Vietnam: What measures are used to prevent child marriage and inbreeding today? What are the consequences of child marriage and inbreeding?
Child marriage according to Vietnamese regulations?
Pursuant to Clause 8, Article 3 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family of Vietnam stipulates as follows:
Article 3. Interpretation of terms
In this Law, the terms below are construed as follows:
…
8. Underage marriage means getting married when one or both partners has or have not reached the marriage age prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 8 of this Law.
Article 8 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family stipulates as follows:
Article 8. Conditions for getting married
1. A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:
a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;
b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;
c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;
d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.
2. The State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.
According to the above regulations, child marriage is the marriage of a wife, married when the wife is not 18 years old or older, the husband is not yet 20 years old or older.
Vietnam: What measures are used to prevent child marriage and inbreeding today? What are the consequences of child marriage and inbreeding?
What is inbreeding according to Vietnamese regulations?
Pursuant to Section 1, Topic 6, Part I of the Guidance issued together with Decision 2885/QD-BYT in 2022 of the Ministry of Health stipulates as follows:
Inbreeding: is the marriage or cohabitation as husband and wife between persons of direct blood; between people with surnames within three lifetimes.
People of direct descent are related people, in which one gives birth to the other successively. People with surnames within three generations, who are of the same origin, include parents who are first; brothers, sisters, half-siblings, half-parents, half-mothers are the second generation; brothers, sisters, uncles, uncles, children, children, aunts are third generation (including siblings, siblings).
Accordingly, inbreeding is the marriage or cohabitation as husband and wife between persons of direct descent, between persons with surnames within three generations.
What are the consequences of child marriage and inbreeding in Vietnam?
Pursuant to subsection 2.1 Section 2 Topic 6 Part I of the Guidelines issued together with Decision 2885/QD-BYT 2022 of the Ministry of Health, the consequences of child marriage and inbreeding are as follows:
- For yourself and your family
+ Deprive you of opportunities to study and get a good job; opportunities to improve living conditions and health care of mothers and children;
+ Adversely affecting the physical, psychophysiological and reproductive health of women, especially girls due to underage of majority;
+ Depleting the health of parents, mothers and children, affecting the future quality of life of mothers and children born;
+ Children born to child marriage and inbreeding couples often suffer from birth defects, developmental delays, malnutrition. Maternal health is not guaranteed during pregnancy is also one of the main causes of maternal and infant mortality;
+ Life experiences are still young, but due to early worry, their lives face many difficulties, opportunities for career and family economic development are limited, this is the main cause of poverty;
+ Due to not knowing much about parenting knowledge as well as responsibilities and duties of fathers and mothers, child marriage couples are prone to psychological crises, often conflicts, high divorce rates...
- For society
+ Child marriage and inbreeding greatly affect the quality of the population, causing breed decline, increasing the rate of diseases brought by genetic combinations, which can give birth to children with genetic deformities or diseases that open up a lifetime of disability such as: color blindness, albinism, fish flakes, congenital hemolysis...;
+ Child marriage and inbreeding are contrary to the fine customs and customs of Vietnamese people, violating the Law on Marriage and Family;
+ Early marriage, pregnancy and childbirth in adolescence greatly affect the health of girls, the development of fetuses and babies. This is responsible for an increase in the rate of child malnutrition, an increase in mortality among children under 1 year old and under 5 years old, an increase in maternal mortality; is a burden on families and society, affecting the quality of the population, and is the main cause of poverty, uneducated...
What measures are used to prevent child marriage and inbreeding in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Section 3, Topic 6, Part I of the Guidance issued together with Decision 2885/QD-BYT in 2022 of the Ministry of Health, measures to prevent child marriage and inbreeding have been taken as follows:
- Governments, unions
+ Raise awareness and responsibilities of party committees, authorities, all levels, branches and party cadres and members in carrying out the work of propagating, educating, preventing and minimizing child marriage and inbreeding;
+ Promote and innovate methods of propagating and educating about marriage and family; focusing on selecting focused content, compiling documents that are short, easy to understand, easy to remember, close to the reality and awareness of the people, focusing on women, youth, adolescents and areas at high risk of child marriage and inbreeding;
+ Promote the role of ethnic minority cadres, village elders, village heads, clan heads, prestigious people, shamans and mo teachers in propaganda and advocacy;
+ Strictly handle cases of violations of the law on marriage and family, especially for party cadres and members. Timely reward and praise units and individuals for achievements in preventing, preventing and combating child marriage and inbreeding;
+ Effectively implement policies to promote socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas; restore, preserve and promote the good traditional cultural values of the people to arouse national pride, limit toxic foreign cultural flows from entering the area;
+ Bringing the provisions of law (on marriage age, marriage registration, commitment not to child marriage, performing marriage registration, birth registration in accordance with regulations and ensuring the implementation of the contents of reproductive health care, maternal health, children ...) into the treaty, village conventions, cultural family classification standards, villages, cultural texts. Organize preliminary and summary of experiences, promptly propose solutions to direct and organize the effective implementation of child marriage and inbreeding.
- For schools
+ Identifying the prevention of child marriage and inbreeding is one of the important tasks of the school. Teachers must be leaders, role models for students on child marriage prevention and inbreeding;
+ Communicating to students about child marriage prevention and inbreeding by talking directly with them or broadcasting news articles through loudspeakers, through knowledge contests, through flag salutes, class activities, club activities, group activities...;
+ Invite reputable people (village elders, village heads, celebrities...) to talk to students about child marriage prevention and inbreeding and urge them to actively participate in this activity;
+ Hang banners and slogans propagating the prevention of child marriage and inbreeding. Posters and propaganda posters at places where students often go back and forth: message boards, multipurpose houses, dormitories ...;
+ Distributing communication materials (leaflets, news leaflets, legal faq manuals...) on family marriage, consequences of child marriage and inbreeding to students and parents;
+ Establish a club on adolescent reproductive health to create an environment for students to participate in extracurricular sessions on many topics including the topic of preventing child marriage and inbreeding;
+ Encourage students to share information with helpers (teachers, consultants, population officials, child protection officials, child protection operators...) if they are at risk of becoming subject to child marriage and inbreeding.
- For juveniles
+ Be aware of the harmful effects of child marriage and inbreeding, thereby consciously preventing child marriage and inbreeding to make a small contribution to the elimination of this practice;
+ Determine the main task of VTN is to study to have knowledge, have a job and have a solid future; from there, there are conditions to build a happy family, give birth to healthy, intellectual and physical children in the future;
+ Actively participate in collective activities, especially activities to prevent and combat child marriage and inbreeding in schools and localities;
+ Actively learn information about child marriage and inbreeding, follow the examples that have overcome this custom in their own people and localities;
+ Establish and maintain good friendships, if there is a couple love, do not consider sex as a measure of affection, always take safe sex measures. Friends and lovers must be the motivation to strive together in learning and towards a good future (see Theme 3 Friendship and Couple Love and Safe and Consensual Sex).
+ Carry out propaganda about the harmful effects of child marriage and inbreeding to grandparents, parents and peers so that everyone can improve their knowledge and become propagandists to prevent child marriage and inbreeding in their families, clans and localities.
+ Resolutely say no to child marriage and inbreeding, find ways to "escape" if there is a risk of being victimized by this practice with necessary life skills (see Topics on Life skills related to adolescent reproductive health).
Thus, authorities, unions, schools and individuals who are underage need to take the above guided measures to prevent child marriage and inbreeding.
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