Access to justice for women and girls

In modern society, access to justice is increasingly affirmed as an essential and fundamental condition for the realization of human rights in practice.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha speaks at the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), March 2026. (Photo: Anh Pham)

For women and girls, securing this right is particularly important because they often face certain institutional, social, and cultural barriers, requiring appropriate protection mechanisms to ensure equal, safe, and effective access to justice.

Laws on access to justice for women and girls

The right of women and girls to access justice is the right of women and girls to access, participate in, and utilize equally, safely, appropriately, and effectively the legal mechanisms, institutions, and procedures for seeking recognition, protection, and restoration of their legitimate rights and interests when they are violated or at risk of being violated; and to be ensured the necessary conditions for such a process to take place without discrimination, with gender sensitivity, child-friendly, and leading to effective protection, support, or remediation.

Vietnam's current legal framework for ensuring access to justice for women and girls has been established with a relatively clear level of institutionalization. The 2013 Constitution simultaneously recognizes the principle of equality and non-discrimination (Article 16), gender equality and child protection (Articles 26 and 37), demonstrating that access to justice is a constitutional right for all, including women and girls.

The 2006 Gender Equality Law is a guiding law that recognizes measures to promote gender equality and requires the integration of gender equality issues in lawmaking and implementation. The 2016 Children's Law and its guiding documents have expanded the approach from protection in litigation to protection throughout the entire process of detection, support, and intervention, including legal aid, counseling, psychological therapy, and other child protection services for children in special circumstances or who have been abused.

Regarding the direct enforcement mechanism, the 2017 Legal Aid Law identifies children as a group automatically entitled to legal aid; the law also designs a mechanism for immediate handling in emergency cases and requires the prosecuting authority to notify the Legal Aid Center when the victim or accused person eligible for assistance makes a request.

The 2015 Criminal Procedure Code (amended and supplemented in 2021 and 2025) has made progress in ensuring the right to defense, the right to be informed and explained their rights, and the right to appeal for persons under 18 years of age in legal proceedings. In particular, the Juvenile Justice Law of 2024 has established a child-friendly justice system with principles designed to ensure the best interests of minors, prioritizing rehabilitation and education , applying deprivation of liberty only as a last resort, respecting honor, dignity, privacy, and increasing the participation of minors.

However, during the implementation process, ensuring access to justice is affected by many factors, including the coordination mechanism between relevant agencies, the professional capacity of the enforcement team, and the implementation conditions at the local level. Therefore, continued review and improvement of the legal system and enhancement of implementation efficiency are necessary to improve the effectiveness of ensuring access to justice in practice.

Vietnam's current legal framework for ensuring access to justice for women and girls has been established with a relatively clear level of institutionalization. (Source: Vietnamnet)

Results of implementation in practice

Access to justice for women and girls in Vietnam has made significant progress in all three aspects: (i) expanding access to legal services; (ii) strengthening mechanisms to protect victims of gender-based violence; (iii) improving social awareness of gender equality, human rights and children's rights ^[1] . Specifically:

Expanding the scope of legal aid for vulnerable groups . In the period from 2018 to the end of 2024, more than 27,000 children received legal aid, of which about 15,000 cases received legal aid in the form of participation in litigation ^[2] . Some localities carried out a large number of legal aid cases for victims of domestic violence (DV) and children such as Hanoi (703 cases), Ho Chi Minh City (549 cases) ^[3] . These figures show that the legal aid network has not only been expanded in form, but in reality has begun to cover the group of women and girls who are victims of violence or abuse.

The mechanism for protecting victims of domestic violence has shifted towards a "victim-centered" approach. The Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence in 2022 redesigned the intervention chain with a trajectory prioritizing the safety and needs of the victim of violence, such as: adding flexible forms of receiving reports (calling, texting, reporting directly) ^[4] ; stipulating emergency protection measures such as forcing the cessation of violent acts, prohibiting contact, arranging temporary shelter, supporting essential needs, caring for and treating victims ^[5] ; for the first time, recognizing the "National Hotline for Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence" ^[6] alongside the 111 Child Protection Hotline. In addition, the formation of one-stop models and linkages between justice - police - health - women's associations, connecting hotlines and support facilities has contributed to reducing transaction costs for women and girls when seeking support ^[7] .

Social awareness of gender equality, human rights and children's rights has improved, creating a social foundation for the implementation of access to justice. Through legal education and legal aid programs, the Ministry of Justice and localities have implemented many propaganda, training, and legal dialogue activities at the grassroots level for hundreds of thousands of people, focusing on women, children of ethnic minorities and disadvantaged areas ^[8] . The percentage of people, especially in high-risk groups, have become more knowledgeable about gender equality, prevention of domestic violence and children's rights; the number of cases where women and children seek legal aid or protection agencies tends to increase, reflecting a gradual shift from a "enduring" mentality to actively seeking justice ^[9] .

Significant progress has been made in granting women and girls access to justice in Vietnam. (Source: Vietnam Women's Union)

Despite the achievements made, ensuring access to justice for women and girls in Vietnam still faces several challenges:

Access to justice varies considerably among regions, areas, and social groups . Ethnic minority children, children in remote areas, border regions, migrant workers, street children, etc., still have a certain gap in accessing health, education, social protection, child protection, and child-friendly judicial services ^[10] . For women and girls from ethnic minority groups, language barriers, customs, geographical distance, and travel costs prevent the nominal right to access judicial bodies and support services from being fully realized ^[11] .

The system's resources and capacity need to be continuously strengthened to better meet practical needs, in which the access to justice for a segment of women and girls has not been achieved as expected. Specialized human resources and collaborator networks are still uneven across localities; funding is limited, affecting the ability to expand services and implement in-depth support ^[12] . Meanwhile, national surveys show that more than half of women have experienced violence by their husbands and nearly 90.4% do not seek support from any official service provider ^[13] .

Gender barriers and a lack of child-friendly justice, especially for girls, remain a concern . According to the Government's 2023 report on the implementation of national gender equality goals, in 2023 there were 3,193 victims of domestic violence in Vietnam, of which 2,628 were female, accounting for 82.3% ^[14] . Victims of domestic violence are often women because many believe that family matters should be "kept secret" or discussing this issue is shameful… so they hide being abused ^[15] . Studies of The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also noted that victims are cautious about reporting their cases for fear of related social and psychological factors, and are forced to face legal proceedings that may create unwanted psychological impacts ^[16] . Meanwhile, UNICEF argues that the lack of child-friendly mechanisms will affect children's ability to access effective justice.

To better ensure women and girls' access to justice, it is first necessary to strengthen gender-sensitive regulations throughout the entire process of receiving, resolving, and handling cases, especially in relevant areas; and to continue improving the mechanism for protecting those receiving assistance in a timely, interconnected, and practical manner, especially in cases of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and child abuse. Vietnamese law currently recognizes the right to legal aid and support measures for victims of domestic violence, but further details are needed in the implementation of these regulations.

Along with improving the legal framework, it is necessary to focus on training judicial staff with knowledge of gender equality, children's rights, and skills in working with victims in need of support; strengthening legal dissemination so that women and girls are more aware of their rights and the available mechanisms to request protection when needed. Finally, expanding legal aid in both scope of access and eligibility conditions is crucial, as legal aid is a direct tool for ensuring human rights and civil rights. Developing mechanisms for accessing justice that are more appropriate and friendly for women and girls is essential, ensuring that the justice system is truly accessible, safe, age-appropriate, and better meets their needs.

1. Kha Han (2023), Legal Aid Content as Prescribed in the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence 2022 , Vietnam Legal Aid, last accessed March 22, 2026 at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/chi-tiet-tin.aspx?ItemID=1923&l=Nghiencuutraodoi
2. Thanh Trinh (2025), " Legal aid activities for children " at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=1986&l=Nghiencuutraodoi accessed April 1, 2026
3. Tran Nguyen Tu (2019), Law and practice of legal aid for victims of domestic violence and children subjected to gender-based violence and discrimination , at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=42&l=NghiencuuveTGPL accessed March 26, 2026
4. See Article 19 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence 2022
5. See Article 22 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence 2022
6. See Article 19 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence 2022
7. Kha Han (2023), Content of legal aid provisions in the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence 2022 , Vietnam Legal Aid, last accessed March 22, 2026 at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/chi-tiet-
8. " Some results of the implementation of legal aid for children in the period 2018-2022 " at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=31&l=Ketquacongtac accessed March 26, 2026
9. Tran Nguyen Tu (2019), Law and practice of legal aid for victims of domestic violence and children subjected to gender-based violence and discrimination , Legal Aid Vietnam, last accessed March 22, 2026 at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=42&l=NghiencuuveTGPL
10. UNICEF (2012), Protecting the Vulnerable Children of Vietnam: A Proposal Prepared for UNICEF's Next Generation UNICEF (2025), UNICEF Vietnam Annual Report 2024
11. " Some results of the implementation of legal aid for children in the period 2018-2022 " at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=31&l=Ketquacongtac accessed March 26, 2026
12. Tran Nguyen Tu (2019), Law and practice of legal aid for victims of domestic violence and children subjected to gender-based violence and discrimination , Legal Aid Vietnam, last accessed March 22, 2026 at https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn/Pages/hoi-nhap-phat-trien.aspx?ItemID=42&l=NghiencuuveTGPL
13. United Nations (Vietnam) (2020), Publication of the 2019 National Survey Report on Violence Against Women in Vietnam: "A Journey to Change" , last accessed March 22, 2026 at https://vietnam.un.org/vi/53665-công-bố-báo-cáo-điều-tra-quốc-gia-về-bạo-lực-đối-với-phụ-nữ-ở-việt-nam-năm-2019-“hành-trình
14. "Vietnam's efforts to eliminate violence against women intensified", accessed April 1, 2026 at https://vietnam.un.org/vi/53665-công-bố-báo-cáo-điều-tra-quốc-gia-về-bạo-lực-đối-với-phụ-nữ-ở-việt-nam-năm-2019-“hành-trình”
15. "Vietnam's efforts to eliminate violence against women intensified", accessed April 1, 2026 at https://vietnam.un.org/vi/53665-công-bố-báo-cáo-điều-tra-quốc-gia-về-bạo-lực-đối-với-phụ-nữ-ở-việt-nam-năm-2019-“hành-trình”
16. UNICEF (2025), UNICEF Vietnam Annual Report 2024

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/quyen-tiep-can-cong-ly-cho-phu-nu-va-tre-em-gai-393921.html