English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

INTRODUCTION
RATIONALE
A gendered and rights-based review of Vietnamese legal documents is timely and most relevant
for several reasons.
On 29 November 2006, the National Assembly of Viet Nam passed the Law on Gender
Equality. This was hailed as a milestone in terms of enabling better enjoyment of equal rights
and non-discrimination, particularly by women. The Law on Gender Equality was a comprehensive
law that sought to ensure equality in all fields - politics, economy, labour, education
and training, science and technology, culture, information, sport, public health, and family. It
enumerated measures to ensure gender equality including: (a) promoting equality or applying
temporary special measures; (b) mainstreaming gender equality in the legal normative system;
(c) providing information, education and communication; (d) naming responsibilities of
State agencies, including of the particular state management agency, and other agencies and
organizations; and (e) identifying prohibited acts.
The Law on Gender Equality signaled the need to reconsider and review existing policies,
laws and practices against it, and to evaluate the need for amendments, revisions or
repeal, or the issuance of new legal documents. The Directive on Gender Equality Law was
issued in 3 May 2007 affirming this need. This directive states that a review of legal normative
documents has to be completed by 31 December 2007. Further, the Resolution on Work for
Women of the Politburo was also promulgated, which provides for the following tasks and
solutions, among the many tasks and solutions, to improve women’s status especially in the
era of accelerating industrialization and modernization: (a) successfully implementing the Law
on Gender Equality; and (b) formulating, amending, adjusting and improving the legal system
and policies to ensure better enjoyment of women’s rights, especially in the area of labour,
education, business, civil relations, land use, environment, social security, marriage and family,
health care, and protection of mothers and children.
On 17 January 2007, Viet Nam engaged in a constructive dialogue with the CEDAW
Committee on Viet Nam’s Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Report on its compliance with the
provisions of the CEDAW. As a result of this dialogue, the CEDAW Committee issued
Concluding Comments on Viet Nam 2007 that provided suggestions to the State as to how to
improve its implementation of CEDAW, including aligning existing laws with the provisions of
CEDAW and the Law on Gender Equality.
The Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence was also passed by the
National Assembly in November 2007. This law provided a better framework for the protection
of victims of violence, as well as warranting a review of numerous procedures, services and
institutions to make them more responsive to the needs of victims.
Bearing these in mind, this legal review is responsive to the needs of the times.
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CEDAW and the Law: