Vietnam: Who is the border guard? What are the duties and powers of the border guard according to current regulations?
Who is the border guard? What are the functions of the border guard?
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 13 of the 2020 Law on Vietnam Border Guard, the border guard is defined as the people's armed forces, a component of the Vietnam People's Army, is the core force, in charge of managing, protect national borders and border areas.
According to that, in Clause 2, Article 13 of the 2020 Law on Vietnam Border Guard, there are regulations on the functions of the border guard as follows:
Position and functions of the border guard
...
2. The Border Guard has the function of advising the Minister of National Defense to promulgate according to its competence or propose to the Party and State policies and laws on border guard; perform the state management of national defense, security and foreign affairs and assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with agencies and organizations in, maintaining security, social order and safety in border and border-gate areas under the law.
Thus, the border guard has the following functions:
- Advise the Minister of National Defense to promulgate according to his authority or propose to the Party and State policies and laws on border guard;
- Perform state management of national defense, security and foreign affairs and assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with agencies and organizations in, maintaining security, social order and safety in border areas and border gates under the law.
Vietnam: Who is the border guard? What are the duties and powers of the border guard according to current regulations? (Image from the Internet)
How many main duties does the border guard have?
Pursuant to Article 14 of the 2020 Law on Vietnam Border Guard, the armed forces of the border guards have 12 main duties. To be specific:
- Collect information, analyze, evaluate and forecast the situation to perform duties and propose to the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam, the Party and the State to promulgate and direct the implementation of policies and laws on border guard.
- Advising the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam on the management and protection of national borders, maintaining security, social order and safety in border areas and border gates and building the border guard force.
- Manage and protect national borders, system of national landmarks, markers, border signs, border works and border gates; organize the inspection of the implementation of the law on border guard.
- Maintaining security, social order and safety, preventing, detecting, stopping and fighting against the operating methods and tricks of hostile forces, preventing and combating crimes and violating the law; protect the lawful rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals in border areas and border gates in accordance with law.
- Control entry and exit at border gates managed by the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and control border crossing in accordance with law.
- To carry out international cooperation on border guard and border guard diplomacy; settle border and border gate events in accordance with law.
- Propagating, disseminating and educating the law, mobilizing the people to implement the guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State.
- Ready to fight, fight against armed conflict, war of aggression in border areas.
- To advise and act as the core in building an all-people border defense and all-people border defense posture in border areas; participate in the construction of defense zones at provincial, district and border levels, and civil defense.
- Receive and use human resources and civil means to perform duties as prescribed by law.
- Participating in building the grassroots political system, arranging and stabilizing the population, building an infrastructure system, developing society and economy and implementing ethnic and religious policies in border areas associated with construction and consolidation of national defense and security.
- Participating in the prevention, combat, response and overcoming of incidents, natural disasters, disasters, climate change, epidemics; search, rescue and rescue in border areas.
What are the powers of the border guard?
The powers of the border guard are defined in Article 15 of the 2020 Law on Vietnam Border Guard as follows:
- Arrange and use forces, means and technical equipment to perform duties; apply forms and measures to manage and protect national borders according to regulations.
- Patrol, inspect, control, manage and protect national borders, system of national landmarks, markers, border signs, border works and border gates; grant, amend, supplement and cancel visas and other papers in the field of national border management and protection; inspect and control vehicles when there are signs of law violation, handle law-breaking vehicles in border and border-gate areas in accordance with law.
- Fight, prevent, investigate and handle law violations in border areas and border gates in accordance with law.
- Limiting or suspending activities at border belts, border areas, border crossings at border gates and openings according to regulations.
- Use weapons, explosives, support tools.
- Mobilizing people, ships, vehicles and civil technical equipment.
- Directly chasing and arresting law-breaking people and means from the border to the inland; coordinate with forces in tracing and arresting law-breaking people fleeing inland; pursue and arrest people and means violating the law who have fled from the internal waters or territorial waters of Vietnam outside the territorial sea of Vietnam in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.
- Cooperate with functional forces of bordering countries, other countries and international organizations in the management and protection of national borders, border gates, prevention and control of crime and violations against the law in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.
Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nhung