English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
inclusive, but it is also very general. It is suggested that a more detailed guideline be provided
to ensure that appropriate education on the issues are provided; for example, knowledge on
gender equality is required as contents by the decree. However, the Decree on Population
should specify that this knowledge should: (a) raise awareness on equal rights and
responsibilities of man and woman on deciding the number and spacing of children; (b)
eradicate or revise discriminatory cultural practices impinging on women’s rights, including the
right to reproductive and sexual health; (c) provide special needs and care required to ensure
safe motherhood; (d) eliminate socio-cultural and other obstacles obstructing access to family
planning services, including contraception; (e) prevent early and unwanted pregnancies; and
(f) provide information on early sexual activity. Education and behavioral change
communication on family planning is also necessary for men, including their use of
contraceptives.
Specific guidelines should also be provided on how such information on population is to
be integrated into the national education system. This will enable access to information by
adolescents. A systematic and consistent inclusion into the curricula must be done to ensure
that the provisions on the existing legal documents are operationalized. This should include
revision of textbooks, teacher training, and modification of teaching manuals. What kind of
information is to be provided per grade/year in school must also be specified in the guidelines.
The guidelines, in addition to operationalizing the provision of information in the national
education system, will also make monitoring of compliance easier.
On contraception, Viet Nam’s legal documents provide several specific provisions on
this matter. The provisions guarantee the supply of different kinds of contraception, as well as
emphasize that contraception should be used voluntarily and by knowledgeable users. Legal
provisions also guarantee quality, convenient and safe family planning services. Nevertheless,
the high rate of preference for IUDs reflects the emphasis that has been on this particular form
of contraception. There have also been minor legal documents providing incentives for IUD
use and sterilization as well as other incentives for health-care providers, which work to
encourage them to favour IUD use, sterilization and even abortion. Therefore, there is a need
to review these incentives and also further to address issues of accessibility and availability to
women of other forms of contraception. In this regard, it is suggested that legal documents
mandate the provision of a wider range of contraception. As a parallel effort, specific
guidelines should be given to health-care providers on providing information and counselling
to users about advantages, limitations, risks and contraindications of the various contraceptive
methods, as well as ascertaining with the user the best methods for their needs.
It is also suggested that guidelines to ensure that informed consent is provided for
sterilization methods be strengthened. It must be compulsory for all sterilization procedures to
ensure that the patient has given informed consent prior to undergoing the sterilization
procedures. The patient must sign a document stating that: (a) she or he has consented to
undergo the sterilization procedure; (b) she or he understands that the procedure irreversible;
(c) she or he knows of her or his right to informed consent; (d) the doctor or health-care service
provider has fully explained the advantages, limitations, consequences and risks of the
procedure to her or him in a language understood by her or him.
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The policy on limiting family size and providing incentives or disincentives for
conforming or violating the policy must be reviewed, especially in the light of Article 16(1)(e)
Marriage and family (Article 16 of CEDAW)