To capture people’s opinions and assessment of the performance of State institutions in ensuring justice and fundamental rights for citizens, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Vietnam Lawyers' Association (VLA) and the Centre for Community Support Development Studies (CECODES) jointly launched the Justice Index 2012, titled “Assessment of Distributive Justice and Equality from Citizen Opinions”.
Mr Bakhodir Burkhanov, UNDP Country Deputy Director in Vietnam, said the index was built on the actual experiences of more than 5,045 people from a cross-section of society living in 21 provinces and cities across the country. The index can provide a useful reference for further reforms towards making the legal and judicial system more effective and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people.
The Justice Index 2012 looks into five dimensions of the administration of justice and rule of law as perceived and experienced by the people, in particular accessibility, equity, integrity, reliability and efficiency along with a guarantee of fundamental rights.
The Justice Index introduces a new approach to the assessment of legal and judicial reform processes for citizens.
According to surveys, the settlement of approximately half of all land disputes and environmental complaints were unresolved pending State action and it often took State agencies a longer time to handle administrative complaints than allowed by law.
The surveyed people revealed that existing land use regulations and opaque local land use plans have led to citizens’ distrust of land tenure security and resistance to long-term land investments. Up to 38 percent of land disputes are related to land use rights certificates, compensation and reallocation.
According to survey data, the most common labour problem is related to wages, accounting for nearly 59 percent of labour disputes. Nearly 40 percent of the problems occur among seasonal or short-term workers those employed for less than 3 months and those who have not signed a written labour contract.
However, environmental, social welfare, and labour disputes account for the highest proportions of ‘unsolved’ disputes, exceeding 20 percent. Better results are observed for business disputes, where up to 70 percent of disputes have been resolved. Child labour is also a common problem. Nearly 19 percent of the survey respondents said the use of children under 15 years old as labourers is widespread in their provinces.
The survey shows that there are wide differences in accessibility of legal information; availability of basic legal services; and affordability of legal services from surveyed localities. The “availability of basic legal services” index is the weakest and most volatile among three component indices. The “Responsiveness to administrative complaints” index is quite different from locality to locality. Ho Chi Minh City tops the list but Hanoi and Da Nang secure bottom positions.
Major cities continue to hold low positions in the “Anti-corruption in judicial activities” index. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are below average while Da Nang, Hai Duong and Thua Thien - Hue are average.
Among 21 provinces and cities surveyed, Da Nang tops the list in justice index while Khanh Hoa province is at the bottom.
The Justice Index report accurately captures people’s ability to access justice. It also offers practical policy recommendations to address shortcomings in ensuring justice for people from all sections of society.
Anh Mai
Vietnamese
