English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
(c) Describe steps taken to disseminate widely information on the Government’s international
commitments affecting women and official documents issued by multilateral forums,
in particular, to both governmental and non governmental bodies responsible for
the advancement of women;
(d) Provide information concerning discrimination against women because of their political
activities, whether as individuals or as members of women’s or other organizations.
V.5.1.2 Concluding Comments
The relevant paragraphs relating to Articles 7-8 of CEDAW in Concluding Comments on
Viet Nam 2007 are:
Paragraph 14
The Committee acknowledges the improvement of the representation of women in
Parliament, which is among the highest in Asia, and takes note of the 2001 Law on the
Election of National Assembly Deputies and the 2003 Law on the Election of Members
of the People’s Council, which established a quota system for female deputies, as well
as the targets set by the State party for women’s representation in public bodies at different
levels. The Committee remains concerned about the under-representation of
women in appointed public decision-making bodies, particularly at the district and commune/ward
levels.
Paragraph 15
The Committee calls upon the State party to regularly review its targets for women’s participation
in public life and decision-making. It encourages the State party to develop
concrete measures, with specific timelines, including the use of temporary special
measures in accordance with article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and the
Committee’s general recommendation 25, to accelerate women’s full and equal participation
in political life at all levels, in specially appointed and elected positions, including
leadership positions in mass organizations and at commune/ward level. The Committee
recommends that the State party implement training programmes and awareness-raising
campaigns, with a special focus on mass organizations, on the right of women to full
and equal participation at all levels of decision-making. It also calls on the State party to
monitor the impact of measures taken, track trends over time, take necessary corrective
measures and provide detailed information about results achieved in its next report.
V.5.2 SELECTED INDICATORS
It is important to reemphasize the statement in CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23:
Political and Public Life (1997) (GR 23) on what Article 7 and 8 of CEDAW entails. GR 23
points out that the political and public life’ of a country is a broad concept as it refers to the
exercise of political power, in particular the exercise of legislative, judicial, executive and
administrative powers. 338 ‘Political and public life’ includes all aspects of public administration
and the formulation and implementation of policy at the international, national, regional and
local levels. 339 Further, the concept also involves many aspects of civil society, including pub-
173
338
GR 23, Paragraph 5
339
Ibid.
Political and public life (Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW)