CORRESPONDENCE - 85A COMBINED REPORTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM 2012

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VIETNAM 33 statements on human rights and religious matters by international NGOs and foreign governments. Government Human Rights Bodies: The government discussed human rights matters bilaterally with several foreign governments and continued to hold official talks concerning human rights, typically through annual human rights dialogues. Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language, or social status, but enforcement of these prohibitions was uneven. Women Rape and Domestic Violence: The law prohibits using or threatening violence against women or taking advantage of a person who cannot act in self - defense. It also criminalizes rape, including spousal rape. Rapists are subject to two to seven years' imprisonment. In severe cases of rape, including organized rape, a repeat offense, or extreme harm to the victim, sentences may range from seven to 15 years in prison. Authorities reportedly prosecuted rape cases to the full extent of the law, but the government did not make arrest, prosecution, conviction, and punishment statistics available. Domestic violence against women was common. A 2010 UN report found that 58 percent of married women had been victims of physical, sexual, or emotional domestic violence. Domestic violence cases were treated as civil ones, unless the victim suffered injuries involving more than 11 percent of her body. The law specifies acts constituting domestic violence, assigns specific portfolio responsibilities to different government agencies and ministries, and stipulates punishments for perpetrators ranging from warnings, through probation for up to three years, to imprisonment for three months to three years. However, NGO and survivor advocates considered many of the provisions to be weak, and the government did not make arrest, prosecution, conviction, and punishment statistics available. Officials acknowledged domestic violence as a significant social concern, and the media discussed it more openly during the year. While the police and legal system generally remained unequipped to deal with cases of domestic violence, the government, with the help of international and domestic NGOs, continued to train police, lawyers, and legal system officials in the law.