Amendments to the Law on the People's Police Force may lead to a female Deputy Minister of Public Security.

Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai, Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee, shared this during a discussion on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the People's Police in the National Assembly's working session at the 5th Session, on the morning of June 2nd.

Proposing a "neutral" solution

Expressing strong agreement with the policy points mentioned in the draft amendment law, delegate Nguyen Thanh Hai stated that increasing the retirement age for police officers, workers, non-commissioned officers, and officers of the People's Public Security is consistent with the Labor Code, which already focuses on regulations for specific groups working in hazardous environments.

According to the draft, Group 1, comprising lieutenant colonels, majors, junior officers, and non-commissioned officers, will have their retirement age increased by two years. This group already has a retirement age of 53 under the 2018 Law on Public Security, lower than the 2020 Labor Code (60 for men and 55 for women). Therefore, with the revised Labor Code increasing the general retirement age, this group must also have their retirement age increased, and the draft law's proposal to increase it by two years is appropriate.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Hai – Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee.

Regarding the timeline for implementing the phased increase in retirement age for the remaining group of lieutenant colonels and colonels, according to Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai, this group has a unified retirement age for both men and women in accordance with the previous Labor Code, so now that the amended Labor Code increases the retirement age according to a phased schedule, raising the retirement age in the police force is also appropriate.

However, since the Law on the People's Police is only now being considered for amendment, it lags behind the Labor Code by 3 years. Therefore, it is necessary to determine a timeframe that ensures consistency in retirement age as stipulated by law.

Based on the above analysis, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai proposed a compromise solution. Specifically, increasing the service age for colonels and lieutenant colonels in the law would be done in two steps. The first step would be to immediately increase the service age for male colonels and lieutenant colonels to 60 years and 9 months, and for female lieutenant colonels by 1 year upon the law's entry into force. Similarly, the age for majors, lieutenants, and non-commissioned officers would be increased by 2 years upon the law's entry into force to synchronize with the 2023 general retirement age of 60 years and 9 months for men and 56 years for women.

Step two involves increasing the age in subsequent years according to a schedule of 3 months for men and 4 months for women.

Regarding gender equality, the Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee shared that, at the rank of colonel, the province currently has 5 male and none female; at the rank of lieutenant colonel, there are 105 male and 5 female officers.

"Therefore, increasing the retirement age for female lieutenant colonels and colonels will create equal opportunities for female leaders in the police force to strive for advancement, so that after the law is enacted, the number of female colonels nationwide will not be just 67 and the number of female generals will not be just 6 as it is now. We can absolutely imagine that there will be a female Lieutenant General, Deputy Minister of Public Security in the near future," Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai expressed, sharing that this is also the sentiment of female officers and soldiers of the police force in Thai Nguyen province sent to the National Assembly .

A clearer explanation is needed for the proposal to raise the retirement age.

Representative Nguyen Phuong Thuy (Hanoi delegation) - Vice Chair of the National Assembly's Law Committee - suggested that a more convincing explanation is needed regarding the distinction between different age limits for service extension applied to female police workers, female non-commissioned officers, and female officers of the People's Public Security, currently at three levels: 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years.

Representative Nguyen Phuong Thuy.

According to the female delegate, if the work of female officers and non-commissioned officers is determined to be regular and directly involved in combat duties, in arduous and hazardous environments as stated on page 9 of the Ministry of Public Security's impact assessment report No. 256, then the service age for this group should be uniformly set at 55 years old to ensure consistency with the provisions of Clause 3, Article 169 of the Labor Code regarding the retirement age for workers engaged in arduous, hazardous, and dangerous occupations.

For positions requiring an extended service age, the regulations on extending the service age will be applied when the unit has a need and the officer wishes to serve.

Regarding the roadmap for increasing the retirement age, delegates suggested that a general regulation should be established in accordance with the corresponding roadmap of the Labor Code to ensure consistency and alignment with the objectives and requirements set out when amending and supplementing this law.

"If the law stipulates that these cases should have their age limit increased by two years immediately, it will not ensure consistency," Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thuy stated.

Also related to this issue, Representative Quàng Thị Nguyệt (from Điện Biên province) - Member of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council - requested that the reviewing agency coordinate with the drafting agency to further explain why, for men, the age increase is 3 months per year starting from January 1, 2021, according to the Labor Law's age increase roadmap, while other male categories receive the increase immediately upon the law's effective date of September 1, 2023. Similarly, it is necessary to clarify whether this regulation for women ensures fairness and equality.

Representative Quàng Thị Nguyệt.

"In my opinion, it would be sufficient to only stipulate a roadmap for increasing the maximum service age by 3 months per year for men and 4 months per year for women, and to set the start date for the age increase as of January 1, 2021, as stipulated in the Labor Code. The specific target groups and the detailed age increase roadmap should be determined by the Government," said the representative from Dien Bien province.

Ngoc Thanh (VOV.VN)

Beneficial
Emotion
Creative
Unique

Source: https://vtc.vn/bi-thu-thai-nguyen-sua-luat-cand-co-the-se-co-nu-thu-truong-bo-cong-an-ar797042.html