Vietnam Women’s Union and its International integration 2002 - 2007

20/04/2005
Entering the first decade of the 21st Century, the external activities of the Vietnam Women’s Union have blossomed to contribute to enhancing international integration of Vietnam in the context of rapid globalization.

In the spirit that Vietnamese women want to be friend with women and people in international community, the 9th National Congress of the Vietnamese Women in February 2002 approved the program of “People to people relations” as o­ne of the 6 key programs of Vietnam Women’s Union in 2002-2007 in order to “Develop the Vietnamese women’s international relations of solidarity, friendship and cooperation, to improve the efficiency of the VWU’s external activities, promote people to people relationship and international integration...”

 

Up to date, VWU has external relations with more than 350 women’s organizations, social and humanitarian agencies, NGOs and individuals in around 70 countries and territories all over the world, irrespective of political and social systems. This figure is more double in compared to the tenure 1992-1997. The annual exchange of delegations and visits also increases in number compared to that in the 80’s and 90’s. In 2000, there were 107 delegations. This number increases to 113 in 2001 and 125 in 2002. Besides, VWU receives hundreds of international visitors introduced by other agencies in order to share information o­n women’s development work.

 

VWU implements its international responsibility, actively contributes to the common goals of the world women’s movement for Gender Equality- Development and Peace. VWU plays a key role in preparing for the Vietnamese delegation to attend the UN World Conference o­n Women in 1975, 1980,1985, 1995 and 2000 (the special meeting of UN General Assembly o­n women in New York). VWU has involved in implementing and monitoring the National Plan of Action for the Advancement of women and the International Convention o­n Eradication of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and in drafting the regular National Reports o­n CEDAW implementation by the Vietnamese government.

 

VWU participates in several regional and international women’s organizations with long experiences and great influences such as: Women’s International Democratic Federation -WIDF- (since 1946), ASEAN Confederation of Women’s organizations -ACWO- (since 1996), the Network of Female leaders in APEC- WLN (since 1998), the Network of credits and savings for the poorest people in Pacific- Asian Region- CASHPOR (since 1994)...Besides, VWU also focussed o­n strengthening and developing the friendship and cooperation with the neighboring and traditional countries such as with Laos, China, Cambodia, Cuba, India, Russia, Belarus, Poland, North Korea, Mongolia...


Since 2000, VWU in cooperation with other Vietnamese and international organizations has hosted various national and regional workshops, seminars. As a representative for WIDF Direction Committee in Asia, VWU in February 2002 organized the first Regional WIDF Meeting in Hanoi in November 2003 will host both the second Regional Meeting and the second Meeting of the 13th WIDF Direction Committee in Hanoi.

 

The activities of solidarity, friendship and peace protection in country are organized with various approaches to attract the attention and participation of Vietnamese women both inside or outside Vietnam such as: donation in cash and in kind or raising voices to share the loses due to calamities or arm conflicts suffered by people, women and children in the world. VWU coordinates with International Women’s Club in Hanoi to participate in the activities organized by Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations with other countries. The external activities have expanded in many provinces. Some Women’s Unions along the borders have organized the exchange activities for solidarity, friendship and cooperation between Vietnamese women and women in the neighboring countries.

 

International cooperation through development projects is a practical and important activity of VWU. Although the international financial support is gradually narrowed due to economic and political changes in the world, the financial difficulty and policy change of many donors in the early years of the 21st Century, VWU proves its creativeness and dynamics to explore 50 development projects valued at millions of US dollars. Most of these projects have been implemented in various communities to meet the practical and strategic gender needs of women especially the poor.

 

VWU has published many articles and news o­n women’s newspapers and women’s bulletins about women’s movements and women’s concerns in the region and the world to update the information for Vietnamese women. The external magazine of VWU (Women of Vietnam) has been unincreasingly improved both its layout and contents to network Vietnamese women with women in other countries.


Besides such successes in international integration activities, VWU also meets with several challenges in resources to promote VWU’s international integration activities effectively in order to improve the status, prestige of Vietnamese women in international community, to contribute to the implementation of the renovation, industrialization, modernization, construction and protection of Vietnam Motherland and to implement the goals of Gender Equality- Development and Peace.

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