Hanoi, 11 October 2023: The 2023 running race “Run for Zero Violence against Women and Girls in Viet Nam” will be held around the Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi on 3 December 2023 to call for shared responsibilities to tackle domestic and gender-based violence (GBV) against women and girls, particularly young people.

This is the second year the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family – Women and Adolescent (CSAGA) has organised the race, which continues to encourage everyone to break the silence, raise their voice against gender-based/domestic violence and to promote gender equality.

With technical and financial support from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and the Government of Australia, the race calls for the participation of people from all walks of life especially university students, GBV survivors and witnesses, persons with disabilities and other marginalised or vulnerable groups. Participants are invited to register here before 30 November 2023.

The 2023 Run for Zero Violence against Women and Girls in Viet Nam is in response to the global campaign on 16 days of activism against gender-based violence in 2023 with the theme: “Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls”, and the National Action Month on gender equality under the theme “Ensure social protection, empower and create opportunities for women and girls to achieve gender equality and eliminate gender-based violence.” The National Action Month is annually organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs from 15 November to 15 December as part of the Government’s efforts to fulfil the Resolution on the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2021 to 2030. The action month is also an opportunity to promote good practices and models in ending gender-based violence and ensuring gender equality. 

For further information:

Nguyen Tuyet Trinh, Project Coordinator, CSAGA

Email: trinhnt@csaga.org.vn; 

Mobile: 0932241490

Note to Editors:

• In 2022, the Run for “Zero Violence against Women and Girls in Viet Nam” was successfully organised at Yen So Park, Hanoi and attracted more than 450 people, including students from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology to say NO to gender-based violence. The race also attracted the participation of representatives from social organisations, diplomatic missions, UN agencies in Vietnam whose work focus on promoting gender equality and protecting women and girls. The runners shared hundreds of strong messages, calling for the elimination of gender-based violence and showing their respect and protection of women and girls.  A mini-game was also organised, aiming at disseminating knowledge and information about gender equality and gender-based violence.
• According to the 2019 National Survey on Violence against Women in Viet Nam conducted by the General Statistics Office and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs with technical and financial support from UNFPA and the Government of Australia, two out of three women (62,9%) have experienced physical, sexual, mental and/or economic violence by their husbands in their lifetime. Additionally, most women (90.4 per cent) who experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a husband/partner did not seek help from formal services or authorities and half of them never told anyone about their violence situation. Gender-based violence costs Viet Nam 1.8 percent of GDP every year.
• The United Nations Population Fund – UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to “deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled”. In 2018, UNFPA launched strategic efforts to achieve three transformative results, ambitions that promise to change the world for every man, woman and young person: zero preventable maternal death, zero unmet need for family planning, and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as child marriage and gender-based sex selection. And this is the core of the new UNFPA Strategic Plan, which was approved by the UNFPA Executive Board in September 2021. 
• Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender - Family - Women and Adolescents (CSAGA) is a non-governmental organization dedicating to protecting the rights of women and the marginalized groups who are affected by violence and discrimination in Viet Nam. In collaboration with many agencies at both national and provincial levels, CSAGA has effectively implemented many projects in preventing and responding to domestic and gender-based violence and in supporting survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. CSAGA has also conducted many innovative communications campaigns and activities to raise the public awareness and to change individuals’ attitudes and behaviours on gender-based violence. One of its activities is its participation in the National Action Month for Gender Equality and Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response in previous years. They include “You are not alone (2015)”, “No more (2016)”, “No more waiting (2017)”, “No More Victim Blaming (2018)”, and “No more sexual violence (2019)”.