VIETNAM'S POPULATION POLICY IN 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002004 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF, PRM/ANE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SOCI PREL KIRF PHUM PGOV HUMANR VM KPOP SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S POPULATION POLICY IN 2006 REF: A) 04 HANOI 64; B) 05 HANOI 1818; C) 03 HANOI 2047 HANOI 00002004 001.2 OF 003 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) While Vietnam officially no longer restricts the number of children couples may have, GVN propaganda campaigns still strongly encourage individuals to practice family planning (FP) and keep family size to at most two children. Fines or administrative sanctions for larger families are rare and seem to apply mostly to Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) officials. There is no evidence of more coercive measures to enforce this informal policy. While the GVN remains focused on limiting population growth, it does not completely fund FP programs in remote and isolated areas where they are needed the most. Although the recent midterm review of Vietnam's Population Strategy highlights the GVN's desired decline in the country's fertility rate, flawed statistics raise doubts about Vietnam's real progress in this area. This may mean that Hanoi will be forced to lower its long-term goals. Vietnam has both a high abortion rate and gender imbalance problems. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Pol intern investigated the current state of Vietnam's population policy and discussed the country's latest developments FP practices with various Vietnamese and international officials. Three main conclusions emerged in these discussions: 1) Vietnam has abandoned its two-child policy while still promoting smaller families; 2) the GVN's overall Population Strategy has not been as effective as originally hoped; and, 3) the problems of sex-selective abortions and the resulting gender imbalance appear static. "Encouraging" Two-child Families -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Although Vietnam officially no longer regulates the number of children individuals may have, in practice the GVN still vigorously promotes small families and a lower birthrate. While the 2003 Ordinance on Population (Population Ordinance) allows couples to "decide the timing, number and spacing of births," it also stipulates that citizens "must practice FP for the development of a small-sized family" and "respect the interests of the State in regulating population size." The Ordinance's Implementing Decree further specifies that couples are obligated to have "few children," which it specifically defines as "one child or two children." Although numerous GVN officials have claimed that no administrative sanctions or financial penalties are imposed for having larger families (reftels),the GVN and CPV continue to "educate" families to practice FP (Ref A) and admonish Party members and State officials for having three or more children (Ref B). ¶4. (SBU) A mid-level official at the GVN's Committee on Population, Family and Children's (CPFC) Population Department, stressed that Vietnam no longer interferes with couples' FP choices. He justified the contradiction between the Population Ordinance's permissive article about individual choice and the Implementing Decree's strict obligation to have "few children" by claiming that the principle of individual choice formalized in the Ordinance is "too general" and people with different education levels have different understandings of what a small-sized family means. However, the Decree only serves as a guideline and "families with more than two children are never punished." Nevertheless, the GVN continues to promote the concept of smaller families through extensive awareness campaigns, with slogans that are "advisory encouragements" and act as "motivation for the people." ¶5. (SBU) The CPFC official later admitted that local authorities in rural areas may have fined couples with more than two children in the past, but these practices have become "extremely rare." Regarding those who work for the GVN, CPV or State-owned enterprises, there are no clearly defined policies, and practices differ among State agencies. For example, Resolution 47 issued by the Politburo in 2005 calls for "each couple to have two children on average" and recommends sanctions for violators (Ref B, Paragraph 6). While this measure does not apply to private individuals, but only to high-level Party members, "the policy was very controversial and is fading," he revealed. Instead, discriminatory measures mostly originate in the private sector, where employers often condition employment on strict FP practice to minimize business costs. (Note: Under Vietnamese law, women are entitled to four-month paid maternity leave, and employers are also required to grant paid "sick leave" to parents whenever they need to care for their children. End Note.) The CPFC is unable to prevent this phenomenon because "we cannot interfere with private contracts and consensual agreements," he asserted. No Evidence of Forced Abortions -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Asked about any continuing instances of forced abortion, contraception or sterilization -- during the 1990s and until 2002, HANOI 00002004 002.2 OF 003 several media outlets and international NGOs reported that local authorities in rural areas compelled women to strictly abide by the two-child policy -- all of our Vietnamese interlocutors dismissed the allegation and claimed that such practices have never existed. A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative stated that there are no indications Vietnam maintains a formal or informal two-child policy, and said that he has never heard of enforcement of such a policy by Vietnamese authorities. Since the Population Ordinance brought the country in line with the Program of Action of the United Nations' 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (which prohibits abortion as a method of contraception),the GVN has "faithfully abided by its international obligations," he said. Low GVN Funding Hinders Implementation of Population Strategy -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) In 2000, the CPFC introduced a Population Strategy for 2001-2010, which promotes voluntary FP but also emphasizes the benefits of small family size. The strategy outlines specific objectives to be achieved by 2010: reaching replacement-level fertility rate (i.e. 2.1 percent) nationwide; lowering the natural growth rate to 1.1 percent; capping population at 88 million; and, reducing the abortion rate by 50 percent. Unlike the previous Population Strategy (1993-2000),the current plan focuses on reaching these goals in remote and isolated regions and specifies two implementing periods. During the first stage (2001-2005), efforts were aimed at attaining replacement-level fertility rate at the national level through awareness campaigns designed to change reproductive behaviors. During the second stage (2006-2010),the focus is to achieve the targets in remote and poor regions with higher birthrates by enhancing reproductive health (RH) and FP services. ¶8. (SBU) A Senior Expert at the Vietnam Women's Union's (VWU) Department of Family and Social Affairs acknowledged that "achieving the Population Strategy objectives will be challenging and will take time." Particularly in mountainous regions, people prefer large families and women lack the education to resist peer pressure. She pointed out that "the low quality of counseling and medical services remains the main source of ongoing problems in remote areas." The VWU currently works on raising awareness and disseminating information about women's rights, but without adequate facilities and trained personnel. She further hinted that implementing the second phase of the Population Strategy will require "great efforts." A high-level representative of the Vietnam Family Planning Association (VINAFPA) confirmed these sentiments and revealed that "the Government is not doing a great job in remote and isolated regions." Blaming the insufficient State budget, she complained that "low funding and investment aggravate the problem" and the GVN effectively outsourced FP and RH services to the VINAFPA and its programs. She also mentioned that "people in rural areas do not use standard contraception methods and resort to abortion instead," even though it is a dangerous procedure in remote areas. ¶9. (SBU) The CPFC official downplayed criticisms and argued that while RH and FP services in remote regions are "not as good as" other parts of the country, the problem remains mostly limited to "the problem of access." He maintained that "existing facilities are not fully utilized;" therefore, the CPFC plans to invest in more mobile RH and FP facilities and services. Refusing to discuss funding issues, he raised doubts about the reliability of abortion rate figures and stated that 93 percent of all reported abortions performed in Vietnam are actually "menstrual regulation." This procedure allows women to end a pregnancy during the first trimester by artificially triggering withdrawal bleeding. Some 20 percent of women undergoing this procedure are actually not pregnant and just "want to be on the safe side," he said. Therefore, the CPFC only considers mid- or late-term abortion cases to be "real abortions" and has allocated funding to try to reduce the number of these cases, which account for seven percent of the reported abortions. Midterm Review: Is Vietnam Really on the Right Track? -------------- -------------- ¶10. (U) At a conference for the midterm review of the Population Strategy on April 5, the CPFC announced that Vietnam lowered its fertility rate to 2.11 percent and its natural growth rate to 1.33 percent, short of the expected 1.16 percent. Vietnam's population reached 83.1 million, exceeding the first stage's target of the Population Strategy by 700,000. While there was no mention of progress on abortion reduction, and despite the GVN's apparent setback on limiting population growth, then-Prime Minister Phan Van Khai commended the decline of the fertility rate and reaffirmed the necessity of achieving all objectives set forth in the Population Strategy by 2010. ¶11. (SBU) The UNFPA representative praised the accomplishments of Vietnam's population policy and suggested that UNFPA programs played HANOI 00002004 003.2 OF 003 a large part in achieving some of the first stage's objectives. Regarding the second phase of the plan, he optimistically declared that "Vietnam will be on target" and noted that some of the CPFC-UNFPA joint projects in the Central Highlands provinces will now focus on increasing the availability of contraception other than sterilization and intrauterine devices. A second UNFPA official added that "Vietnamese already prefer a two-child family and do not want to have more." The real challenge during the second stage of the Population Strategy will be to offer broader contraception choices. "Most people already recognize the value and economic benefits of practicing FP," she claimed, and the UNFPA will concentrate on family health by increasing its educational campaigns and access to RH services. ¶12. (SBU) The CPFC official was more cautious in his assessment of the midterm success of the Population Strategy and cited possible flaws in the data provided by the GVN's General Statistics Office (GSO),which he attributed to the limited sample size when the GSO designed its surveys. (Note: In 2004, the UNFPA representative also raised doubts about the accuracy of GSO figures announcing a population surge. To corroborate the data, UNFPA conducted its own study, which contradicted GSO survey results - Ref B, paragraphs 10 and 11. End Note.) He expressed disappointment that Vietnam was not able to reach its birthrate reduction goals. "We are successful in terms of fertility reduction," he said, "but we wish that the birthrate slowed further and faster." Sex-selection and Gender Ratio Problems -------------- ¶13. (SBU) The CPFC has acknowledged in the past a slight gender imbalance, but maintained that the problem was not as pervasive as in China or South Korea (Ref B, Paragraph 9). Validating these claims to Pol intern, the CPFC official stated that "there are few signs indicating an imbalance" and, unlike other Confucian-culture countries, he claimed that no cases of abandoned girls have been reported in the country. CPFC figures have not changed during the past year, and Vietnam's male-to-female ratio still remains at 107 to 100, which he did not deem as a serious concern for the moment. He nonetheless admitted that "this may be an emerging issue," and the CPFC advised the Ministry of Health to ban prenatal ultrasound services for sex selection. "We will review the statistics next year and see if there is a reverse trend," he assured. Recognizing that the Vietnamese public and local officials are ill-informed about this issue, he said that a joint CPFC-UNFPA conference on sex-selection this November will help the GVN develop better policies. Comment -------------- ¶14. (SBU) While State and Party propaganda continues to encourage Vietnamese couples to have less than two children, Vietnam's population policy comes nowhere near approaching policies adopted in China in their impact on personal choice. While there may still be a few instances of administrative or financial penalties imposed on couples with more than two children in certain rural localities, the main evidence of an "official two-child policy" is now limited to signs located throughout the country, stating "Girl or Boy, Two is Enough." The latest policy to relax encouragement of a two-child standard is likely due to the positive results announced at the midterm review of the Population Strategy. ¶15. (SBU) Comment, cont'd: Nevertheless, the questionable accuracy of GVN statistics casts serious doubts on the actual success to date of the GVN's population policy. The GVN is not much concerned about gender disparity problems, so it is likely that Vietnam's population policy will continue to focus on limiting population growth for the time being. It appears doubtful that the objectives of the Population Strategy will be fulfilled by 2010, and some media have already reported that the GVN is revising its initial goals. End Comment. MARINE