Law on Family Violence Prevention and Control comes into effect since July 1.

Law on Family Violence Prevention and Control includes 4 chapters and 46 articles. In chapter 1 (article 2), the law clearly prescribes family violence acts: spiritual violence, sex violence, beatings, maltreatment, etc, causing physical, spiritual, and economic damages to other family members.  Violence behaviors prescribed in this law even are applied to devoted wife and husband, unmarried couple living together.

Due to Vietnamese culture and custom, family violence is considered personal matter by most Vietnamese families, so they don’t like law intervention. Therefore, basic principal of the Law is concentrated on popularization, consultancy, education, and reconciliation in community, prescribed in chapter 2 (article 9 to 17).   

Chapter 3 of the Law prescribes protection and support for family violence victims. Other chapters prescribe responsibility of individuals, families, and departments for family violence prevention and control, handling law violation of family violence prevention and control, complaint as well as denouncement. 

Reported by Thanh Le, translated by Hoai Thu.