Vietnam’s 2012 Justice Index released

Viet Nam's first-ever justice index was released yesterday, casting light on citizens' feelings towards the country's judicial procedures.

The findings revealed that some people have lost faith in the system due to the inefficiency of State agencies to meet legal requirements, address civil disputes and respond to administrative complaints.

The Justice Index 2012 polled more than 5,000 people from a cross-section of society across 21 provinces and cities nationwide.

Tellingly, one fifth of all complaints on the handling of social entitlement policy and environmental pollution prevention by state agencies revolved around the lack of feedback that citizens received from these agencies.

Meanwhile, about half of all land disputes and environmental complaints from the period were unresolved pending state action and 60 per cent of respondents thought that "local government prioritises economic growth over environmental protection."

The survey found that it often took state agencies a longer time to handle administrative complaints than permitted by law, with some cases stretching to as long as 27 months.

Speaking at the launch of the index findings, Bakhodir Burkhanov, United Nations Development Programme Country Director in Viet Nam, said the findings captured citizens' true assessments of the performance of state institutions in the administration of justice and adherence to the rule of law.

"Wealthier, better-educated citizens demand higher quality and more efficient services," he said. "They want less bureaucracy and more accountability from authorities."

According to nearly half of the surveyed people, land disputes were the most common type of disagreement and a "disturbing" issue in their localities. Up to 38 per cent of land disputes are related to land use rights certificates, compensation and reallocation.

Notably, four out of 10 citizens had never heard of the Constitution and of those who knew, 23 per cent were unaware that a Constitutional revision process is currently ongoing, according to the research team.

Professor Pham Duy Nghia from the Economic Law Department of HCM City Economic University said that the index was important in revealing how the population manoeuvres through the complicated legal system.

"We have to know how the additional 200 government resolutions released every year, along with countless other legal frameworks, can help and protect the people effectively, especially the poor and the needy," Nghia said.

The Justice Index 2012 also ranks the 21 provinces where people were interviewed, with Da Nang seen to have the most effective justice system, followed by Son La, Lang Son, Hai Duong and Long An provinces. Khanh Hoa province was ranked at the bottom of the index.

Nguyen Ba Son, director of the Da Nang Department of Justice, said he hoped the index would soon be further developed and enhanced to allow provincial governments a closer look into justice areas for improvement.

The index was conducted by the Viet Nam Lawyers' Association, the Centre for Community Support Development Studies and UNDP.

Storm ‘Wutip’ leaves massive destruction across Central Vietnam

Storm ‘Wutip’ left a trail of destruction across Central Vietnam, with nine people reportedly killed, 199 others injured, 372 houses knocked down, 194.137 houses unroofed and crops and cattle destroyed, according to the National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center.

The storm broke electricity poles and lines, flattened thousands of hectares of crops, and damaged innumerable boats.

795 schools, offices, medical facilities and public construction works were inundated with floodwaters. 372 houses were flattened, 25,783 houses were submerged and 194,137 house roofs were blown off.

Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue Provinces were the worst-hit, suffering damages of up to VND4,915 billion (US$ 233 million).

Vo Thi Dung, Head of the Fatherland Front Committee in Ho Chi Minh City has appealed for assistance for victims of Storm ‘Wutip’. Right after her appeal, 29 companies in HCMC donated more than VND4.6 billion (US$218,085).

The City has given VND5 billion to six storm-hit provinces, supporting Quang Binh Province alone with VND2 billion.

Vo Thi Dung said she will call for support from all Vietnamese people from all walks of life, to contribute one day salary or one day of business profit. Any individual and organization can give donations at 55 Mac Dinh Chi Street in District 1 or transfer to account 00870406001484 of Ky Hoa Branch of Saigonbank or give directly to the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

Weather forecasts say heavy showers will hit central and highland provinces from Nghe An to Kon Tum, and swelling rivers are posing a serious threat to lives of people there.

Furthermore, continuous rains in Ha Tinh Province in Central Vietnam and Ho Ho Hydroelectricity Plant discharging water have caused heavy flooding, affecting hundreds of households.

The Department of Education and Training in Cam Xuyen and Thach Ha Districts have allowed 9,000 students to quit school these days. On October 2, 42 Communes including 90,000 households in Ha Tinh Province had still lived in darkness, with electricity lines and poles lying damaged.

Wutip victims continue to secure aid

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) continues to provide 5 billion VND in aid to victims of tropical storm Wutip in the central region.

VRC Vice Chairman Nguyen Huu Hong confirmed the news at a campaign launched in Hanoi on October 3.

The VRC will work with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent to call for international support allowing the victims to overcome the storm’s consequences, added Hong.

At the launch, the Overseas Party Committee donated 20 million VND to the victims.

Earlier, the VRC provided emergency aid in the form of 1,200 household packages to affected provinces and 650 million VND to victims in Thanh Hoa province.

The campaign will last until November 15.

In response to an appeal made by the country’s Fatherland Front, many ministries and local agencies have launched fund raising campaigns.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised a total of 226 million VND at a ceremony held in Hanoi on October 3.

The Party Committee, People’s Council, People’s Committee and the Vietnam Fatherland Front of Lam Dong province have urgently mobilised 1.2 billion VND for sufferers from the storm in Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

A delegation of Ho Chi Minh City has visited and granted 2 billion in aid relief to the victims in Quang Binh province.

The Quang Binh provincial General Confederation of Labour has visited and donated nearly 60 million VND to households of workers suffering from the destruction of the storm.

In Hanoi, staff of the Ministry of Defence, the Presidential State Office, the Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee donated at least one working-day’s salary each to help storm-hit people stabilise their lives and resume production activities.

Hanoi to host Global Leadership Activating Day 2013

The 2013 Global Leadership Activating Day (GLAD 2013), hosted by Hanoi Towers on October 13, is an opportunity for students to exchange perspectives with peers from other cultures and connect with issues of global concern.

GLAD is an annual event organised by the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade’s branch of AIESEC, the world's largest youth-run association.,

It is designed to motivate the next generation of social leaders to broaden their horizons and consider their responsibilities from a global point of view.

Nearly 1,000 outstanding students from universities in Hanoi are expected to participate, international students from around the world.

 GLAD 2013 consists of keynote addresses, the Fishbowl, and the Global Village.

Students can speak with famous scholars such as FPT Strategic Director Nguyen Huu Thai Hoa, and Former FPT General Director Nguyen Thanh Nam, for insights into the realities of Vietnam’s socioeconomic situation and the challenges it will pose to future leaders.

The Fishbowl facilitates direct dialogues between students and scholars.

The Global Culture Village introduces Vietnamese students to working environments and cultural spaces of their international peers.

This is GLAD’s third Vietnamese iteration. Last year, the programme attracted more than 700 students.

Industrial wastewater plants to be built in Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta Economic Zone plans to build 17 industrial wastewater treatment plants in the next seven years, according to the Mekong Delta master plan between now and 2020.

Under the planning on water drainage for Mekong Economic Zone, 17 industrial wastewater treatment plants will be built in Can Tho, Ca Mau, Kien Giang and An Giang.

These facilities will be capable of daily treating about 239,720 cu. m of industrial wastewater for industrial parks in the region.

Funding for construction will be mobilised from both overseas and domestic sources.

The total daily volume of industrial wastewater in the area is estimated at 369,000 cu.m in 2020. Industrial wastewater plants will help reduce environment pollution and contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development in the region.

More than 90% of the total wastewater volume in Vietnam has not yet been treated so far, causing serious environment pollution, experts said, adding that the nation targets to treat over 80% of its total wastewater volume by 2025.

Northern evangelical agrees on unification process

The Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) has reached an agreement on the process of unification with the General Confederation of Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) in the coming time.

The church wrapped up its 34th General Assembly in Hanoi on October 3, with the election of a 15-member executive board of the church for the 2013-2017 tenure.

Pastor Nguyen Huu Mac was reelected to lead the church while Pastor Bui Van San and Pastor Phung Quang Huyen were named deputy heads.

Participants adopted a working agenda for the next tenure and commented on the draft unification charter.

Vietnamese receive Lao Orders, Medals

Twenty-five collectives and individuals in central Danang city have been awarded the Lao noble Order of Isala, Labour Order and Independence and Friendship Medals for their contributions to Laos’s socio-economic development.

A ceremony was held in Dabang city on October 3 where KhambunDuongpannha, Governor of the Lao province of Salavan, on behalf of the Lao Prime Minister, presented the distinctions to the recipients.

The Lao official said he hopes Danang will do more to assist Laos.

Chairman of the Danang City People’s Committee Van HuuChien highlighted the special friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Laos.

He said his city will join efforts with Lao friends to strengthen the ties of special friendship and cooperation ties between the two countries in general and between Danang and Lao localities in particular.

Measures to prevent pink-eye disease intensified

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has asked the provincial and municipal people’s committees nationwide to step up measures to prevent pink-eye disease.

The ministry’s urgent request came on October 3 as the number of people suffering from pink-eye disease has increased rapidly in many localities, especially in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang city and central Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces.

Accordingly, local authorities were urged to enhance monitoring, early detect and promptly deal with outbreaks, while implementing activities on how to prevent the disease at schools, offices and community.

Medical stations were asked to provide consultancy and treatment, while ensuring the supply of medicine and stepping up hygiene control.

Local education departments were also asked to promptly inform preventive medicine units when detecting outbreaks at schools.

In order to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry warned people to keep personal hygiene.

Pink-eye sufferers should reduce contacts with others and come to medical stations for treatment, it said.

Glaucoma blamed for 24,800 blinding people

Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) believes approximately 24,800 Vietnamese cases of blindness have their roots in glaucoma.

RAAB reported that in 2007, about 6.5 percent of Vietnamese people older than 50 suffered blindness in both eyes as a result of glaucoma. Glaucoma is one of two major causes of blindness in Vietnam.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates 80 million people risk contracting glaucoma around the world, with 11.2 million eventually becoming blind.

The three therapies currently used to treat glaucoma are medication, surgery, and laser treatment.

Cows given to poor households in Central Highlands

The Steering Committee for the Central Highlands and the Vingroup Joint Stock Company on October 3 agreed to present 5,000 heifers worth 75 billion VND (3.5 million USD) to poor households in the regional provinces.

This is part of the social welfare support package committed by Vingroup at a recent conference to promote investment in the region held in Gia Lai province.

The cattle, from 8-10 months old, are easy to adapt to the region’s climate and environmental conditions.

Vingroup has to date given 10,000 cows to poor households nationwide, mostly those belonging to the ethnic minority groups and in remote areas, helping them improve their living standards.

October 10 to be Day of Vietnamese Lawyers

The Prime Minister has decided to take October 10 as the Traditional Day of Vietnamese Lawyers, said the Vietnam Lawyers Federation (VLF) at a press conference in Hanoi on October 3.

According to the federation, a ceremony to announce the PM’s Decision No. 149/QD-TTg and celebrate the day will be organised on October 16.

On the occasion, the VLF will honour lawyers who have made great contributions to the national development.

All the members of the federation will provide free legal assistance for people nationwide on October 10, 2013.

Vietnam counts more than 8,000 lawyers and over 3,000 lawyers’ organisations.

Red Cross makes appeal on behalf of Wutip victims

Viet Nam Red Cross yesterday called for local and international support to help the people of the central region overcome the consequences of storm Wutip and stabilise their lives.

General Secretary Nguyen Huu Hong said at a press conference that the Red Cross society has decided to continuously provide VND5 billion (US$238,000) as relief to people in the six provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

Previously, the society provided 1,200 boxes of emergency aid and nearly 2 million Aquatab pills for water purification to these provinces.

Storm victims will be provided with essential commodities, including tools for repairing houses, money for buying food, and clean water in the immediate period.

The society also helped those with collapsed houses build new ones and provided loans to those whose livelihoods were most affected.

Sweeping through the central region on Tuesday, Storm Wutip killed at least nine people and injured 199 others, causing total losses of more than VND4.9trillion ($234million) in six central provinces.

The Ministry of Finance will provide 1,000 tonnes of rice from the national reserve to natural disaster-hit Binh Dinh Province.

The provincial People's Committee has to distribute the rice promptly and to the right people, ordered Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Farming has taken a severe hit in the province due to a prolonged drought.

Hoa Sen Group will donate 12,000 metres of corrugated iron worth VND650 million (US$31,000) to poor teachers in the central region who have been affected by Storm Wutip.

The group said they had quickly transported the corrugated iron to teachers, especially those living in central Quang Binh Province which suffered the most damage from the storm.

The group has worked with Viet Nam Television and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper to call for more support from society to help residents affected by the storm.

Friendship association improves health care in VN

French volunteer doctors, together with colleagues from Viet Duc Hospital and the Hospital of Post and Telecoms, have presented health equipment to Son Tay General Hospital in the outskirts of Hanoi.

The activity is part of a programme launched by the France-Vietnam Friendship Association (FVFA) to help several hospitals in Vietnam improve their health services.

On this occasion, the delegation also provided health check-ups for patients and considered the records of ten pre-op patients.

FVFA President Cecile Minh said the association has granted medical support to Vietnam since 1992, adding that over the past two decades, the association’s humanitarian and charitable activities have been maintained effectively.

As a result, hundreds of tonnes of goods, drugs, health equipment, wheelchairs, teaching and learning equipment have been transported to Vietnam to assist hospitals and schools in remote areas.

Through the association, the Hospital of Post and Telecoms has signed an agreement with the Dreux Hospital of France, under which Vietnam will send two doctors to the French hospital to improve their professional skills for up to six months.-

Free Korean language training for Vietnamese workers

Vietnamese workers will receive free short-term training in the Korean language, after expiry of work contracts in Korea, to be able to find suitable jobs in Korean enterprises in Vietnam announced by the Foreign Employment Center under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The language training course will be held from October 14 to November 8, and will be organized by the Human Resource Development Service of Korea.

During the training course, the workers will be supported by food, living expenses and textbooks.

The organizers said that the learners will be introduced to jobs in Korean enterprises in Vietnam after the training, such as Korean translators, office workers or others such positions.

HIV/AIDS prevention in Mekong Subregion improved

The Ministry of Health and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) co-organized a conference on October 2 to launch the Greater Mekong Subregion Capacity Building for HIV/AIDS Prevention Project.

The project will target 80 districts in disadvantaged and border areas in15 border provinces in 2013-2017.

It aims fir four outputs: strengthened planning and management capacity at national, provincial, and district levels, enhanced capacity to provide quality and accessible services to people vulnerable to HIV transmission, improved access to HIV prevention outreach among target populations in communities and cross-border areas and effective and sustainable regional collaboration to strengthen HIV response.

The project's impacts are expected to contribute to efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reducing HIV/AIDS transmission in Laos and Viet Nam.

At the conference, the delegates discussed training activities, coordination in HIV/AIDS prevention and control through borders and HIV/AIDS tests.

Mystery piles of toxic waste appear

A huge amount of toxic industrial waste has appeared in some areas in the northern province of Ha Nam.

Gas exuding from the dumped waste has been found to be poisonous and damaging to skin, mucous membranes, eyes and respiratory systems.

The areas it has appeared include Thanh Liem District's Thanh Tan Commune, Kim Bang District's Thanh Son Commune and near the Vicem But Son Cement Plant.

In Thanh Tan Commune, the waste amounted to about 20 tonnes. In the other areas, the waste was about half this, according to the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

At the beginning of August, the department sent a letter asking the Thanh Liem District People's Committee and the Ba An Environment Corporation telling them to bury the industrial waste.

Local residents said that the authority had covered the waste with canvas, but wind had blown it away.

The department and provincial police are trying to find where the waste came from.-

Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri