English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the review is to assess the compliance of Vietnamese legal documents with gender
equality standards using a gendered and rights-based framework. It is hoped that the review
will be able to highlight the gender dimensions in particular fields and to point out the necessary
changes that need to take place in legal documents. It is also hoped that it will inform future
reviews of Vietnamese legal documents, especially by legislative drafters in the Government. In
this regard, this review takes particular notice of the Directive on Gender Equality Law, which
mandated the assigned state management agency for the Law on Gender Equality - that is,
MOLISA - to conduct a review of legal normative documents.
FRAMEWORK AND ANALYTICAL TOOL
In doing a gendered and rights-based review of Viet Nam’s legal documents, CEDAW was
chosen as the framework and analytical tool because it:
is a human rights treaty;
strongly advances a rights-based approach to claiming rights;
has a conceptual framework that takes into account the social construction of gender;
espouses a framework of equality that looks not only into equality of opportunities, but
equality of benefits and results;
provides for a framework of discrimination that addresses all forms of discrimination,
especially indirect discrimination;
focuses on the State as the primary holder of obligations to enable enjoyment of women’s
human rights and equality, hence enabling more comprehensive reforms;
provides for a comprehensive guarantee of equality in all fields - civil, political, economic,
social, cultural and other fields;
lastly, as a treaty thereby being a legal document itself, is most compatible in discussions on
law and legal reform.
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
The term ‘legal documents’ in Viet Nam in this review, as per Article 1 of the Law on the
Promulgation of Legal Documents, covers:
Documents promulgated by the National Assembly and its Standing Committee:
The Constitution, laws and resolutions of the National Assembly;
Ordinances and resolutions of the Standing Committee;
Documents issued by other competent State agencies at the central level:
Orders and decisions of the State President;
Decisions and directives of the Prime Minister;
Resolutions and decrees of the Government;
Issues decisions, directives and circulars of Ministers, Heads of Ministerial-level
Introduction
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