English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
The Law on HIV/AIDS must also look after the carers of people living with
HIV/AIDS, many of them women. Appropriate support and resources must be provided
to the carers according to the situation; for example, job placement that allows for work
at home or flexible hours to enable the balancing of work and care.
Additionally, the Law on HIV/AIDS must provide that strategies and plans when
monitoring progress must at all times require sex-disaggregated data and gender
analysis of the results. Also, it must explicitly emphasize that awareness-raising,
information and education initiatives to highly vulnerable groups and the general
public must have as one of its contents gender equality. Issues and challenges due to
gender relations, especially gender discriminatory cultural practices and patterns of
conduct that inhibit prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, must be discussed. A list of
these gender-discriminatory practices should be prepared to guide the IEC
interventions.
Indicator 89
Indicator 90
Is abortion prohibited
Are sex-selective abortion and prenatal sex selection prohibited
Although there is still a need for complete and consistent data on abortions in Viet Nam,
it is generally accepted that abortion rates are high. 606 The VNHS indicates that 20 percent of
pregnancies among married women aged 15-49 years were ended by ‘induced abortion’ or
‘menstrual regulation’. 607 This data does not include unmarried women who undergo abortions.
MOH data estimates a higher figure, with 46 percent of the total pregnancies terminated. 608
Rates of abortion in urban areas are higher than in rural areas.
The high rates of abortion reflects a combination of factors including: (a) gender
expectations that women are responsible for ensuring family planning; (b) the supply and
range of methods for contraception is limited; (c) family planning providers and clients receive
monetary incentives to perform abortion/menstrual regulations, IUD insertions and
sterilizations, but they are not equally encouraged to offer other methods; (d) premarital sex is
not encouraged by society, so young or unmarried people are hesitant to ask for
contraceptives and count on abortion to terminate pregnancy when it occurs. 609
272
Abortion among adolescents is believed to be high. 610 The lack of reliable data on
abortions for unmarried women shows the reluctance of young and unmarried youth to
discuss sexual activity. 611 It was reported that, although sex education was provided in schools
by biology teachers, they treated the issue with great embarrassment and did not provide any
useful information to students. 612
606
Wells, op. cit., p. 38
607
Ibid. citing the VNHS
608
Ibid. citing the MOH data
609
Long, Lynellyn, Le Ngoc Hung, Allison Truitt, Le Thi Phuong Mai and Dang Nguyen Anh, ‘Changing Gender Relations
in Viet Nam’s Post Doi Moi Era’, Policy Research Report on Gender and Development, Working Paper Series No.
14, The World Bank Development Research Group/Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, June
2000 (Long, et al. ), pp. 22-23
610
Kabeer et al., op. cit., p, 27
611
Wells, op. cit., p. 39
612
Ibid.
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW