What is domestic violence? Acts considered as domestic violence in Vietnam from July 1, 2023

What is domestic violence? Acts considered as domestic violence in Vietnam from July 1, 2023 (Internet image)

1. What is domestic violence?

According to Clause 1, Article 2 of the  Law on Prevention and Combat against Domestic Violence 2022, domestic violence means an intentional act of a family member causing or potentially causing physical, mental, sexual, or economic harm to other family members. 

2. Domestic violence acts in Vietnam

Domestic violence acts in Vietnam include:

- Torturing, ill-treating, beating, and threatening or acts of intentionally violating the health and lives of others;

- Insulting, nagging, or other acts of intentionally insulting the honor and dignity of others;

- Forcing people or animals to witness violence to put constant psychological pressure;

- Ignoring, deserting, not nurturing, or taking care of family members who are children, pregnant women, women who are raising children under 36 months old, the elderly, disabled people, or people who are unable to take care of themselves; not educating family members who are children;

- Discriminating against family members’ body, gender, sexuality, and capability;

- Preventing family members from meeting their family members, having legal, healthy social relationships, or committing acts of isolating and putting constant psychological pressure;

- Preventing the performance of rights and obligations in the family relations between grandparents and grandchildren; between father, mother, and child; between husband and wife; between brothers and sisters;

- Disclosing or spreading information on personal life, secrets, and family secrets of other family members to insult their honor and dignity;

- Forcing sexual intercourse against the will of the wife or husband;

- Forcing performance of erotic acts; forcing other family members to listen to, view, and read pornographic audio, images, and contents, inciting violence;

- Imposing forced child marriage, marriage, and divorce or preventing marriage or divorce illegally;

- Forcing pregnancy, abortion, and fetal sex selection;  

- Appropriating or vandalizing the general property of the family or personal property of other family members; 

- Forcing family members to overwork, over-study, or make financial contributions more than they can afford; controlling property and income of family members to create a state of physical, mental dependence, or other aspects;

- Isolating or holding family members in custody;

- Forcing family members to leave their legal residence illegally.

Note: The acts above performed between divorced people; people who live together like husband and wife; people who are parents, stepchildren, brothers, or sisters of the divorced people or people who live together like husband and wife; people who have had a relationship of adoptive parents and adopted children with each other are also identified as domestic violence according to the Government of Vietnam.

(Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Combat against Domestic Violence 2022)

3. Prohibited acts in preventing and combating domestic violence in Vietnam

- Domestic violence acts prescribed in Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Combat against Domestic Violence 2022.

- Inciting, enticing, seducing, assisting, or forcing others to commit domestic violence acts. 

- Using and disseminating information, documents, images, and audio to incite domestic violence.

- Revenging or threatening vengeance on people who help domestic violence victims and people who detect, notify, denounce, and prevent domestic violence acts.

- Obstructing the detection, notification, denunciation, prevention, and handling of domestic violence acts.

- Taking advantage of the prevention and combat against domestic violence to commit illegal acts.

- Tolerating, covering up, and failing to handle domestic violence acts in contravention of the law.

(Article 5 of the Law on Prevention and Combat against Domestic Violence 2022)

Diem My

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