HANOI'S NEW CIVIL SOCIETY LAW IN LIMBO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002617

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ECON VM
SUBJECT: HANOI'S NEW CIVIL SOCIETY LAW IN LIMBO

REF: HANOI 835

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Classified By: Ambassador Michael W. Marine for reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: The GVN in late September pulled the 11th
version of the draft Law on Associations (LOA) from the
National Assembly's (NA) upcoming agenda. The Politburo,
which has ultimate say over legislation put forward to the
NA, probably is foot-dragging because it fears the law,s
potential to open up society, particularly to
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) it perceives as
involved in the color revolutions in Eastern Europe. This
tracks with several U.S.-based NGOs' recent experience: The
International Republican Institute, National Endowment for
Democracy, and Catholic Relief Services report that the GVN
sees them as involved in those revolutions and has been slow
to allow NGOs to establish programs in Vietnam. Next steps
for the LOA are uncertain. End Summary.


2. (C) Hoang Ngoc Giao, a Fulbright scholar and law lecturer
at Hanoi National University who is associated with draft
legislation on the LOA, told Poloff on October 4 that the GVN
asked the National Assembly's (NA) Standing Committee in late
September not to consider the 11th version of the draft LOA
during its sessions before and after APEC. (Note: This
would have been the draft's "second reading" by the NA, which
would have brought the bill to a vote. End Note.) The GVN
says it wants more time to refine the law. However,
Christoph Wiesner and David Milliot of the European Union
Mission told Poloff some Politburo members worry about the
law,s political implications. These Politburo members do
not want associations to register easily because it would
spur an increase in groups with legal status that do not fall
under the Party's purview, they added.


3. (C) Giao said some GVN leaders want to delete language
that would make mass political organizations under the
Vietnam Fatherland Front umbrella subject to the LOA. (Note:
The 11th draft LOA requires associations be transparent in
how they spend money. If subject to this version of the LOA,
the Party's mass political organizations would have to be
transparent as well. End Note.) Representatives of the
International Republican Institute, National Endowment for
Democracy, and Catholic Relief Services report that the GVN
remains suspicious of non-governmental organization (NGO)
involvement in the color revolutions in Eastern Europe and
fears that NGOs would stir up trouble in Vietnam if allowed
to operate more freely.


4. (C) Giao said the 11th version of the LOA is not perfect,
but is "acceptable given Vietnam's political situation." It
is better than previous drafts because it specifies powers
for central ministries and their local affiliates, as well as
provincial people,s committees, in dealing with
associations. This latest version also reduces the time
limit ministries have to recognize an association's charter
and grant permits for operation. In addition, it prohibits
central and local authorities from hindering an association's
establishment, although it no longer has provisions allowing
an association to contest, in court, a denial of legal
status.


5. (C) Our contacts say it is not clear whether the GVN will
make major changes to this latest version of the LOA and
whether the NGO and donor communities will be consulted, as
they were on earlier versions (reftel). Our EU contacts (who
have also been following this law's odyssey) point out that
civil society is a new concept for Vietnam, and Party leaders
are "feeling their way as they go." Even if the NA passed a
LOA, the Prime Minister's office and line ministries could
undermine the new law's liberal clauses by passing a narrower
implementing decree or other "re-defining" decrees, as they
have done with other controversial legislation.

Comment
--------------


6. (C) Given that the Party wrote the first version of the
LOA in 1992 and that the new NA Chairman, who also sits on
the Politburo, is regarded as a hardliner, we are not
surprised that the GVN pulled the 11th version of the LOA
from the NA's upcoming agenda. Nonetheless, the debate that
took place among NA deputies about the law last summer was
significant in that some NA members refused to accept the
GVN,s original draft. The principal area of disagreement at
that time was the GVN's desire for line ministries to
directly "manage" new associations, rather than have a purely
regulatory function. It is likely that the NA's draft was
unacceptable to some Politburo members because it established

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a clear separation of power between ministries and
associations and, if passed, would have made these
associations harder for the Party to control.
MARINE