Luu Binh Nhuong, deputy chairman the National Assembly Ombudsman Committee.

What’s your assessment on the supervisory duties performed by the National Assembly Ombudsman Committee?

The National Assembly has paid special attention to supervisory work. The assigned tasks are not only to supervise the implementation of tasks laid down by the NA including law enforcement and others toward the goal of having a clean, strong and democratic judiciary system.

We want to build a clean, strong and democratic judiciary system while ensuring high efficiency and effectiveness of adjudication as the key in all judiciary activities.

However, there remain weaknesses in our supervisory work, particularly investigation activities or court jurisdiction implementation which has been reported in the media.

Can you talk more about the settlement of citizens’ complaints in terms of the poor performance of the judiciary sector?

This is an area that we should pool efforts to raise the performance of the judiciary sector. This is a reason for many people’s unhappiness with the performance of quite a few judiciary officers.

All staff in the judiciary sector should pay more attention to raising their professional capacity to a higher level to meet the people’s expectation and ensure efficiency and effectiveness of adjudication – the key element in judicial activity.

Can you talk a little bit more about Vietnam’s efforts to build a transparent and accountable judiciary sector?

We all know if Vietnamese agencies/offices want a bigger role in the activities of judiciary offices/agencies, they have to strictly follow the Party’s guidelines and the country’s laws and policies. The responsibilities of Vietnamese leaders are thoroughly described in legal documents, and they are subject to the people’s supervision.

The second point is that all Government workers, particularly senior officials, have a responsibility to accomplish all tasks assigned to them to at their best.

There is no safe haven for any Government staff from rank to file who has broken the country’s policies, particularly in the field of justice. The justice sector should be considered ‘the midwife’ for the economy and society as a whole. Officials will be subjected to severe punishment if they violate national laws or encroach upon the interests of the State and the people.

Resolution 49 of the Party Politburo has emphasised the importance of building an open and transparent justice system. Judiciary agencies should respect the rights of media agencies in performing their duties to inform the public of what is happening in the country.

What institutional measures should be enacted to enable the National Assembly and the people to perform their supervisory role better?

Our institutional system is rather complete. Yet, the implementation tools to bring the system into life are not yet been completed. For example, right now we haven’t got a Constitutional Court. Neither have we got a mechanism to assign tasks to National Assembly deputies to perform their supervisory duties. However, rights must go together with responsibility. For example, in a year, a deputy has to participate in how many supervisory missions and others?

It is high time for our National Assembly to create a new committee – the committee for people’s aspiration and supervision. This committee will act as a focal point to assist the National Assembly to implement its supreme supervisory role, including its right to supervise activities of all NA committees and the National Assembly Council of Ethnic Minorities Affairs.

We should also strengthen the Party leadership towards the supervisory tasks performed by the National Assembly.

Last but not least, we should give due sanctions to any senior Government officials who have violated the law, particularly violations in the areas of justice, human rights and the rights of children.

Cong Ly/VNS