English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
Union on Art and Literature, religious organizations, sports associations and federations, economic
organizations, and associations in the field of charity and humanitarian aid. 83
NGOs, on the other hand, are small organizations. The main types of NGOs are those:
(a) delivering social services for government in health or education; (b) carrying out research;
(c) carrying out social work; (d) working with marginalized groups; and (e) working as consulting
companies for government or donors to assist in the implementation of strategies, plans
and programmes. 84 There are many restrictions to working as an NGO: see Part V.5.3.,
Indicators 59 and 60.
There are also community-based organizations formed for purposes related to people’s
livelihoods, such as mutual assistance groups, cow-farming groups, groups taking care of festivals,
old-age groups, neighborhood groups and cultural groups. There are estimated to be
between 100,000 and 200,000 community organizations in Viet Nam. 85
Seventy-four percent of Viet Nam’s population belongs to at least one organization. 86
However, despite the broad-based outreach of organizations, one of the key discussions relating
to civil society in Viet Nam is whether it is truly independent from the State or Communist
Party of Viet Nam. 87 However, continuous development of the legal framework for the operation
of associations will, hopefully, bring about an improved environment for the growth and
advancement of civil society groups. Although a legal framework is in place for particular
organizations - for example, mass organizations that allowed a more flexible management - a
draft Law on Associations is being reviewed by the National Assembly to improve the legal
environment for other civil society organizations. 88
II.2 LEGAL FRAMEWORK
II.2.1 DOMESTIC SOURCES: LEGAL DOCUMENTS
‘Legal documents’ are defined as “documents promulgated by competent State agencies
according to the laws prescribed procedures and order, containing common rules of conduct
the implementation of which is guaranteed by the State and aims to regulate social relations
along the socialist orientation”. 89
83
Norlund, op. cit., p. 12
84
Ibid.
85
Ibid., p. 13
86
Ibid., p. 1
87
Norlund, op. cit., pp. 8-9: In the mid-1990s, according to typical criteria, there was no civil society in Viet Nam, even if
some organizations have the potential to constitute it; for example, many scholars did not consider mass organizations
to be civil society organizations, but part of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. The status of Vietnamese NGOs as civil
society organizations was also being questioned because many NGOs had no membership base and their leadership
was drawn from state bureaucracy or the Communist Party of Viet Nam. By mid-2000, it was more broadly accepted
among scholars, donors and organizations that there was a civil society operating in the country. Mass organizations,
though set up in connection with the Communist Party of Viet Nam’s establishment in 1931, changed forms in the 1980s
with Doi Moi, receiving less support from the State, operating semi-independently of the Communist Party of Viet Nam,
and expanding more dramatically in the 1990s. NGOs have begun asserting their independence too; for example, submitting
reports that independently evaluate State compliance with CEDAW. (Ibid.)
88
Norlund, op. cit., p. 9. See Decree No.88/2003/ND-CP of July 30, 2003 Providing for the Organization, Operation and
Management of Associations (Decree on Associations)
89
Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents (December 11, 1996) as amended by Law Amending and Supplementing
a Number of Articles of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents (No. 02/2002/QH11 of December 16, 2002)
(Law on Legal Documents, Article 1). From 1 January 2009, this law has been replaced by a new law - the Law on the
Promulgation of Legal Documents (No. 17/2008/QH12 of June 3, 2008). However, this new law with new provisions is
not covered under this review.
45
The political and legal framework of Viet Nam