Yesterday (16 August), internal migrants – all members of
self-help groups that deal with domestic violence - performed a
dance drama at the prestigious Hanoi Youth Theatre to showcase how
women and men can join hands to overcome violence.

Through dance and drama the migrant women and men interacted
with the audience to express the difficulties they went through
after leaving their homes in rural areas in search of a better life
in the city. Afterwards the cast and organisers chatted with their
audience, predominantly from Hanoi’s Long Bien District, a
busy market neighbourhood with a large proportion of internal
migrants.  

“Participating in such performances is a good way for
victims to address, and eventually overcome, the difficulties
encountered and the resulting trauma; and it is also a very brave
way to reach out to the broader community to raise awareness of
domestic violence,” says IOM’s Chief of Mission Florian
Forster.

The dance performance is called “Inviting Myself to
Hope” and forms part of the EU-Swiss co-funded project
“Stand-Up: Migrant men and women working together to stop
violence against women.”

The project is implemented by IOM in cooperation with Vietnamese
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), notably the Center for Studies
and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family - Women and
Adolescents (CSAGA). There is a special focus on active male
participation so that migrant men become pioneers in the fight
against domestic violence, and help change false perceptions of
violent masculinity.

The objectives of the “Stand Up” project are to
raise awareness among local authorities and internal migrant
populations, enhance capacity of CSOs self-help group members, and
to prevent and address domestic violence in migrant communities by
providing trainings, enhancing networks for referral to health and
social services, and by organising targeted communication
activities.

“To address domestic violence issues among internal
migrants in Vietnam marks an important step forward,” Forster
adds. “Migrants are particularly vulnerable due to the
cramped housing conditions in migrant neighbourhoods, where
families often only have one small room, and the fact that the
traditional rural support networks of the larger family group
don’t function in urban migrant neighbourhoods.”

For more information, please contact

Florian G. Forster

Email: "mailto:fforster@iom.int">fforster@iom.int

Tel. +84 9 03450196