English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
persons belonging to different ethnicities and/or religions, religious and non-religious persons,
and Vietnamese citizens and foreigners, must be respected and protected by law. 696
Penal Code
Article 148 of the Penal Code penalizes organizing underage marriage and entering into
underage marriage. It provides that those who commit the following acts when they have
already administratively sanctioned but repeat their violation will be punished: (a) organizing
marriage of underage persons; or (b) deliberately maintaining the illegal conjugal relationship
with underage persons though the court has already decided the termination of such
relationship. In this regard, ‘underage marriage’ means marrying when either or both parties
have not yet reached the marital ages prescribed by the Marriage and Family Law. 697 Penal
liability attaches only if the offender who organized the marriage clearly knows or had grounds
to know that either or both persons are not of marital age. 698
Article 146 of the Penal Code states that those who force other persons into marriage
against their will or prevent other persons from entering into marriage or maintaining voluntary
and progressive marriage bonds through persecution, ill-treatment, mental intimidation,
property claim or other means, and who have already been administratively sanctioned for
such acts but repeat their violations, will be subject to warning, non-custodial reform for up to
three years, or a prison term of between three months and three years. The Joint Circular on
Marriage and Family Crimes explains the terms in Article 146 of the Penal Code: (a)
‘persecution or ill-treatment’ means cruel ill-treatment of other persons - such as frequent
detention, forcing them to abstain from eating and drinking, scolding, humiliation, etc. - to force
a marriage or prevent a voluntary marriage; (b) ‘mental intimidation’ means threatening to
harm the lives, health, honour, property or legitimate interests including threats to set fire on
houses, kill relatives, disclose personal secrets, or commit suicide if a couple marry each
other; and (c) ‘property claim’ means an excessive claim of property as a condition for
marriage to prevent voluntary marriage between a male and female. 699
Decree on Marriage and Family Violations
The Decree No. 87/2001/Nd-Cp Of November 21, 2001 On Sanctions Against Administrative
Violations In The Field Of Marriage And Family identifies acts of administrative violation in
marriage and family and provides sanctions. It imposes a warning and a fine of between VND
50,000 and VND 200,000 for entering or organizing underage marriage where: “(a)
deliberately maintaining illegal conjugal relationship with another person, who has not yet
reached the marriage age, though there has been a court ruling compelling the termination of
such relationship; and (b) Organizing the marriage for persons who have not yet attained the
marriage age.” 700 The decree also punishes forced marriage or hindering voluntary and
progressive marriage with a warning or a fine of between VND 50,000 and VND 200,000.
303
696
Civil Code, Article 39
697
Joint Circular on Marriage and Family Crimes, paragraph 4(1)
698
Ibid., paragraph 4(2)
699
Ibid., paragraph 2(1)
700
Decree on Marriage And Family Violations, Article 6
Marriage and family (Article 16 of CEDAW)