The draft Land Law (amended) is one of the bills that the National Council for Ethnic Affairs participated in examining and giving opinions at the council's 7th Plenary Session, which was chaired by member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the National Council for Ethnic Affairs - Mr. Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam.

The latest draft of the Land Law (amended) has had many changes, paying more attention to the land policy for ethnic minorities. Emphasizing this point, Vice Chairman of the National Council for Ethnic Affairs Quang Van Huong said that if in previous drafts, the land policy for ethnic minorities was stipulated in two articles, then after the process of reviewing, the draft law currently consists of 13 specific and clear articles on this issue.

However, according to Mr. Quang Van Huong, there are still some contents related to the land policy for ethnic minorities that need to be considered. For example, with community land, according to the provisions of the current law, there are no problems, but according to the draft Law, this content is separated into residential land and community land.

Explaining this issue at the meeting, the representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment - the agency in charge of drafting the Land Law - said that regarding the rights and obligations of the land-using community, the National Council for Ethnic Affairs has suggestions in the direction of expanding and allowing the community to contribute capital and do business with the land fund they have.

In the draft Land Law, there are many provisions for ethnic minorities, but they focus mainly on poor and near-poor households who lack land for production. The Vice Chairman of the National Council for Ethnic Affairs Nguyen Lam Thanh questioned: Is the structure of so many regulations effective? Why not put these regulations in the documents under the Law?

Regarding the subjects, it should generally regulated for ethnic minorities, not for the poor and near-poor households only. What is important is the legality of land in ethnic minority areas. What people need most is a basis to certify land use rights for households and individuals related to the land they are using.

The representative of the agency in charge of the verification said that the draft Land Law must be "rezoned" to have the right approach.

“Regarding the issue of land use rights certificates for ethnic minorities, the law is currently very clear, the problem is to promote the implementation. Some regulations now also have exemptions and reductions in fees and charges for people when getting the land use rights certificates," said the representative of the drafting agency.

Khanh Vy