VietNamNet Bridge - "Vietnam’s sovereignty over the sea and the islands, especially the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos must be powerfully shown in the Constitution," said Mr. Tran Ngoc Dinh, from the Hanoi Law University -- at a recent workshop on the draft amendments to the Constitution 1992 in Hanoi on March 1.

 

 

At the meeting, the most discussed content is the provisions on human rights and citizenship. The participants said that the draft Constitution moving the human rights and citizenship from chapter 5 to chapter 2 is a step forward.

A number of additional rights in the draft amendments are new and humane but they are unfeasible. For example, the provision on people’s right to live in a healthy environment.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Cuong, Deputy Director of the Institute of Legal Sciences, Ministry of Justice, this rule is difficult to implement "in the context of economic development, with the process of industrialization and mining activities... ".

The Hanoi Law University’s Tran Ngoc Dinh said that the inclusion of the rights that are unable to implement affects the dignity of the Constitution.

Related to article 26 on freedom of speech, press and demonstration, Dinh said that the use of the phrase "prescribed by law" may lead to ambiguous interpretations and facilitate law enacting agencies to explain law subjectively. So, the principles of respect for human rights and freedom "are only given to the National Assembly to issue."

Commenting on article 21, which says "everyone has the right to live," Dr. Do Thi Van Anh, from the Trade Union University, said that the concept of "people" and "citizens" should be considered. Because if we see the right to live is the right of everyone, "we will have to abandon the death penalty because there is no right to execution of death row".

Dr. Nguyen Van Cuong emphasized the backwardness of the local government organization model in three levels: provincial, district and commune; each level has People's Council and People's Committee. According to him, this is the model that has existed from the centrally planned economy.

When Vietnam switched to the market mechanism, the government’s role has changed from the dominant role in the “game” into one of the "players" in the game. To play well, that player must be quick response and dynamic," he said.

In particular, in the dynamic cities, this model is more inappropriate. Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang have longed for having a mechanism to establish  more dynamic urban authorities, which is different with the countryside.

Dr. Cuong said: "In the current model, the People’s Committee operates in the collective mechanism, so it is extremely difficult for dividing individual and group responsibilities."

Mr. Cuong proposed that the Constitution should only prescribe that centrally-governed cities must have the People’s Council. The district and commune levels should only have administrative agencies. He also proposed to remove the term “People's Committee” to replace by the term “state administrative agencies in the locality.”

At the conference, many people said that the draft Constitution removes Article 66 on the role of the young generation, the youth organizations in society; in the development of the country is a step backwards.

Meanwhile, the forces from 0-30 years account for more than 50% of the population. Other countries in the world see the young generation as the owner in the future and the current owner of the country. So Article 66 should not be removed.

My Hoa