English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
agencies and Heads of agencies attached to the Government;
Resolutions of the Justice Council of the Supreme People’s Court;
Decisions, directives and circulars of the Chairman of the Supreme People’s
Procuracy;
Inter-agency resolutions and joint circulars between State agencies or between
State agencies and socio-political organizations;
Documents promulgated by the People’s Councils and People’s Committees:
Resolutions of the People’s Councils;
Decisions and directives of the People’s Committees.
The term ‘legal normative documents’ is preferred by some legal practitioners. For this
review, however, the term ‘legal documents’ is used as it is the term found in official
Vietnamese translations of laws referring to them; for example, in the Law on Legal
Documents.
Focus was placed on legal documents issued by the National Assembly and its Standing
Committee, primarily for their high legal authority and comprehensiveness of application.
Second in line are documents issued by offices, ministries and agencies at the central level.
There are numerous national plans and strategies that are also discussed. Although they may
not be considered strictly as legal documents in many countries, in Viet Nam these plans and
strategies are promulgated through legal documents. Hence, they are cited and considered in
this review where relevant.
Since the drafting of legal documents is a continuous process, a cut-off period was
placed to make the review manageable. This review considered legal documents issued until
30 October 2007. However, in many instances where a legal document is of importance to this
review, such as the Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence, the Decree on
MOLISA or the Decree on Gender Equality (that identified MOLISA as the state management
agency responsible for the implementation of gender equality), the review has noted and mentioned
them.
OVERVIEW
The review is divided into six parts. Part I provides a brief overview on current developments
in Viet Nam to enable an understanding of the context in which the review is based. Part II provides
information on the political and legal framework of Viet Nam. The aim is to promote an
understanding of the political structures in the country, as well as their powers and mandates.
This part also lists what are considered as legal documents in the country and their authority.
Part III discusses CEDAW, which is the treaty used as the framework and analytical tool for
this review. This part provides not only basic information on CEDAW, but also explains the
core principles of CEDAW without which a purely textual approach using the treaty would lack
conceptual clarity and a sophisticated understanding of gender equality and non-discrimination.
Part IV provides brief facts on Viet Nam’s involvement with CEDAW, including dates of
ratification, entry into force and submission of its reports. The substantive portion of the review
is in Part V.
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Introduction