What are penalties imposed for mistreatment of the elderly in Vietnam?

08:37, 11/07/2024

Responding to World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (June 15), today Thu Ky Luat updates and sends to esteemed members some regulations and penalties related to acts of infringing upon the rights and legitimate interests of the elderly.

Constitution 2013 stipulates that elderly people (EP) are subjects respected and cared for by the State, family, and society. The State always creates equal opportunities for social welfare enjoyment, develops a social security system, and provides assistance policies for the EP.

However, in reality, there are not few cases of mistreatment and abuse of the EP, causing physical and mental harm to them. Most distressingly, the abusers are often their own family members.

According to WHO's definition, elderly abuse is a situation where the rights of the EP are violated, causing physical and mental harm to them through forms such as: physical violence, emotional and verbal abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, or financial exploitation.

In labor, elderly workers are a special labor group due to prioritized labor use policies such as: Reducing daily working hours or applying part-time work policies; providing regular health care from employers, etc.

Labor Code 2012 stipulates:

- Elderly workers must have health checks at least once every 6 months;- Employers are prohibited from assigning elderly workers to heavy, hazardous or dangerous jobs that adversely affect their health (except under special circumstances as stipulated by the Government of Vietnam).- When elderly workers retire but are reemployed under a new labor contract, besides the benefits received from their pension, they still enjoy the agreed benefits under the new labor contract.

Article 21 of Decree 95/2013/ND-CP stipulates:

- A warning or fine from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND if employers do not pay social insurance and health insurance as required for elderly workers drawing monthly pensions;- A fine from 10,000,000 VND to 15,000,000 VND if employers assign elderly workers to heavy, hazardous or dangerous jobs adversely affecting their health.

In the family, children and grandchildren have the duty to love, respect, be grateful and care for grandparents and parents. This duty is also an obligation stipulated in the Law on Marriage and Family. If children or grandchildren mistreat or abuse grandparents or parents, depending on the severity of the act, they may be subject to administrative penalties or criminal prosecution.

Decree 167/2013/ND-CP enforces several penalty provisions as follows:

No.	Act	Penalty
A	Act of harming the health of family members
1	Beating causing injury	1,000,000 - 1,500,000 VND
2	Using tools, means, or other objects causing injury	1,500,000 - 2,000,000 VND
3	Failing to promptly take the victim to emergency treatment when needed or failing to care for the victim during injury treatment resulting from domestic violence (unless refused by the victim)	1,500,000 - 2,000,000 VND
B	Act of torturing, mistreating family members
4	Forcing to starve, thirst, endure cold, wear torn clothes, or restricting personal hygiene	1,500,000 - 2,000,000 VND
5	Neglecting care for elderly, weak, or disabled family members	1,500,000 - 2,000,000 VND
C	Insulting the honor and dignity of family members
6	Insulting, reviling, humiliating	500,000 - 1,000,000 VND
7	Revealing or spreading private information to humiliate	1,000,000 - 1,500,000 VND
8	Using communication means to humiliate
9	Disseminating, spreading flyers, articles, images, sounds to humiliate
D	Isolating, expelling, or constantly causing psychological pressure
10	Banning family members from leaving home or meeting relatives, friends, or engaging in lawful, healthy social relations; aiming to isolate, constantly causing psychological pressure	100,000 - 300,000 VND
11	Preventing family members from working
12	Preventing family members from participating in lawful, healthy social activities
13	Forcing family members to witness violence against people or animals	300,000 - 500,000 VND
14	Forcing family members to perform indecent acts or use aphrodisiacs	500,000 - 1,000,000 VND
E	Preventing the exercise of rights and obligations in family relations
15	Preventing visiting, caring rights between grandparents and grandchildren, or parents and children	100,000 - 300,000 VND
G	Violating care, upbringing, and maintenance regulations
16	Refusing or shirking the duty to nurture between grandparents and grandchildren	100,000 - 300,000 VND
	Refusing or shirking maintenance and upbringing duties towards parents
H	Economic violence
17	Appropriating private property of family members	500,000 - 1,000,000 VND
18	Forcing family members to overwork or perform heavy, hazardous jobs, or violating labor laws in other ways
19	Forcing family members to beg or scavenge for a living
I	Illegal acts of forcing family members to leave their legal residence
20	Forcing family members to leave their legal residence	100,000 - 300,000 VND
21	Constantly threatening with violence to force family members to leave their legal residence	300,000 - 500,000 VND

Penal Code 2015 stipulates: Anyone who treats grandparents, parents, or caregivers badly, or exercises violence on them, resulting in one of the following cases, shall be subject to a warning, non-custodial reform for up to 3 years, or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years:

- Frequently causing physical and mental pain to the victim;- Already subjected to administrative penalties for this act but continues to violate.

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