Ho Chi Minh City cares for ethnic policies and the lives of ethnic minorities

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has reported on the results of ethnic work in 2023 and the direction and tasks of ethnic work in 2024. Accordingly, ethnic work in 2023 was strictly implemented, always closely following the direction of the Ethnic Committee and the City Party Committee. The results of ethnic work and ethnic policies have had many positive changes, contributing to maintaining stability, security and order among ethnic minorities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City has 53 ethnic minorities living, including 103,092 households with 453,317 people, accounting for more than 5% of the city's population (data as of 2022).

The ethnic groups with a population of over 1,000 people in the city are Hoa, Khmer, Cham, Tay, Muong, Nung, Thai, Ede and Gia Rai. Of these, 3 ethnic groups account for the majority: Hoa with 377,162 people, Khmer with 42,415 people and Cham with 9,796 people. Ethnic minorities live scattered throughout the city's districts.

Recognizing the important role of ethnic minorities in building, consolidating and promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc, over the years, Ho Chi Minh City has always paid attention to implementing ethnic policies well, improving the quality of life of ethnic minorities both materially and spiritually. Thereby creating social consensus, maintaining political and social stability of the City.

[caption id="attachment_602491" align="alignnone" width="640"] Ho Chi Minh City is home to 53 ethnic minorities. Illustrative photo: VNA[/caption]

Results of ethnic work implementation in 2023

According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, in 2023, the City's Ethnic Committee organized visits and presented 1,471 gifts , worth   1.48 billion VND . Organizing meetings with outstanding ethnic minorities in the fields of economy, culture, and society ; organizing delegations to visit and present gifts to veteran revolutionaries, heroic Vietnamese mothers, intellectuals, retired leaders of the Chinese Affairs Committee and leaders of the City's Ethnic Affairs Committee ; families of the Hoa Van Committee bases in the provinces of Ben Tre, Long An, Tay Ninh, Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City ; visiting and wishing a Happy New Year to religious establishments in ethnic minorities ; and a delegation of City leaders to visit and wish a Happy New Year to ethnic minorities in the City and other provinces.

The City Ethnic Committee deploys the Plan to implement the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program among ethnic minorities in the City in 2023 ; Plan to implement state management of youth in ethnic minorities in the City in 2023; implement the "National Action Program on the Elderly in the City for the period 2022 - 2030" ; "National Strategy and Program on Gender Equality and Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in the City for the period up to 2030".

Policies , regimes and policies for ethnic minorities are always given attention and implemented; actively support and implement educational support policies for preschool children, students, graduate students and researchers who are ethnic minorities in Ho Chi Minh City according to regulations.

In general, ethnic work in 2023 was strictly implemented, always closely following the direction of the Ethnic Committee and the City Party Committee. The results of ethnic work and ethnic policies have had many positive changes, contributing to maintaining stability, security and order among ethnic minorities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ethnic minorities in the city have well implemented the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, actively participated in movement activities launched by the locality, and at the same time raised awareness and vigilance against the plots of hostile forces taking advantage of ethnic issues to sabotage the policy of great national unity, maintain political security and social order and safety.

[caption id="attachment_602493" align="alignnone" width="620"] Ho Chi Minh City leaders congratulate outstanding ethnic minority delegates on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2023. Photo: Dinh Hang/VNA[/caption]

Orientation and tasks of ethnic work in 2024

Completing the 2023 tasks, setting out the direction for the 2024 ethnic work tasks, Ho Chi Minh City continues to effectively implement the Party's directives, resolutions, conclusions, policies, laws of the State, guiding documents of the Government, the Ethnic Committee, and the City Party Committee related to ethnic work; strengthen propaganda, dissemination, and education of state laws on ethnic groups and ethnic policies to raise awareness among ethnic people, consolidate and promote the strength of great national unity.

Effectively implement the goals , tasks and key indicators of the socio-economic development plan associated with the 2024 theme of the Government and the City People's Committee in accordance with the functions and tasks of the state management agency in the ethnic sector.

Focus on developing projects and policies to implement the action program to implement the Ethnic Work Strategy in the City for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Continue to build and effectively implement policies to care for ethnic minorities ; implement the Project "Preserving and promoting traditional costumes of Vietnamese ethnic minorities in the current period" in the City until 2025.

Organize the 3rd District-level Ethnic Minority Congress, the 1st Thu Duc City Congress and the 4th City-level Congress in 2024.

Organize voting and recognition of prestigious people among ethnic minorities ; pay attention to policies, advocacy work , promote the role of prestigious people among ethnic minorities to participate in building the great national unity bloc, political stability, and development of the City.

Strengthen the work of monitoring and grasping the situation of public opinion, thoughts and aspirations of ethnic minorities ; promptly provide information and reports on ethnic affairs and ethnic policies; promptly resolve issues of concern to ethnic minorities within the authority. Grasp the developments of the situation, promptly detect, prevent and proactively fight to defeat all plots of hostile forces to take advantage of ethnic and religious issues to sabotage the Party, the State and divide the great national unity bloc.

Continue to effectively carry out administrative reform, build a data information system on ethnic affairs, enhance the application of information technology in public service activities, strictly implement the information and reporting regime, and provide timely and accurate information to effectively serve the direction and administration work.

Directing the implementation of the Project "Enhancing the application of information technology to support ethnic minorities in socio-economic development and ensuring security and order in ethnic minority areas in Vietnam in the period of 2019 - 2025" associated with the construction of e-government and digital transformation.

Conduct investigation and collect information on the socio-economic situation of 53 ethnic minorities in the City.

Strengthening discipline, order, improving public service responsibility, quality of cadres , civil servants and public employees; building a system of state management agencies in the ethnic sector of the City to ensure effectiveness and efficiency .

Continue to organize training and foster knowledge, professional skills , ethnic languages ​​and scripts for cadres, civil servants, public employees, people working in ethnic affairs and ethnic Chinese, Cham and Khmer people in the City.

Strengthen inspection and examination of the implementation of ethnic work and ethnic policies ; promptly handle and advise on the resolution of issues arising in ethnic work in the city; perform well the work of legal consultancy; promptly respond to voters' recommendations, resolve complaints, petitions and denunciations of ethnic people.

Continue to direct and effectively implement coordination, review and evaluate the results of the implementation of the coordination program between departments, branches and localities in ethnic work and implementation of ethnic policies in the City .

Hai Anh