However, during the 2006-2008 period, this figure rose to 70 percent of the 4,026 divorces, the city’s Women’s Association said at a conference organized in Hanoi by the Ministries of Justice and Public Security, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Le Viet Hung, deputy director of Can Tho Police, told the conference more than 600 domestic violence cases were recorded in the Mekong Delta city in 2008, some even resulting in death.

Hung added that was just the official figure and that actual figures could be higher still.

Do Thi Minh Chau from a violence research team of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said although police and the media have tried to fight domestic violence, “the victims have usually chosen to suffer in silence.”

Chau said the “culture of silence” was even more problematic in rural areas where the social mores were more inhibiting and formal social institutions not well equipped to deal with such problems.

Vietnam passed the Law Against Domestic Violence in July 2008 but many officials at the conference said the law lacks effective measures to control the situation.

It takes six to nine months to prepare documents required by the law before sending a person committing domestic violence to education centers. During the time, the victim would continue to suffer, they said.

Many speakers expressed the opinion that domestic violence should be considered a crime under the Vietnam Criminal Codes.

Cash penalties for domestic violence simply means “I’ve got money, so I’ve got the right to abuse [my family members],” said Nguyen Tuan Anh of UNODC Vietnam.

The police, justice, women’s association officers from provinces across the country as well as international experts at the conference agreed with a proposal that abusive members in the family are forced to do hard labor.

Reported by Le Tung