The assessment of the National Assembly 's Ethnic Council shows that, although it is very necessary to promulgate, the draft Law on ethnic minorities is very difficult to determine the scope, subjects of regulation, and objectives of the draft Law; at the same time, there are many new issues in the content.
At the scientific workshop "Orientation of the name and content of the draft Law on ethnic groups" organized by the Ethnic Council taking place in Ho Chi Minh City, contributing opinions to the draft Law, independent expert Nguyen Duc Lam said that many legal documents in the Vietnamese legal system such as: Civil Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Law on Marriage and Family, Law on Cultural Heritage... have some contents specifying the provisions in Article 5 of the 2013 Constitution; demonstrating the equal rights of ethnic groups, the principles of solidarity, mutual respect, and preservation of the cultural identity of ethnic groups. The 2013 Constitution also emphasized the responsibility of the State to promulgate and implement appropriate policies for ethnic minorities.
“In the process of development, ethnic minorities face challenges and difficulties that are difficult to overcome and improve if only general policies are applied. To support ethnic minorities in exercising their rights to equality, improving their material and spiritual lives, and gradually narrowing the development gap between ethnic groups, the State needs to give priority to implementing socio-economic development policies for ethnic minority areas,” Mr. Lam emphasized.
However, according to this expert, there is currently no law regulating general issues on ethnic affairs, ethnic policies, and policies for ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Decree 05/2011/ND-CP of the Government is still the highest legal document on ethnic affairs;...
Affirming the importance of building and promulgating the Law on ethnic affairs, independent expert Nguyen Duc Lam said that, in terms of content, the draft law needs to specify the provisions in Article 5 of the 2013 Constitution on ensuring the unity of ethnic groups; ensuring equality, solidarity, respect and mutual assistance for development; strictly prohibiting acts of ethnic discrimination and division.
“The content of the draft law also needs to clearly define the State’s responsibility to implement comprehensive development policies and create conditions for ethnic minorities to promote their internal strength and develop together with the country. The system of policies and laws related to ethnic minorities must be comprehensive, aiming at sustainable development and promoting the advantages, potentials of the region and the spirit of self-reliance of the people,” Mr. Lam suggested.
Sharing the view that it is necessary to fully institutionalize the Party's guidelines and policies, and concretize the provisions of the Constitution on ethnic groups and ethnic policies, Dr. Tran Thi Yen, Head of the Ethnic Education Research Department, Institute of Educational Sciences (Ministry of Education and Training) affirmed that currently, the Law on Education has many points related to ethnic minorities that have not been implemented in the spirit of the 2013 Constitution but are only specific. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust these issues in the Law on Ethnic Groups to create unity and conditions for sustainable development of education in ethnic minority areas, and strengthen the trust of ethnic minorities in the Party's guidelines, the Constitution, the Law and the State's policies.
To fully institutionalize the Party's guidelines and policies on ethnic education, Dr. Yen said that in the draft Law on Ethnic Minorities, it is also necessary to stipulate the content of policies to support ethnic minority children, pupils and students and related policies; regulations on the school and class system in ethnic minority areas; regulations on the languages and writings of ethnic minorities;...
Contributing content in the field of Health, Dr. Nguyen Khanh Phuong, Director of the Institute of Health Strategy (Ministry of Health) acknowledged that in recent years, the State has had a policy of prioritizing health care for ethnic minorities, people in mountainous areas, islands and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions; many laws also have regulations related to health care for ethnic minorities.
“However, the effectiveness of implementing health care policies for ethnic minorities has not met expectations. The gap in health care between regions and ethnic groups is still high; medical facilities in ethnic minority and mountainous areas are still lacking, not uniform, medical equipment is poor, there is a lack of medicine, equipment, and medical supplies;...”, Dr. Phuong said.
Affirming the need to promulgate a Law on Ethnic Minorities, Dr. Nguyen Khanh Phuong said that the content of the draft Law needs to clearly demonstrate the right to health care of ethnic minorities, narrowing the gap between regions and population groups (specifically ethnic minorities).
“In addition, the Law needs to clearly demonstrate the roles and responsibilities of the State, local authorities, sectors, organizations and people in health care for ethnic minorities; For a long time, we have only implemented specific mechanisms for health care policies for ethnic minorities in disadvantaged areas, which is different from the 2013 Constitution on ethnic minorities enjoying health care services. Therefore, the Law on Ethnic Minorities can be adjusted to clarify the content and provisions to institutionalize policies for subjects entitled to health care policies,” Dr. Phuong recommended.
Attending and contributing his opinion at this scientific conference, Mr. Ksor Phuoc, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Council of Ethnic Minorities, said that, in reality, although we have the 2013 Constitution, Uncle Ho issued a Decree on ethnic affairs and ethnic policies; along with a system of specific documents and policies on ethnic minorities that have been issued covering most areas of socio-economic life in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. However, our perception and approach are not clear, for example, in defining and demarcating ethnic minority components. Even the concept of indigenous people can be understood as they have been here for a long time, before the state existed, or just recently the state existed...
Therefore, the construction of the Law must be based on the historical characteristics of ethnic minorities, in which, first of all, it is necessary to determine the common characteristics of the Vietnamese ethnic community. For example, having a common language, the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities is also the cultural heritage of the Vietnamese nation; the same Fatherland, the same responsibilities and obligations towards the Nation.
We must review all laws and contents related to ethnic minorities, the construction of the Ethnic Law, must achieve the goal of equality in all fields and aspects of life, must promote internal strength for development, not just help. Determine the Law as the highest legal basis for ethnic minorities to fully exercise their rights and obligations.
Based on the basic principles of ensuring: the living conditions of ethnic minorities must be better than the old place; Creating conditions for ethnic minorities to access and integrate with large goods, international integration, so that they are not left out of the common development of the country; must encourage to protect, preserve and promote the cultural identity of ethnic groups, considering it the quintessence of Vietnamese culture; Taking care of developing education and training, improving people's knowledge, training human resources, not taking care will easily fall behind, only the path of science and technology is the path to progress, shortening development, reaching out to integrate with the world. At the same time, paying special attention to political equality...
According to Mr. Son Phuoc Hoan, former Deputy Minister and Vice Chairman of the Ethnic Committee, it is necessary to inherit the issues that have been studied to avoid overlapping and to be consistent in the draft Law. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the levels of agencies managing ethnic affairs. Ethnic policies should take ethnic minorities as the center, to implement policies equally in all areas.
In particular, to avoid policy conflicts, the Law on Ethnic Minorities needs to be clarified to avoid confusion during implementation. In coordination work, it is necessary to clearly state which agency is in charge to clarify the role of "conductor" when resolving incidents that occur in reality in each locality.
Regarding the name of the draft Law on Ethnic Minorities, many delegates agreed to name it the Ethnic Minorities Law. Delegate Danh Ut, former Vice Chairman of the Ethnic Minorities Council, expressed his opinion that in order to focus on the requirements, the name should be shortened to “Ethnic Minorities Law”.
Sharing the same view with Mr. Danh Ut, Venerable Danh Lung, Deputy Head of the Central Propagation Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Buddhist Research Institute, Director of the Khmer Southern Buddhist Research Institute, Deputy Head of the Central Buddhist Education Board, abbot of Candaransi Pagoda, stated: In agreement with the name of the Ethnic Law, the subjects of application are ethnic minorities. The Venerable also believes that the construction of the contents, provisions, and issues expressed in the Law must be reflected for the subjects who are ethnic minorities.
In addition to the above opinions, the Workshop also heard many contributions from delegates to clarify existing problems and shortcomings in the current ethnic policy system that need to be adjusted and unified, thereby seeing why there must be a Law on ethnic affairs...
In his closing remarks at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Ethnic Council, thanked and highly appreciated the dedicated and responsible contributions on the issues of building the Law on Ethnicity. Based on this important information and contributions, the Ethnic Council will continue to review and supplement; at the same time, continue to hold more in-depth thematic workshops to gradually complete the draft Law dossier...
Source: https://baodantoc.vn/tham-gop-y-kien-the-che-hoa-day-du-chu-truong-cua-dang-ve-linh-vuc-cong-tac-dan-toc-1726803247012.htm
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