The policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution is one of the great, important policies of the Party and State, which displays the tradition of “drinking the water, remembering its source” and contributes to improving material, spiritual life of people with meritorious services to the revoultion and their families. Therefore, the increased settlement of unresolved issues concerning this policy is the responsibility of the whole political system, especially party committees, authorities, and leading cadres at all levels.

On thoroughly grasping guidelines and policies of the Party and State, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Ministry of National Defence (MND) have taken initiative in studying, proposing, and issuing many guiding documents while the General Political Department has given instructions on implementation of the policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution, ensuring rightness, synchronicity, practicality, and effectiveness. Departments and units throughout the military always perceive and seriously handle many records of deceased service personnel, war invalids, sick soldiers, and people participating in wars to safeguard the Homeland and undertaking international missions. Additionally, they are requested to step up searching and regrouping graves of fallen soldiers at home and abroad; strictly and timely carry out the preferential policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution in the military and “gratitude activities”; closely collaborate with commissions, ministries, and agencies at the Central and local levels to advise the Party and State on amending, supplementing, and promulgating policies and well exercising state management of preferential treatment of people with meritorious services to the revolution. It is necessary to strengthen inspection and response to complaints and denouncement to timely address shortcomings and contribute to ensuring socio-political stability and social security in each locality and nationwide, promoting people’s confidence in the Party, State, and military.

Departments and units must concentrate on successfully conducting information dissemination and propaganda on the implementation of policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution through mass media. Besides, they always pay close attention to people entitled to this policy and correctly, timely adopt regulations and policies towards deceased, wounded military personnel, defence workers, and employees in missions. Special importance is attached to addressing unresolved issues regarding the policy towards people with meritorious services to ensure rightness as defined by laws and regulations. Many petitions and complaints, lodged for tens of years, have been responded and settled appropriately, gaining appreciation of people. Nearly 10,000 records of fallen soldiers, war invalids, and sick military personnel have been developed, investigated, and approved since 2012. Preferencial payments for people with meritorious services to the revolution in the military have been made in a timely, proper manner.

The repatriation of Vietnamese martyrs' remains from Laos

The Project on search and regrouping of fallen soldiers’ graves is carried out with great sentiment and high responsibility. Departments and units have adopted many synchronous, practical, effective measures, including encouraging people to provide information about martyrs and their graves; checking and completing records of fallen soldiers; decoding signs and designations of units in the wars; mapping the search and regrouping areas; enhancing the search and regrouping of fallen soldiers’ graves; closely collaborating with the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs to implement the 150^th Project on identification of martyrs’ remains; broadening and strengthening international cooperation; and timely securing sufficient expenditure, equipment, and vehicles for the search and regrouping of fallen soldiers’ graves.

Party committees and commanders at all levels pay attention to leading effective execution of work of care for families of people with meritorious services and “gratitude work.” Accordingly, departments and units visit these families to pay them compliments, give gifts, and provide free medical examination and medicine; actively raise “funds for gratitude work,” build “houses of gratitude,” care for heroic Vietnamese mothers, and provide jobs for wives and offspring of martyrs, war invalids, and seriously ill military personnel being treated at centres; present medical equipment and devices for centres for nurturing people with meritorious services; sponsor Friendship Village of Viet Nam Veterans’ Association; donate money to Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, and so forth.

Moreover, the whole military has actively carried out the policy on people participating in wars of resistance, wars to safeguard the Homeland, and international missions according to decisions of the Prime Minister. Accordingly, one-time allowance, worth VND 7,789 billion, has been paid to 2,361,995 recipients since 2012. Monthly allowance is also paid to 11,578 recipients. The Government instructs units and localities to review implementation of policy towards labourers in the firing line according to Decision No. 49/2015/QD-TTg dated October 14^th, 2015 of the Prime Minister. At the same time, they are requested to actively realise Decree No. 102/2018/ND-CP dated July 20^th, 2018 of the Government, which specifies regulations on assistance and preferential treatment of Vietnamese people with meritorious services to the revolution and participation in the wars of resistance, wars to safeguard the Homeland, and international missions living abroad.

However, there remain some limitations during the process of carrying out the policy towards people with meritorious services. The propaganda and popularisation of guidelines and policies of the Party and State regarding the policy towards people with meritorious services in some units and localities are not conducted on a regular, deep, and wide basis, especially in remote, difficult hinterlands. The direction on establishing records to authenticate people with meritorious services, especially those of remaining war invalids and martyrs, is not given in accordance with the procedure while the progress of record establishment and policy implementation remains slow. Currently, most of unresolved cases relate to lack of relevant documents or old torn papers, which makes it harder for functional agencies to establish records and carry out policies towards war invalids, fallen soldiers, and people with meritorious services.

To further achieve effective implementation and timely addressing unresolved issues regarding the policy towards people with meritorious services require departments and units in the military to accomplish the following missions.

First, there needs to continue to speed up propaganda to popularise guidelines of the Party, policies of the State and military on people with meritorious services, particularly Direction No. 14-CT/TW dated July 19^th, 2017 of the Party Central Committee Secretariat on further strengthening the Party’s leadership of the work concerning people with meritorious services. Special importance is attached to propaganda through mass media, especially in the hinterlands, with a view to improving people’s awareness of these policies, thus generating consensus in the whole society about execution of “gratitude work” and the work of caring for people with meritorious services.

Second, it is necessary to proactively study and propose improvement on the system of policies towards war invalids, fallen soldiers, and people with meritorious services according to the process of reforming the State’s salary and social welfare policies, ensuring consistency among policies promulgated and timely, close, effective implementation. In the short term, departments and units in the military need to take initiative in collaborate with ministries, commissions, and agencies at the central level to participate in research and propose promulgation of the Ordinance on preferential treatment of people with meritorious service to the revolution (amendment) to suit practical situation.

Third, there needs to ceaselessly renew and enhance quality and effectiveness of managing, instructing, and coordinating the implementation of the policy towards people with meritorious services, people participating in wars of resistance, wars to safeguard the Homeland, and international missions; timely carry out policies towards people, who are killed or wounded during missions, in the fight against crimes, in disaster prevention and response, and in search and rescue missions. Attention must be paid to addressing shortcomings and limitations during implementation of the preferential policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution; continuing to well receive and appraise records at all levels to ensure transparency and democracy. Those records which are clear will be processed first, and vice versa. Priorities are given to people who are old and weak or suffer serious illness. Any cases which need to be investigated or examined by forensic science will be conducted in a timely manner. It is also important to fundamentally deal with remaining records of fallen soldiers, war invalids, and sick soldiers at all levels.

Fourth, there needs to strengthen leadership to improve awareness and responsibility of party committees, commanders, commissars, and political departments at all levels for carrying out the policy towards war invalids, martyrs, and people with meritorious services to the revolution; effectively implement Direction No. 24-CT/TW of the Politburo and Decision No. 1237 of the Prime Minister on searching and regrouping graves of martyrs; and strive to complete the national database on martyrs and their graves. Besides, it is important to accomplish the mapping of search and regrouping areas at three levels (commune, district, province) on the national scale and the procedure for identification of martyrs’ remains; adopt synchronous measures to search and regroup martyrs’ graves nationwide; broaden and promote international cooperation in sharing information on martyrs and their graves, fundamentally completing search and repatriation of martyrs’ remains from Laos, Cambodia, and other foreign countries.

Fifth, the overall power of levels, branches, and the political system should be tapped into with the aim of mobilising various potential. Further effort should be put into studying, proposing, and implementing the caring for people with meritorious services to the revolution in the direction of extensive and intensive socialisation. It is necessary to promote “gratitude” activities by means of creative, practical content, action programs, and methods; improve quality and effectiveness of programs such as “houses of gratitude” and “companion homes”; continue to provide jobs for children of martyrs, war invalids, and sick soldiers; strengthen inspection to correct the implementation of policy towards people with meritorious service to the revolution, ensuring rightness without mistakes and wrongdoings; and resolutely punish collectives and individuals making mistakes in carrying out the policy towards people with meritorious services to the revolution in order to enhance people’s confidence in the Party, State, and military.

Major General Tran Quoc Dung, Director of the Policy Department