Laws of Vietnam

The Law on Marriage and the Family promulgated in 1986, the first year of the renovation process, inherited the principles of democracy and progress of the new regime of marriage and the family institutionalized for the first time in the 1959 Law on Marriage and the Family, and also the fine traditions of the Vietnamese family. During the past eight years of implementation, the Law on Marriage and the Family has contributed very positively to the building and consolidation of Vietnamese families, promoted the fine national traditions, abolished the backward practices of the feudalist regime of marriage and the family, and prevented the bad influence of the bourgeois regime of marriage and the family.

However, practices in violation of the provisions of the Law on Marriage and the Family, including serious violations, have still taken place in many places (such as precocious marriages, unregistered marriages, violations of the principle of monogamy, maltreatment of women and children, and failure to contribute to the bringing up of their chidden and to support their elderly parents) and have not yet been condemned and handled appropriately.

Proceeding from the premise that the family is the cell of society, the cradle of one's life, and an important environment in which one is brought up into people of a new type, with a new lifestyle for actively participating in the construction and defense of the Fatherland; in response to the International Year of the Family-1994 launched by the United Nations, and to actively study how to amend and supplement the policy and the Law on Marriage and the Family with the aim of helping Vietnamese families to enjoy a happy, progressive and equitable life and submitting a bill to the National Assembly for approval in 1995, the Prime Minister issues the following instruction:

1/ Organizing the review of eight years of implementing the 1986 Law on Marriage and the Family on a national scale. The review must be completed in the first quarter of 1995 with the following contents:

- Evaluating the implementation of the provisions of the Law, analyzing the causes of failure to fully and strictly carry out the provisions of the Law on Marriage and the Family, and analyzing the cause of violations of the Law on Marriage and the Family in various localities;

- Discovering new problems that have cropped up from reality and require that the policy and law should be amended and supplemented; paying due attention to local practices and the customs of ethnic minorities and making specific relevant suggestions;

- Continuing to popularize the Law on Marriage and the Family among the people.

2/ The Presidents of the People's Committees of provinces and cities under the Central Government will direct the review of eight years of implementing the Law on Marriage and the Family in their localities.

The time set for the view is from now to the end of January 1995; the localities must send their report on the review work to the Office of the Government and the Ministry of Justice.

3/ The Minister of Justice is responsible for:

- Making preparations for carrying out the review of eight years of implementing the Law on Marriage and the Family;

- Coordinating with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union and the branches and mass organizations concerned to study how to amend and supplement the Law on Marriage and the Family;

- Directing the justice services to coordinate with the Women's Union, the People's Court, the People's Inspectorate, and the local offices and organizations concerned in helping the People's Committee to review the implementation of the Law on Marriage and the Family.

In early March 1995, the Ministry of Justice shall make a report to the Prime Minister on the results of the review.

4/ The Minister of Culture and Information will direct the campaign of education for and response to the International Year of the Family, the popularization of the Law on Marriage and the Family by the mass media and report on the situation and results of the review of eight years of implementation of the Law.

5/ The Minister of Finance is responsible for allocating the necessary funds for the review of eight years of implementation of the Law on Marriage and the Family at central and local levels according to the emergency plan.

To ensure good results for the review of eight years of implementation of the Law on Marriage and the Family, the Prime Minister requests the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Inspectorate, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and the Front's member organizations to coordianate with Government agencies in directing this review successfully.