Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/vietnam.txu

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TITLE:  VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995



Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

Citizens are not free to change their government.  All
authority and political power is vested in the VCP; political
opposition and other political parties are not tolerated.  The
Central Committee is the supreme decisionmaking body in the
nation, and the Politburo is the locus of policymaking.  The
Secretariat of the Central Committee oversees day-to-day
implementation of leadership directives.  Debate and criticism
are limited to certain aspects of individual, state, or Party
performance determined by the VCP itself.  No public challenge
to the legitimacy of the one-party state, or even debate on
this subject, is permitted.

Citizens elect the members of the National Assembly, ostensibly
the chief legislative body, although the VCP approves all
candidates.  The National Assembly engaged in increasingly
vigorous debate on economic and social issues, but it remained
largely subservient to the VCP.  Legislators rewrote laws,
questioned ministries, and occasionally rejected draft
legislation.  However, Party officials occupy most senior
Government positions and continued to have final say on key
issues.

The law provides the opportunity for equal participation in
politics by women and minority groups, but in practice they are
underrepresented.  Most of the senior leaders, including all 17
members of the Politburo, are male.  The President of the
National Assembly, who is also a Politburo member, is a member
of an ethnic minority.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The Government does not permit private human rights
organizations to form or operate and generally prohibits
private citizens from contacting international human rights
organizations.  It has permitted international visitors to
monitor implementation of its repatriation commitments under
the Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed on at the 1989 Geneva
Conference, and it has carried on a limited dialog with human
rights organizations.  In October a delegation from the UNHRC
was permitted to visit prisons; a report is expected in early
1995.

The Government has shown increased willingness to discuss human
rights issues bilaterally with other governments if such
discussions take place under the rubric of "exchanges of ideas"
rather than "investigations."  However, in July it canceled the
visit of an Australian human rights delegation when an ethnic
Vietnamese member of that delegation said publicly that the
group would be "investigating" the human rights situation in
Vietnam.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

People released from reeducation camps have reported varying
levels of discrimination in the areas of housing and
education.  They generally are not eligible to regain their
citizenship rights until 1 year after their release.  They and
their families are not allowed employment with the Government,
though this was less a factor in 1994 than in the past because
of the growth of the private sector.

     Women

While there is no legal discrimination, women face deeply
engrained social discrimination.  Despite extensive provisions
in the Constitution, legislation, and regulations that mandate
equal treatment, few women can compete with men for higher
status positions.  The Government has not enforced the
constitutional provision that women and men must receive equal
pay for equal work.  Despite the large body of legislation and
regulations devoted to the protection of women's rights in
marriage, the workplace, and the new labor law calling for the
preferential treatment of women, these legal pronouncements are
distant from the reality for many, if not most, women.

Although the law addresses the issue of domestic violence,
there is credible evidence that these laws are not enforced.  A
1993 report by a Vietnamese researcher stated that domestic
violence has grown in recent years.  Some international NGO
workers as well as many Vietnamese women have commented that
domestic violence against women is common.  Most divorces are
due to domestic violence.  Many women remain in abusive
marriages rather than confront the stigma of divorce.  These
problems tend to be more prevalent in rural than in urban
areas.

     Children

Reputable international organizations, including the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), commended the Government's
interest in children's issues and its promotion of child
welfare.  The Government has continued a nationwide
immunization campaign, and the government-controlled press
regularly stresses the importance of health and education for
all children.  Despite some success, UNICEF estimates there are
still 3 million children living in "especially difficult
circumstances."  There is no information on the extent of child
abuse.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Although the Government says it is opposed to discrimination
against ethnic minorities, there continued to be credible
reports that some local officials restricted ethnic minority
access to education, employment, and travel, both internal and
foreign.  The Government continued to implement policies
designed to narrow the gap in the standard of living between
ethnic groups living in the highlands and lowland ethnic
Vietnamese by providing preferential treatment to domestic and
foreign companies investing in highland areas.  There is no
information available on whether repression of some highland
minorities for suspected ties with resistance groups, reported
in the past, continued in 1994.

     People with Disabilities

The Government provides little official protection or support
for the disabled, and there are no laws mandating access for
the disabled.  However, the 1994 Labor Law calls on the State
to protect the right and encourage the employment of the
disabled and includes provisions for preferential treatment for
firms that recruit disabled persons for training or
apprenticeship and a special levy on firms that do not employ
disabled workers.  It is not yet clear whether the Government
has begun to enforce these provisions.  The Government has
permitted international groups to assist those who have been
disabled by war or by subsequent accidents involving unexploded
ordinance.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

Workers are not free to form or join unions of their own
choosing unless they have obtained approval from the local
trade union federation office.  The party-controlled Vietnam
General Confederation of Labor (VGCI) is the umbrella
organization under which all local trade unions must operate.
The Labor Law requires provincial trade union organizations to
establish unions at all new enterprises as well as at existing
enterprises that currently operate without trade unions.
Management of union-affiliated companies is required to accept
and cooperate with those unions.  However, most joint ventures
and small, private companies, especially at the retail level,
do not have unions.

The June 1994 Labor Law provides for the right to strike under
certain circumstances.  It calls for management and labor to
resolve labor disputes through the enterprise's own labor
conciliation council.  If that fails, the matter goes to the
provincial labor arbitration council.  If the council's
decision is unsatisfactory, unions have the right to appeal to
the provincial people's court or to strike.  However, the law
prohibits strikes at enterprises that serve the public and at
those that are important to the national economy or to national
security and defense, as defined by the Government.  It also
grants the Prime Minister the right to suspend a strike
considered detrimental to the national economy or to public
safety.

A number of strikes occurred in 1994, primarily against
foreign-owned companies but also involving state-owned and
private firms as well.  The Government tolerated the strikes,
even though some occurred before the new Labor Law made them
legal.  The new Labor Law prohibits retribution against
strikers, and there have been no credible reports of such
retribution.

Unions are not legally free to, and do not in practice, join,
affiliate with, or participate in international labor bodies.
However, in 1992, Vietnam rejoined the International Labor
Organization, from which it had withdrawn in 1985.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Workers have the right to organize unions in their enterprises,
but they must be approved by the local union leadership.  They
also can bargain collectively through the party-approved unions
at their enterprises.  In the past, the Government generally
set wages, since most people worked for state companies.  With
the growth of the private sector and the increased autonomy of
state firms, a growing percentage of companies are setting
wages through collective bargaining with the relevant unions,
and market forces play a much more important role in
determining wages.  Antiunion discrimination on the part of
employers against employees seeking to organize is forbidden in
the labor code.

The Government has approved formation of a number of export
processing zones and new industrial zones, which are governed
by the same labor laws as apply to the rest of the country.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The new Labor Law prohibits all forms of forced labor, and
there have been no reports of such practices, except in some
detention facilities.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The Labor Law sets the minimum age for employment at 15.
Children as young as 13 can register at trade training centers,
which are a form of vocational training.  Vietnam also has
compulsory education laws.  These laws are not effectively
enforced, especially in rural areas where children are needed
to farm.  However, the Vietnamese culture's strong emphasis on
education leads most people to send their children to school,
rather than to work.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The Labor Law requires the Government to set a minimum wage,
which changes with inflation and other economic changes.  The
Government does not publicize minimum wage rates.  The minimum
wage, including for those working for joint ventures, is by
itself insufficient to provide a worker and his family with a
decent standard of living.  However, many workers receive
subsidized housing, bonuses, and also supplement their incomes
by engaging in entrepreneurial activities.  The Government
enforces the minimum wage at foreign and major Vietnamese
firms.  It has little control over other wages.

The Labor Law sets working hours at a maximum of 8 per day and
48 per week, with a mandatory 24-hour break each week.  Any
additional hours require overtime pay, and the law limits
compulsory overtime.  It is not clear how well the Government
enforces these provisions.

The Labor Law calls on the Government to promulgate rules and
regulations to ensure worker safety.  The Ministry of Labor, in
coordination with local people's committees and labor unions,
is charged with enforcing the regulations.  In practice,
enforcement is inadequate because of the Ministry's
insufficient resources.  Anecdotal evidence indicates that
workers, through labor unions, have been more effective in
forcing changes in working conditions than has the Government.