In recent years, Vietnam has made a great effort to synchronously implement many policies and solutions on ensuring civil and political rights for the people with many achievements, thereby, affirming the Party's leadership role and the good nature of the socialist regime. That is a living reality that no one can deny.
Along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is one of the three pillars of the International Human Rights Law - a group of fundamental documents for the formation and development of basic human rights standards in the world. The basic content of the ICCPR affirms the core human rights, with the right to self-determination of all peoples and 18 groups of rights of each individual.
For a long time, hostile forces and those masquerading as human rights have always resorted to every trick to deny and distort Vietnam's achievements in ensuring human rights in general, and civil and political rights in particular. They slander Vietnam for violating human rights; violating freedom of speech and press, formal democracy, etc. to sabotage our Party and State, undermine Vietnam's reputation in the world, and put pressure on us to achieve their goals. However, practice has proven that, since joining the ICCPR Convention in 1982, Vietnam has always strived to synchronously implement policies and solutions to ensure civil and political rights for citizens and has obtained many important and comprehensive achievements on all fronts. This is not only the obligation and responsibility of membership in the Convention, but also the consistent goal of the Party and State of Vietnam to bring a good life to the people.
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| Minor ethnic elderly people being supported with election right at their home when they can't go to the election site (Photo credit: tapchicongsan.vn) |
First of all, Vietnam always strives to build and perfect the law on ensuring civil and political rights for its people; fully constitutionalised in the 2013 Constitution: “In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, human rights and citizens' rights in the political, civil, economic, cultural and social fields shall be recognised, respected, protected and guaranteed in accordance with the Constitution and law.” At the same time, it is clearly stipulated that: “Everyone has the obligation to respect the rights of others; the exercise of human rights and civil rights must not violate national and ethnic interests, the legitimate rights and interests of other people.” The concretisation of the Constitution, as well as international treaties on human rights to which Vietnam is a member through codes, laws and legal documents, is also always of concern to our State. From January 2019 to December 2022 alone, the Vietnam National Assembly passed nearly 60 laws and resolutions related to human rights and civil rights. At the same time, Vietnam is constantly perfecting the legal frameworks on the organisation of the state apparatus to ensure civil and political rights and the legal framework on handling violations of these rights, namely: Law on Organisation of the National Assembly, Law on Organisation of the Government 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2019), Law on Organisation of People's Courts, Law on Organisation of People's Procuracy, Law on Organisation of Criminal Investigation Bodies, Law on National Defence, Law on People's Public Security, Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, etc. The functions and tasks of social criticism agencies and organisations are also clearly defined in legal documents, such as: Law on Vietnam Fatherland Front, Law on Trade Unions, etc. At the same time, the National Assembly has promulgated, amended and supplemented laws and regulations on handling administrative violations in the fields of ensuring the civil and political rights of the Vietnamese people. In addition, Vietnam actively perfects other legal frameworks, creating the most favourable conditions to ensure that individuals, especially vulnerable groups, can enjoy civil and political rights and have the access to information to raise awareness and have favourable conditions in exercising these rights, such as: Legal Aid Law; Common Law, legal education, etc.
Second, the work of propagating, disseminating and educating the law in general, and the law on civil and political rights in particular, is identified by the State of Vietnam as the most important task, which is carried out regularly and continuously, achieving many important results. Accordingly, all levels and sectors from central to local levels always pay attention to leading and directing the implementation of this work with many synchronous and effective policies and solutions. Legal policies are transmitted to people through many different channels, with richness and diversity in forms and methods of implementation: from forums, seminars, and in-depth discussions to popular forms, reaching all people in all regions of the country. Policy communication work is promoted with in-depth columns on law dissemination and education in central and local mass media, expressed in Mandarin and 13 ethnic minority and foreign languages. Press agencies actively coordinate with local departments, branches, and organisations to develop and implement legal columns that are increasingly strict, creative, and effective. The application of information technology, social networks through fanpage, zalo, and SMS via mobile networks to increase interactivity and attractiveness for propaganda and dissemination of laws has been widely promoted. At the same time, focus on posting legal documents, especially newly-issued legal documents and draft legal documents, on portals and websites of ministries, agencies, central and local organisations in Vietnam. In the period 2013 - 2023, all levels and sectors have propagated and disseminated the law directly to more than 9,429,000 people; compiled and distributed nearly 512,000,000 legal documents for free, many of which were translated into ethnic minority languages and foreign languages. Thereby, those works has made an important contribution to improving the effectiveness of law enforcement on civil rights and political rights in our country.
Third, the Party and State of Vietnam always strengthen leadership and direction to timely, fully, consistently and strictly implement the law on ensuring the civil and political rights of the people. Typically, citizens' rights to vote and run for office are specifically regulated and strictly enforced, regardless of ethnicity, gender, social class, belief or religion. Vietnamese citizens who are 18 years old or older have the right to vote and all of 21 years old or older have the right to run for election to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels. In the election of the 15th National Assembly (term 2021 - 2026), the voter participation rate reached 99.6%, the highest ever and it can be said that no other country can compare. This shows that people are increasingly aware of their rights and those political rights are increasingly better guaranteed by our State.
Hostile forces often distort and slander Vietnam, “strictly suppressing” freedom of speech, press, belief, and religion. However, those are just baseless lies. Because, there is no country that “suppresses” freedom of speech and press but has such a large number of press agencies, with all types and with such strong development. It is even more impossible to be a country at the top in terms of Internet speed development and social network users like Vietnam. Currently, our country has 797 press agencies, including 127 newspapers and 670 magazines. By January 2023, Vietnam has 72.1 million Internet users, equivalent to 73.2% of the population. There are more than 70 million social network users, equivalent to 71% of the population, and approximately 161.6 million active mobile connections, equivalent to 164% of the population. Debates, questions, and criticisms about guidelines and policies take place not only in the National Assembly, but also enthusiastically at seminars, workshops, discussions, etc. with active participation of political and social organisations and people. This proves that freedom of speech, press, and information in Vietnam are always guaranteed.
Regarding belief and religion, our Party and State consistently respect the people's right to freedom of belief and religion. All citizens have the right to follow or not follow any belief or religion. Currently, the State has recognised and granted operation registration to 43 organisations belonging to 16 religions, with over 26.7 million followers, accounting for 27% of the population, more than 55 thousand dignitaries, 135 thousand positions, nearly 30 thousand places of worship. Religions and beliefs in Vietnam are harmonious and equal. The State does not discriminate but create the best conditions for religious organisations to operate according to the Constitution and law. In particular, our Party and State always respect and promote the role of religious organisations actively participating in social and political life and building the country. The 15th National Assembly has 05 dignitaries as delegates and tens of thousands of religious dignitaries, officials, and followers of religions who were elected to the People's Councils at the provincial, district, and commune levels for the 2021 - 2026 term, and are members of Vietnam Fatherland Front, political and social associations and organisations at all levels, etc. Regarding ethnic issues, Vietnam not only ensures equal rights for its people, but also has a special priority policy for ethnic groups to develop; always pay attention to preserving and promoting cultural identity; create conditions for them to participate in the political system, social management, state management, and run for election to the National Assembly and people's councils at all levels. The 15th National Assembly has 89/499 delegates who are ethnic minorities, accounting for 17.8%, the higher ever rate.
Along with that, people's basic rights under the ICCPR Convention, including: the right to be treated equally before courts and other judicial bodies; the right to personal security and physical inviolability; the right to freedom of movement and residence within the national territory; the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country; the right to nationality; the right to marry, start a family, and the right equality in marriage; the right to inheritance; the right to freedom of assembly and association; right to work; the right to housing; the right to education and training; the right to participate equally in cultural activities; the right to access any public place and service, etc., are all guaranteed comprehensively and substantively by Vietnam.
On March 22, 2023, the Prime Minister approved the content of the 4th ICCPR Implementation Report in Vietnam, allowing the submission and the Report was posted on the website of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. This demonstrates the commitment of a responsible member state, objectively and transparently reflecting Vietnam's development and continuous efforts in respecting, protecting, ensuring and promoting civil and political rights of the people. Those achievements have contributed to enhancing Vietnam's reputation in the international arena; strengthen people's confidence in the Party's leadership and the good nature of the socialist regime; is an important driving force to promote the strength of the great national unity bloc, building an increasingly prosperous and happy Vietnam. These are vivid proofs, refuting all distortions and denials of the opposing forces.
Colonel, PhD. PHAM CONG THUONG, Academy of Politics, Ministry of National Defence