English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
Article 36 of the Law on Gender Equality states that the National Assembly, Standing
Committee, Council of Ethnic Minorities, committees of the National Assembly, Provincial
National Assembly delegations, and National Assembly members have the function to oversee
the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality. In this regard, the mechanism for this must
be clearly stated in a decree implementing the Law on Gender Equality, rather than simply a reference
to the National Assembly’s monitoring duties and powers. Special provisions should be
stipulated on procedures for communicating its recommendation to appropriate State agencies
and monitoring compliance of the recommendations.
Strategies and plans
Legal bases for socio-economic strategies and plans can be found in the Constitution; for example,
Articles 84(3), 120, and 122(4). Further, Articles 8 and 26 of the Law on Gender Equality provide
that the state management agency – that is, MOLISA - will formulate and implement national
strategies, policies and goals on gender equality. There are existing strategies and plans on
women already formulated. Other strategies and plans are also in place, which address, to a certain
extent, the protection and promotion of gender equality, such as CPRGS, SEDS and SEDP.
INCORPORATION AND APPLICATION OF TREATIES
The status of CEDAW in the domestic legal framework is one of the important aspects of CEDAW
implementation. This is important to make the rights under CEDAW more accessible to women,
as well as for CEDAW to operate in a complementary and supplementary way with domestic legal
documents. Hence, the selected indicators look into CEDAWs status in the domestic legal framework
and whether its provisions can be invoked directly in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings
as a source of actionable rights.
Both the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Treaties state that, in cases where a
legal document and a treaty to which Viet Nam is a party contains different provisions on the
same matter, the provisions of the treaty shall prevail. Hence, based on this, CEDAW provisions
will prevail over domestic legal documents in cases of conflict. However, there are no provisions
in law relating to claiming rights guaranteed in the treaty directly in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings.
There are also no clear provisions in law stating that treaties are directly executable in
Viet Nam unless a legal document is in place. Article 74 of the Law on Treaties states that the
competence to interpret treaties rests with the Standing Committee or Government. Hence, it is
not easily accessible to individuals whose rights under the treaty have been violated to request
directly for interpretation or the application of the treaty prior to application.
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It is recommended that legal documents providing individuals the right to claim directly
human rights guaranteed in international treaties acceded or ratified by Viet Nam, in particular
CEDAW, through domestic judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings must be promulgated. It is also
suggested that Viet Nam ratifies the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, allowing women to claim their
rights at the international level when all domestic remedies have been exhausted at the local
level. Procedures for individuals to request for domestic interpretation or application of treaties to
address their individual situations must also be provided.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE/VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS
GRs 12 and 19 clearly highlight the obligation of the States Parties under CEDAW to address
GBV, including domestic violence, rape and other forms of sexual assault, sexual harassment,
forced and early marriage, trafficking and sexual exploitation. They strongly urge States Parties
Executive summary