MND’s Department of Judgement Enforcement is in charge of civil judgment enforcement in the military, founded on July 07, 2005, under the Degree No. 93/QĐ-BQP by the Minister of National Defence. It is also in charge of giving advice to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), cooperating with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in state management of civil judgement enforcement in the Military. To successfully accomplish its functions and to conduct the task of judicial reform, in the last 25 years, the Department has focused on consolidating its organizational structure, improving its staff’s professional competence, strengthening its work-related relations, and promoting the total strength. Attention has also been paid to building clean and strong Party Committee and comprehensively strong department. As a result, it has always successfully accomplished all assigned tasks, making contribution to firmly maintaining military discipline and state law, and building a revolutionary, regular, seasoned, gradually modern Army as follows.

Successfully fulfilling its professional tasks

For consultation task, it has strictly grasped all intentions, guidelines, and resolutions of the Party and State on military and defence tasks; proactively cooperated with agencies of the MoJ in submitting the Joint Circular guiding the implementation of state management of civil judgement enforcement in the Army and 30 documents detailing and guiding the implementation of legal documents, ordinances and decrees on civil judgement enforcement in the Military to the MND and the MoJ to be issued. At the same time, it has issued hundreds of related documents guiding the implementation of work. It has also cooperated with military judicial agencies to opportunely address all difficulties regarding the civil judgement enforcement. During the process of performing its tasks, attention has always been paid to reviewing the work of legal enforcement in different periods as the basis for it to take part in drawing up the 2004 Ordinance on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, the 2008 Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgements, and the 2014 amending and supplementing Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgements as well as the Degrees of the Government on the civil judgement enforcement; contributing ideas to and participating in writing the drafts of legal documents. The duty to make reports on the civil judgement enforcement to the Government, the National Assembly, and Committees of the National Assembly has been strictly followed.

As for the task of guiding, directing and examining professional work, importance has been attached to managing and firmly grasping the work of judgement enforcement in the whole Army, counselling the MND to direct, or directly guiding the enforcement of all judgments in accordance with the law. Consequently, the department has reclaimed hundreds of billion VND and a number of valuable assets for the State and individuals; thoroughly addressed complex cases relating to different agencies at different levels; conducted inspection and directed the joint-agencies inspection of Offices of Judgement Enforcement at military region level; and opportunely ordered related agencies to adjust and recover from weaknesses in enforcing judgments by courts. In the last 25 years, there have been no violations of law by executors, interrogators and cadres in charge of civil judgement enforcement in the Military.

For the work of building the Sector, due regard has been paid to training its cadres and employees politically, morally and professionally. Hundreds of cadres have taken legal training courses at military and civil schools and academies, and followed study tours on judicial reform in other countries. As a result, their professional skills have been improved. The judicial personnel appointment procedures have strictly been followed. In addition, the Department has cooperated with related agencies in selecting and recruiting qualified cadres and employees. In addition, the Department has opportunely counselled the MND to adjust documents on policies and entitlements for executors, interrogators and cadres in charge of judgement enforcement, while conducting the work of legal dissemination and education concerning civil judgement enforcement to offices and units in the whole Army. Furthermore, it has successfully conducted the mass mobilization work and combined it with the work of explaining the right and duties of the people who are convicted to persuade them to follow the judgement.

Building clean and strong party organizations

The launch of the emulation movement on following Uncle Ho’s teachings in 2018

Clearly aware of the importance of the party building work to the accomplishment of the assigned tasks, in the past years, the Department’s Party Committee and its party organizations have always made efforts in building and improving the leadership and combating capabilities of party organizations. First, consideration has been given to improving the quality of monthly, quarterly, and annually leadership resolutions, making them relevant to the situation of the Department and highly feasible; maintaining party meeting regulations; and strictly exercising democratic centralism, collective leadership, individual responsibility. Attention has also been paid to training and consolidating party members and cadres; combining this task with building clean and strong party organizations and comprehensively strong units. The task of inspecting and supervising party organizations and members has been implemented as scheduled in accordance with regulations; importance has been attaching to supervising party members’ task performance, observance of the regulations, and preservation of morality and good lifestyle. Implementing the Resolution of the Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum (11^th tenure and 12^th tenure) on Party building, party members in the unit have always upheld their spirit and sense of responsibility for criticism and self-criticism, frankly pointed out their weaknesses and limitations, and then developed measures to overcome. That mission has been combined with the implementation of the 12^th Politburo’s Directive No.5-CT/TW, on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle, and the Campaign of “Promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, as an important measure to train party members. Therefore, in the past years, the Department’s Party Committee has been continuously recognized as “clean and strong”; 97% of its party members recognized as qualified and capable cadres.

The task of building comprehensively strong department

In parallel with leading the unit to successfully fulfill its political work, the Department’s Party Committee and Command have focused on building comprehensively strong unit. Attention has been paid to organizing classes for its cadres, party members, and soldiers to study and grasp Resolutions, law and traditions; to resolutely fighting against conspiracy, plots of hostile forces and political opportunists; to protecting the Party’s guidelines and policy, and the state law; preventing the  signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. As a result, its cadres, soldiers and employees have shown their firm political ideology and successfully implemented the Determined to Win Emulation movement, and other emulation movements launched by organizations and agencies which have been close to the tasks and created motivations for cadres, soldiers and employees to emulate in successfully fulfilling all their assigned work. The regulations on building seasoned unit and duty work have been strictly maintained; other regulations on working and organizing meetings, receiving ordinary people and exercising grass-roots level democracy have been well implemented, thereby making contribution to promoting democracy, internal solidarity and unity among cadres and employees.

Mass organizations and Soldiers’ Councils have promoted their role in each specific aspect of work. All cadres, soldiers and employees have strictly followed the Party’s guidelines and policy, the state’s law and the Army’s disciplines. In the last 25 years, there have been no cases of discipline violation in the department, and it has always recorded the title of a “comprehensively strong unit”.

With its achievements and developments in the last 25 years, the Department has awarded 2 Homeland Protection Medals (second and third classes) and a number of valuable awards presented by the Prime Minister, the MoJ, the MND and the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army. A number of units and individuals have been award the title of “emulation soldier” and other valuable awards. These are important foundations for cadres, soldiers and employees of the Department to further uphold their solidarity and sense of responsibility for their work and make contribution to building clean and strong Party Committee and comprehensively strong Department in the time to come.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Ba Tong, Director of the MND’s Department of Judgment Enforcement