The practice of legal aid for persons with disabilities, especially women and girls, is a necessary and urgent task. Understanding the importance of this activity, the practice of legal aid for persons with disabilities was promoted in the project “Strengthening the capability to retaliate against gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities in Nghe An province". One of the project's highlights was the exceedingly smooth collaboration between the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province and its partners in the project, and the efficiency of the Center's legal aid team was enhanced remarkably, especially in tackling the issue of gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities here.
According to the discourse by Mr. Le Van Ly, Head of Department of the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province, in the seminar on “Strengthening the capability of legal aid for women and girls with disabilities in the issue of gender-based violence in Nghe An province”, during the time from January 1, 2019 to September 2020, the Center had provided legal aid to 49 cases for persons with disabilities, in which there were 22 cases for the protection of women and girls with disabilities, which made up for 45% of the total legal aid cases for persons with disabilities and only 1.49% of the total number of cases in the Center. This is still a limited number because in the process of providing legal aid for women and girls with disabilities, the Center met many difficulties and challenges. As Mr. Ly shared: these difficulties, challenges came from various different aspects; such as the facilities being inaccessible to persons with disabilities, or there being no interpreters for sign language when persons with hearing and speech disabilities needed legal aid; or the mentality of wanting to keep secret and resign in women with disabilities when facing gender-based violence also was a factor making legal aid difficult. Another major challenge that couldn't go unnoticed was that legal aid practitioners hadn't received professional skills training for when working persons with disabilities; the communication work about legal aid for persons with disabilities was still inconsistent, the media content wasn't appropriate with particular types of disabilities. All of the mentioned above, along with other subjective and objective causes, have resulted in the number of people receiving the service of legal aid for women and girls with disabilities in Nghe An province being low, despite always being a highly regarded priority of the Center.
The project anticipated these difficulties and came up with solutions to them. The project emphasized on strengthening the capability of officials who practice legal aid through training on disability inclusion, counseling skills, legal support for persons with disabilities and other subjects. Specifically on the topic of disability inclusion, lawyers and legal assistants learned how to work with persons with disabilities, what types of disabilities and obstacles there were, and how to assist persons with disabilities to overcome those. These were all extremely necessary knowledge and skills, but proper training on them was rarely ever provided.
Legal aid officials participating in the disability inclusion experience in the seminar
Sharing about the impact of these training courses, Ms. Thu Hoai, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of the Center, said: “Through the activities in the project, the officials of the Center have gained more soft skills in interacting with persons with disabilities, the practice of legal aid has been advanced. The Executive Board of the Center has been paying more attention to strengthening communication and developing methods suitable for persons with disabilities in the coming time”. These changes have contributed greatly to the improvement of efficiency in legal aid for women and girls with disabilities in the issue of gender-based violence in Nghe An province.
In addition to strengthening the capability of legal aid officials in Nghe An province, strengthening the collaboration among related parties, such as Women's Union, the Association of Persons with Disabilities, the ACDC..., in the issue of gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities was also a main concern of the project. Although communication activities about legal aid service have been promoted, there were still many persons with disabilities in rural and mountainous areas who didn't really know or have access to this service. Talking about these difficulties, Ms. Luu Thi Ha, Head of the Women with Disabilities Club of Nghe An province, shared: “Access to information about legal aid in Thanh Chuong and Thai Hoa still has many limitations. We hope the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province has suitable communication methods, such as phone numbers, hotlines..., so persons with disabilities can contact and receive immediate support when problems arise”. Understanding this issue beforehand, collaborative activities among multiple parties were carried out throughout the project. An example would be the activity of providing free legal advice in local areas with technical support from the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nghe An Province, Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, and the Law Department of ACDC.
An official of the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province providing free legal advice for a woman with disabilities
This activity has formed a connection, an exchange with coordination among parties participating in counseling to support persons with disabilities. The process of coordinating and transferring cases of women and girls with disabilities among parties was gradually completed through seminars on the current situation of gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities, and on strengthening the capability of legal aid. All parties, especially the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province, guaranteed to join hands to flexibly assist and handle cases of gender-based violence. To show a clear determination to assist women and girls with disabilities suffering from gender-based violence, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Director of the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province, stated: “We will most definitely accompany everyone. Among 14 subject groups whom we work with, there is the group of persons with disabilities, who are also recipients of free legal aid.” This is a major outcome that can help women and girls with disabilities to fully access information and supporting services when facing gender-based violence.
Seminar on strengthening the capability of legal aid for women and girls with disabilities in the issue of gender-based violence in Nghe An province
The active and united collaboration of related parties, especially the Legal Aid Center of the State of Nghe An Province, in the process of providing legal aid for women and girls with disabilities in Nghe An province is a highlight of the project. This has helped to further advance legal assistance, to contribute to reducing gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities and other issues relating to gender-based discrimination in Nghe An province.
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