English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
regardless of gender, and freedom to choose their spouses. 263 ‘Backward practices’ include
underage marriage, forced marriages, polygamy, snatching wives, string binding, and asking
for expensive wedding presents of a commercial nature. 264
In addition to this, under the Decree on Marriage and Family Law (Ethnic Minorities), it
is the responsibility of the Peoples’ Committees of the provinces and centrally run cities to
direct the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and provincial/municipal Justice Services and
Culture-Information Services to coordinate with the provincial/municipal Viet Nam Fatherland
Front Committees as well as socio-political organizations in the localities to elaborate and submit
the following lists to the provincial/municipal People’s Council for approval: (a) the list of
fine customs and practices on marriage and family of various ethnic minority groups that are
to be encouraged for promotion in the localities; and (b) the list of backward customs and practices
on marriage and family of various ethnic minority groups, which are to eradicated through
mobilization. 265
Sixth, the Decision No. 124/2003/QD-TTG of June 17, 2003 Approving the Scheme on
Conservation and Development of Vietnamese Ethnic Minority Group’ Culture in Article 1(6)(c)
states that, among the contents of conservation and promotion of the values of traditional cultural
heritages of ethnic minority groups, is the preservation and promotion of cultural activities
related to traditional rituals as well as healthy customs and practices of ethnic minority groups.
It is obvious from these provisions that culture or tradition is not protected if it is ‘backward’.
Further, it can be deduced that, by and large, discriminatory customs and practices will
be considered backward.
The Decree on Marriage and Family Law (Ethnic Minorities) provides a good model for
identifying what are fine and backward practices in the area of marriage and family law. It is
recommended that, in other fields, similar identification must be undertaken. This will guide
implementation of Article 5 of CEDAW. Also, it should be borne in mind that backward and/or
discriminatory customs and practices are found not only in ethnic minorities. There are discriminatory
practices in marriage and family law that are generally practiced are based from general
stereotypes, such as letting women do household chores and care work or thinking that
women are not qualified to be leaders.
Further, in these provisions, the term ‘backward customs and practices’ is used to
denote those customs and practices that are to be modified or eradicated. It is suggested that,
to enable conceptual clarity as to the reason for change or modification of a particular custom
or practice, the term ‘discriminatory’ be used to refer to those customs and practices that violate
gender equality or that result in gender discrimination. This also will enable identification
and eradication of discriminatory customs and practices within the general population.
139
To address the need for information dissemination on gender and gender equality, the
Law on Gender Equality, provides:
263
Decree on Marriage and Family Law (Ethnic Minorities), Article 2(1) and Appendix A
264
Ibid., Article 2(2) and Appendix B
265
Ibid., Article 27(1)
Social and cultural patterns of conduct (Article 5 of CEDAW)