When Will the Law on Demonstrations be Introduced?

In the past, the 1959 Constitution, implemented under the direction of President Ho Chi Minh, explicitly included the term "the right to protest" and considered this a basic right of citizens. So why is it that this right is difficult to recognize and apply at present?

On November 26, 2011, the National Assembly approved the legislative program and ordinance of the National Assembly for the XIII tenure, consisting of 85 law projects, 06 ordinance projects under the official program, and 38 law projects, 03 ordinance projects under the preparatory program as per Resolution 20/2011/QH13, in which the Law on Protests was included in the 38 law projects under the preparatory program. However, to date, there has not been a unified result regarding the Law on Protests, and even the draft Law on Protests has been postponed many times.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung remarked: “Why is it postponed repeatedly? Is it because it cannot be done or is it not done? The program is decided by the National Assembly, and the Politburo has also decided to include it in the program, but the Government of Vietnam keeps asking for delays”. He also emphasized: “The Standing Committee of the National Assembly does not agree with the postponement. The Government of Vietnam has not submitted this bill to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; how can we know its content to agree on postponement? I believe this shows a lack of seriousness”.

Many members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly also disagreed with the Government of Vietnam's proposal. Head of the Judiciary Committee Nguyen Van Hien expressed: “The time to present the Law on Protests must be ensured. The right to protest is a fundamental right of citizens, mentioned since 1945, continuously postponed, till when? This is an issue that if we keep postponing, it is completely politically detrimental.”

Chairman of the Committee for National Defense and Security Nguyen Kim Khoa further analyzed: "The necessity of this law is very important. I know the Ministry of Public Security also urgently wants this law to be created, firstly to ensure human rights and citizen rights in the Constitution, concurrently ensuring public order and social safety. If we continue to apply Decree 38 to restrict citizens' rights, it is unconstitutional."

Presenting before the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, Minister Ha Hung Cuong stated that the Government of Vietnam had assigned and directed the Ministry of Public Security to draft the Law on Protests. The Ministry of Public Security has carried out legal reviews, conducted surveys, research, translation, etc. At the regular session in January 2016, the Government of Vietnam discussed this issue, but the opinions of its members were still very different regarding the content of the draft law.

Thus, it is difficult to determine how many times the Law on Protests project has been postponed and delayed. And it is uncertain when there will be official information about the Law on Protests. This is a question that remains unanswered.

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