Legal aid skills for victims of domestic violence and ethnic minorities

Legal aid skills for victims of domestic violence and ethnic minorities - Photo 1.

Overview of the training session. Photo: VGP/BP

The event is part of the 2025 Action Plan of the Project "Strengthening Legal Aid for the Poor and Vulnerable" funded by the World Bank (WB) from support from the Japan Social Development Fund.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Ms. Vu Thi Huong, Deputy Director of the Department of Legal Dissemination, Education and Legal Aid, emphasized that since the Law on Legal Aid 2017 came into effect, State Legal Aid Centers (LLAs) nationwide have continuously made efforts to effectively carry out legal consultancy activities, participate in litigation and represent outside of litigation for people eligible for LLA, including victims of domestic violence with financial difficulties and ethnic minorities residing in areas with particularly difficult socio -economic conditions.

However, the implementation of legal aid for these groups of people in reality still faces many challenges. A part of the population does not have access to full legal information and lacks the habit of using legal services when disputes and legal problems arise. Victims of domestic violence and ethnic minorities often have a fearful and reserved mentality, making them less proactive in seeking legal assistance.

For this vulnerable group, it requires the TGPL implementer to have sensitivity, understanding of psychology and appropriate communication and behavioral skills to be able to approach, share and support them in the most effective way.

From that reality, organizing a training conference on legal aid skills for victims of domestic violence and ethnic minorities is a practical activity, aiming to improve professional capacity, strengthen professional skills for the team of people providing legal aid in the locality. This is also an opportunity for trainees to exchange and share experiences, remove difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing legal aid cases, contributing to improving the quality of free legal services for the disadvantaged, towards the goal of ensuring fairness and access to justice for all people.

At the training session, trainees learned about the topic "Identifying domestic violence and legal policies for victims of domestic violence"; and listened to the topic "Counseling skills for victims of domestic violence in legal aid cases". Through hypothetical situations, trainees practiced how to approach, listen, empathize and guide victims to exercise their legal rights...

Legal aid skills for victims of domestic violence and ethnic minorities - Photo 2.

Ms. Vu Thi Huong, Deputy Director of the Department of Legal Dissemination, Education and Legal Aid, shared at the conference. Photo: VGP/BP

At the same time, we discussed and jointly recognized the challenges from practical experiences on the topic of legal aid for ethnic minorities - a key target group of legal aid policy but often facing many language barriers and cultural and customary differences in accessing services. Thereby, the conference clarified many points to note and made practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of legal aid.

At the end of the Conference, Deputy Director Vu Thi Huong highly appreciated the serious and eager learning spirit of the trainees and the enthusiastic and dedicated sharing from the lecturers. This training course is an opportunity for the team of legal aid practitioners and legal experts to look at and evaluate the current situation, share experiences and propose solutions to improve the quality of legal aid for vulnerable groups, contributing to the effective implementation of social security policies and protection of human rights.

Bich Phuong

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/ky-nang-tro-giup-phap-ly-cho-nan-nhan-bao-luc-gia-dinh-va-nguoi-dan-toc-thieu-so-102251014165141786.htm