Vietnam's Minister of Justice Reviews Legal Reform

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SUBJECT: Vietnam's Minister of Justice Reviews Legal Reform
Plans

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1. (SBU) Summary: On September 6, Minister of Justice Uong
Chu Luu briefed the donor community on Politburo Resolution
No. 48-NQ/TW, which outlines the GVN's legal system
development strategy. The Minister's overview of the broad
themes and goals of the Government's legal reform strategy
contained few specific steps the GVN plans to take to
implement them. He did, however, discuss a number of
changes under consideration regarding the judiciary and
penal systems. Donor countries unanimously expressed
concern over lack of specifics for the legal reform plan,
and asked the GVN to provide a written plan as soon as
possible. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On September 6, Minister of Justice Uong Chu Luu
briefed the donor community on Politburo Resolution No. 48-
NQ/TW, which outlines the GVN's legal system development
strategy. The Ambassador, representatives from other donor
countries and non-governmental organizations attended the
session, which took place at the monthly UNDP Group Forum.
The Minister said that the GVN's objective is to build a
comprehensive and transparent legal system that guarantees
the democratic and human rights of its citizens, and
encourages the development of a socialist-oriented market
economy. He highlighted the need to improve laws regarding
the responsibility of the State to protect its citizens,
including laws on compensation and liability, and citizens'
ability to exercise cultural, health, and human rights.
Reforms will be carried out in three broad areas: judiciary
and administrative law (for which steering committees have
been established) and legislative law.


3. (SBU) The Resolution identifies a number of strategies
for legal reform. Among them are: 1) identifying priority
areas for reform; 2) improving the working capacity and
raising the status of the National Assembly, along with
criteria for members; 3) increasing the role of professional
research institutions in legal drafting; 4) modernizing
methods and technical facilities for legal activities; 5)
improving the Official Gazette; 6) utilizing professional
associations to improve legal resources; and 7) improving
the legal education and legal information dissemination
systems. Pointing out that both lawyers and judges need to
be well trained for an adversary system to succeed, Minister
Luu noted that Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has directed
that 10,000 lawyers a year be trained between now and 2010.


4. (SBU) A significant amount of work will need to be done
to address the lack of specificity in Vietnamese law,
Minister Luu observed, especially since all laws will need
to be checked for constitutionality and compliance with WTO
obligations.


5. (SBU) The Minister said that a decision has been made to
move more cases to the lower court in Vietnam's two-tier
court system. The goal is for the higher court to judge
"cases of the highest consequence" only. Acknowledging that
the courts' responsibility for oversight and prosecution
could be problematic, the Minister pointed out that the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is working on a code to address
this issue. However, he offered no further specifics. The
Minister said that the GVN intends to transfer
responsibility for management and oversight of detention
camps and prisons from the Ministry of Public Security to
the MOJ.


6. (SBU) Several donors asked the Minister for a written
version of the strategies the GVN intends to use to
implement legal reform. The Minister replied that the
deliberations of the Party are considered secret, but that
their spirit is captured in the final resolution. He added
that details of specific programs and plans would be shared
with donors "when they are made available." The Ambassador
observed that all donors would need to seek support from
their capitals for new approaches to assist Vietnam to carry
out its legal and judicial reforms. Without documentation
from Vietnam, donors will not be able to move forward with
funding requests. The Ambassador suggested that if the
Party documents cannot be shared with donors, the Government
should produce a version that can be distributed as soon as
possible. Jordan Ryan, the UN Resident Co-coordinator,
volunteered UNDP assistance in producing a paper for
dissemination.


7. (SBU) Ambassador Peter Hansen of Denmark said that the
Five Year Social and Economic Development Plan (septel)
would be a stronger document if some of the legal reform
issues had been included. He encouraged the MOJ to take a
more active role in the plan, adding that it is not too late
to make key changes.

MARINE