English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

I. VIET NAM IN CONTEXT
Viet Nam is a country in South-East Asia with a population of 85,590,000 in 2007 of which
50.86 percent are female. 8 It has 54 ethnic nationalities. The majority of Vietnamese are Kinh,
representing 86.80 percent of the population. Vietnamese is the official language. 9
Viet Nam has undergone impressive economic and social change since initiating Doi
Moi (reform or renewal) in 1986. As a socialist-oriented market economy, its growth performance
since the beginning of Doi Moi has been dramatic, with Gross Domestic Product increasing
by more than 7 percent per year on average for more than a decade. 10 With economic
growth, there have been improvements in Viet Nam’s social development. It ranks 105 out of
177 countries in the most recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human
Development Index, placing it in a group of countries with medium human development. 11 Viet
Nam prides itself as also having halved the number of people living in poverty in just a decade.
12
The country’s key planning document is the ‘Socio-Economic Development Plan (2006-
2010)’ (SEDP). The SEDP seeks to concretize the link between economic growth and social
development; and, hence, make development more comprehensive and inclusive. 13
In relation to gender equality, Viet Nam is now placed at 91 out of 157 countries on the
UNDP Gender Development Index. 14 Viet Nam has made progress in efforts on gender equality
including: (a) good performance on education and health in terms of gender equality; (b)
one of the highest proportions of women in parliament in the Asia-Pacific region; (c) the labour
force participation of women is high; and (d) improved maternal and infant mortality. 15 However,
with dramatic changes, there are also areas of concerns as will be seen later in the review. In
fact, Resolution 11-NQ/TW of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Viet Nam dated
April 27, 2007 on the Work for Women in the Period of Accelerating Industrialization and
Modernization (Communist Party Resolution on Women) stated: “The market mechanism and
the industrialization have made positive effects on one side, but on the other side they have
been creating more social problems related directly to women.”
In the implementation of Doi Moi, a legal reform process has also been underway. As a
result, many legal documents have been promulgated, revised, supplemented and repealed.
The ‘Strategy for Development and Improvement of Viet Nam’s Legal System to the year 2010
and Directions for the Period Up to 2010’ (Strategy for Legal System) is in place to provide
guidance on legal development. The law reform is in line with Viet Nam’s need to provide more
predictability and transparency, and to ensure feasibility of its legal documents to newly emerging
situations.
8
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, ‘2007 ESCAP Population Data Sheet’,
Bangkok, 2007
9
Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Report, p. 3
37
10
Wells, Melissa, ‘Viet Nam: Gender Situation Analysis’, Asian Development Bank, November 2005 (Wells), p. 9
11
United Nations Development Programme, ‘Human Development Report 2007/2008’, UNDP, New York, 2007 (UNDP
HDR), p. 230
12
Wells, p. 11
13
World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Department for International Development and Canadian International
Development Agency, ‘Viet Nam Country Gender Assessment’, The World Bank Group, December 2006 (World Bank
Assessment), p. 17
14
UNDP HDR, p. 329
15
Wells. p. i-ii
A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW