The legal partnership forum 2015: Strengthening Legal and Judicial Reforms to Ensure Human Rights and Civil Rights

The forum was co-chaired by Mr. Ha Hung Cuong, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Justice, and Dr Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator and UN Development Program Resident Representative in Viet Nam. Attendants were representatives of the Party’s committees, the National Assembly, Viet Nam’s Supreme People's Court, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, development partners and non-governmental organizations.

At the forum, representative of the National Steering Committee for Judicial Reforms presented progress made in implementing the Party Politburo’s Resolution on Judicial Reform Strategy; representative of the Law Committee of the National Assembly presented Updates on the review of 10-year implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution on the Strategy on Development and Improvement of the Legal System of Viet Nam to 2010, with a vision to 2020; representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the Action Plan for implementing recommendations accepted by Viet Nam in the latest Universal Periodic Review; and representatives of the Ministry of Justice presented updates on the revised Penal Code and their significance in implementing UPR’s recommendations.

Speaking at the Forum, Minister Ha Hung Cuong highlighted, “Results in implementing legal and judicial reforms and ensuring human and civil rights have had practical contributions to the overall significant and historical achievements that the Party, the Government and the people have made during the past decade in all aspects, including socio-economic development, defense-security, peaceful and stable environment consolidation for development, etc. As a result, Viet Nam has moved from underdevelopment into middle-income developing countries, enjoying increasingly higher status and creditability in the region and international arena.”

According to Dr Pratibha Mehta, it is not a coincidence that today’s Legal Partnership Forum Agenda focuses on the UPR Action Plan and the criminal justice system. “Human rights and criminal justice are integrally connected,” she said. “Almost forty percent of the UPR recommendations accepted by Viet Nam encompass some aspect of criminal justice. And many of these recommendations will likely be affected by the recent changes to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code”.

Dr Mehta applauded the Government for approving the UPR Action Plan. She highlighted the need to ensure that everyone in Viet Nam, including government officials, leaders in the private sector, and civil society, are aware of the accepted UPR recommendations, and their rights as defined in the Constitution and international human rights treaties.

“The approved UPR Action Plan should be supplemented by a well-defined timetable that includes benchmarks of progress that can be demonstrably and objectively measured,” Mehta suggested. She also noted that a dedicated effort is needed to involve civil society at all stages of its implementation.

The Legal Partnership Forum is organized in the framework of the joint UNDP-Viet Nam project ”Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights in Viet Nam”. This is an important annual event participated by representatives of the Government and development partners to discuss key priorities in the legal and judicial reform program in Viet Nam.

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More information:

New changes in the revised Penal Code:

On November 11, 2015, in the Tenth Session of the 13th National Assembly passed the revised Penal Code which includes major changes including provisions on criminal responsibility of legal persons, abolishing death penalty for seven crimes as follows:

Asset forfeiture (Article 168);

The production and trade of counterfeit food, spices and condimens (Article 193);

Illegal possession of narcotic drugs (Article 249);

Illegal appropriation of narcotic drugs (Article 252);

Destruction of projects and facilities of national security importance (Article 303);

Opposing order (Article 394);

Surrendering to the enemy (Article 399).

The revised Penal Code takes effect from July 1, 2016.

Implementation Plan of UPR’s Recommendations:

On November 23, 2015, the Prime Minister signed Decision 2057/QĐ-TTg approving the Action Plan on the Implementation of Recommendations Viet Nam has approved in the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. The Plan has identified priority areas, responsibilities of Ministries, and an appropriate roadmap for UPR’s implementation, which is to ensure the effective implementation and utilization of available domesic resources while attracting support from the international community.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Justice, Tel.: 04 62739525

UNDP Office in Ha Noi, Tel.: 04 38500158