US embassy cable - 05HANOI2375

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002375 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; EB 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR ELENA BRYAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, ECON, PGOV, VM, HUMANR 
SUBJECT:  Vietnam's Minister of Justice Reviews Legal Reform 
Plans 
 
Sensitive: Do not post on Internet 
 
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