English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
ideology or special objective circumstances, kills her newborn baby or abandons it to death,
will be sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to two years, or to between three months and
two years imprisonment.
Threatening to murder
Article 103 of the Penal Code states that those who threaten to murder other persons will be
subject to non-custodial reform for up to two years, or sentenced to between three months and
three years imprisonment.
Forced suicide
Article 100 of the Penal Code states that those who treat cruelly, intimidate constantly, ill-treat
or humiliate a dependent person inducing the dependent person to commit suicide, will be sentenced
to between two to seven years imprisonment.
Intentionally inflicting injury on or causing harm to the health of other persons
Article 104 of the Penal Code provides that those who injure intentionally or cause harm to the
health of other persons will be punished based on the injury inflicted measured by infirmity
rates. The penalty is higher when committed against a pregnant woman, a grandfather, grandmother,
father, mother or fosterer.
Ill-treating other persons
Article 110 of the Penal Code states that those who treat cruelly dependent persons will be
subject to warning, non-custodial reform for up to one year, or imprisonment of between three
months and two years. It also states that if the dependent person is elderly, children, pregnant
or disabled, the sentence is one to three years imprisonment.
Ill-treating or persecuting grandparents, parents, spouses, children, grandchildren and/or fosterers
Article 151 of the Penal Code provides that those who ill-treat or persecute their grandparents,
parents, spouses, children, grandchildren or fosterers, thus causing serious consequences, or
those who have already been administratively sanctioned for such acts but repeat their violations,
will be subject to warning, non-custodial reform for up to three years, or a prison term of
between three months and three years.
To elaborate further on Article 151, Joint Circular No. 01/2001/TTLT-BTP-BCA-
TANDTC-VKSNDTC issued September 25, 2001 Guiding the Application of the provisions in
Chapter XV “Crimes Infringing upon the Marriage and Family Regimes” of the 1999 Penal
Code (Joint Circular on Marriage and Family Crimes) explained that acts of ill-treatment and
persecution are usually understood as maltreatment in terms of food, clothing, accommodation
in daily life, activities against relatives such as scolding, forcible abstention from eating or
drinking, forcible stand of coldness, worn out clothing in abnormal ways, or acts of violence
against victims such as beating, detention or making the victims suffer from physical and spiritual
pains. 234 It further states that the crime in Article 151 can only be examined where it is an
act of ill-treatment persecution causing serious consequences, namely making the ill-treated
or persecuted persons always tormented, sentimentally hurt their honour, undergo spiritual
sufferings, get injured, or damage to their health. 235 If the act leads to death, suicide or injury,
113
234
Joint Circular on Marriage and Family Crimes, Paragraph 7.1
235
Ibid., Paragraph 7.2
General undertakings to eliminate discrimination and ensure equality (Articles 1-3 of CEDAW)