MODEL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER FOR EMERGENCY PROTECTION FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLATION EXPERICENCED WOMEN AND ABUSED CHILDREN – “GOLDEN STRATEGY” FOR INTEGRATED SERVICE PROVISION
| Within the framework of the Project on Promoting and Protecting Children's Rights in Vietnam, funded by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Center for Women and Development organized a Workshop to “Annouce the survey results on urgent social service needs for violence experienced women”. This is to assess the needs to step by step propose a pilot model of the "Single Window" Interdisciplinary Center for emergency protection for gender-based violence experienced women and abused children. Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Linh - Member of the Presidium of VWU, Director of the Center for Women and Development chaired the workshop. | The essential services package for women and girls subject to violence” – developed by the United Nations under the Joint Global Programme comprises 6 overlapping modules: Overview and introduction; Health essential services; Justice and policing essential services; Essential Social Services; Essential actions for coordination and governance of coordination; Implementation guide. Common characteristics of essential service packages are availability, accessibility, modifiability, prioritization of safety, commitment to confidentiality, connectivity with other regions and agencies through regulation. Attending the seminar there were Ms. Bui Thi Hoa - Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union - Chair of the Seminar, Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Linh – Member of the VWU Presidium, Director of the Center for Women and Development; Mr. Tran Thanh Binh – Leader of the expert team; Mr. Vu Van Tuan – Director of Management and Organization Transformation Consulting Company; Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Deputy Chief of the Office of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and representatives of leaders of the Departments/Units of the central Vietnam Women's Union; representatives of ministries, departments and agencies; experts..... |
Attending the Workshop, there were Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Trang - Deputy Head of Division 5 - Department of Social Order Crime Investigation - Ministry of Public Security, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh - Representative of UNICEF Viet Nam, Ms. Le Thi Lan Phuong – Officer of UN Women Vietnam, Ms. Cao Thi Hong Van - Representative of the Research Team, and representatives of the Vietnam Women's Union, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Supreme People's Procuracy, Vietnam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, Quang Ninh Sunshine House; representatives of international organizations including Plan International, Hagar, Samaritan's Purse International Relief in Vietnam, World Vision, and experts.
Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Linh - Member of the VWU Presidium, Director of the Center for Women and Development, chaired the workshop
Opening the workshop, Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Linh, Director of the CWD shared: “The Center for Women and Development has engaged in the field with the comprehensive support service model of Peace House (including 3 facilities: 1 in Can Tho, 2 in Hanoi – of which 1 supporting victims of domestic violence, 1 supporting victims of human trafficking), counseling services and a support call center for Women 1900 96 96 80. The CWD finds it necessary to have a specific and strong solution against complicated and increasingly serious developments of violence against women and children. The interdisciplinary “Single Window” model is one of the in-depth solutions that requires the synchronous coordination of relevant agencies for the best support and protection for women's legitimate rights and interests, especially those subjected to domestic violence, abuse and human trafficking".
As the chair of the workshop, Ms. Ngoc Linh also hoped that the draft proposal on the Model of Single Window Center as suggested by the Expert Group would receive profound inputs to be finalized and implemented in the future with the engangement of multi sectors, adhering to the common principles: timeliness - interdisciplinary - one stop - efficiency.
Ms. Cao Thi Hong Van, representative of the research team, shared the results of the survey which had been carried in 4 provinces/cities including Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, and Ben Tre. Her presentation focused on 5 main groups of findings as: Vietnam's legal framework related to women and children protection and support is relatively cohensive and is approaching international legal standards (however, there are still some limitations and difficulties during the actual implementation); The current situation of handling and solving cases of violence against women and child abuse in localities has not yet met the needs of victims; Some models of supporting victims of gender-based violence have not met the requirements in a timely - interdisciplinary - one-stop - effective manner; Lack of specific regulations on inter-sectoral coordination to ensure the timeliness and effectiveness of case settlement; There should be a model that meets the requirements of timely - interdisciplinary - one-stop - effective handling of cases and protection of victims of gender-based violence.
At the workshop, Ms. Shelley Casey, UNICEF’s Child Protection Expert shared best practice models in the world in solving cases related to child sexual abuse through the Integrated Model of child protection services. In particular, Ms. Casey also emphasized the role of a specialized One-Stop Service Center for Children, because the needs of children experiencing violence are multidimensional and one sector cannot meet all those needs. Therefore, multidisciplinary handling and coordination is essential.
Sharing the same point, Ms. Minh Thuy - Independent expert also said that given different mechanisms and characteristics of the target groups there should be a specialized one-stop model for children. Ms. Minh Thuy also expected the research team to clarify the coordination role of the Central Vietnam Women's Union and related interdisciplinary agencies.
With practical experience in supporting victims of gender-based violence at Sunsight House (under Quang Ninh Social Work Center), Ms. Do Thi Le, Head of Communication - Training Department, shared about difficulties and inadequacies in victim support. They include: the skills of focal points to work with victims of gender-based violence at the grassroots are not limited; there should be involvement of other related agencies as the control institute, the courts, the judgment enforcement institute to ensure continuity and comprehensiveness of the support. Ms. Le also suggested the Expert Group to consider additionally the group of children experiencing violence in addition to the group of gender-based violence experienced women and abused children under the project.
Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Trang – Deputy Head of Division 5 – Police Department for Criminal Investigation on Social Order – Ministry of Public Security
Speaking at the workshop, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Trang - Deputy Head of Division 5 - Police Department for Criminal Investigation on Social Order - Ministry of Public Security agreed with the proposal of the Expert Group that the establishment of the “Singe Window” Center is necessary and reasonable. He proposed to pilot the model, during the first stage, in Hanoi and neighboring provinces to efficiency and synchronization.
Ms. Le Thi Lan Phuong, official of UNWOMEN Vietnam proposed to supplement the regulations and codes of practice, the rules on coordination mechanism, the standard regulation of support services in order to build the most comprehensive model for integrated service
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Representative of UNICEF Viet Nam highly appreciated the findings of the Expert group. Mr. Ngoc Anh also recommended that the development of a process to support Women and Children should be carefully considered, with a specialized mechanism for each target group; that the inter-sectoral coordination mechanism should be proposed based on the actual needs and the initiative of inter-agency agencies; and that for the sector-based procedures, it is necessary to clearly state the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved.
Concluding the workshop, Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Linh sent deepest thanks for the enthusiastic comments and suggestions of the participants. She also emphasized the importance of wide consultation with specialists, experts, stakeholders, to ensure that the Single Window Model Project accurately reflects reality and addresses current obstacles in providing emergency social services for abused women and children. To increase the persuasiveness of the project, Ms. Ngoc Linh suggested the expert group to conduct continuing research for a suitable model to ensure no overlap with the existing ones, basing on the role and functions of the Vietnam Women's Union as well as its strengths.
