the 2021-2030 period and the National Program on Improving and Developing the Social Support System to 2025. The aim is to increase the number of social workers and ensure the provision of high-quality social work services.

Agreeing with Mr. Matt Jackson, at the workshop, UNICEF Representative Rana Flowers particularly emphasized the role of social workers, saying that they are the core force to ensure the implementation of plans to prevent violence against women and girls. Therefore, Vietnam and ASEAN members should have appropriate strategies in training and ensuring the rights of social workers so that they can confidently carry out their important mission.

The workshop also included sharing of experiences in preventing violence against women and children from a number of ASEAN member countries, presenting good examples of leveraging regional efforts into practical activities in each member country.

According to UNFPA, violence against women and children remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world despite many efforts to end it. According to a 2013 UN study on violence against women in Asia and the Pacific, the rate of women experiencing violence from men ranges from 26% to 80% across countries.

According to UNFPA, women from vulnerable groups and minority groups are at higher risk of violence: For example, women with disabilities are at least 1.5 times more likely to experience physical violence than women without disabilities. In addition, UNICEF research estimates that rates of physical abuse among boys and girls in the region range from 10% to more than 30%; sexual abuse up to 11%; and emotional abuse from 31% to 68%.

The 2019 National Study on Violence Against Women in Viet Nam, supported by UNFPA, found that nearly 2 in 3 women have experienced at least one form of violence by a husband or intimate partner in their lifetime. However, violence remains largely hidden, with more than 90% of women never seeking help from social workers or local authorities.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/huong-dan-asean-ve-tang-cuong-quyen-nang-cho-phu-nu-va-tre-em-vi-mot-cong-dong-khong-con-bao-luc-265800.html