Listening to public opinion on building policies and laws related to ethnic affairs

The National Assembly (NA)'s Council for Ethnic Affairs recently hosted a workshop to share experiences on the verification of law projects on ethnic affairs.

Listening to public opinion on building policies and laws related to ethnic affairs

The event drew the attention of not only heads of the Council, the NA’s Committees, and delegations of NA deputies in localities, but also from leaders and officials of ministries, branches and legal experts working in this specific field.

While sharing information and exchanging experiences in law building, many participants stressed the importance of listening to opinions contributed by local officers, village elders, heads of villages, patriarchs whose voices are respected in the community, and local residents. These opinions must be promptly sent to and presented at working sessions of the NA Standing Committee and the NA.

The participants also focused their discussions on analysing and clarifying lessons on the verification of integrating gender equality into law projects and gender issues in ethnic minority areas as well as the skills required to ensure objectivity and legal construction in a synchronous and scientific manner within a time limit. The verification process needs synchronous and smooth coordination among functional agencies.

Over recent years, the Party and State have promulgated many guidelines and policies prioritising comprehensive development of the socio-economic situation in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

However, the gender equality issue still exists in ethnic minority areas, which can be seen from the fact that ethnic minority women and girls still face difficulties in accessing education and training and seeking job opportunities, as well as the pressing issues of child marriage and inbreeding. In addition, there still remains a wide gap in access to health care and medical services for women and children in these areas.

The delegates proposed that the Council for Ethnic Affairs should pay more attention and take more active measures in reviewing and verifying the integration of ethnic issues into law building, right from the drafting of laws and ordinances.

In addition, participants pointed out the lack of detailed documents which give instructions on the implementation of policies on ethnic affairs, making it difficult to bring policies to life.

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, approved by the NA during its ninth session, will take effect in 2021. The move illustrated the Party, State and NA’s attention to building effective legislation on ethnic affairs.

Accordingly, the amendments give more detailed and specific regulations of the responsibilities of the NA’s Council for Ethnic Affairs in relation to verifying the implementation of policies, draft laws, ordinances on ethnic affairs.

Such contents on enhancing quality and efficiency of verification and building of laws need to be widely popularised among agencies run by the NA and Government as well as in sectors, departments, and localities. The law building process must suit the reality of certain situations so that more voices and aspirations of officers, people, and ethnic groups are further promoted and listened to.