The level of support for militia when mobilized must be appropriate to the average working day.

On the morning of September 17, the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An held a conference to collect comments on the draft amendments and supplements to the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces and the Law on Reserve Forces, which will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 8th session held next October.

Conference scene. Photo: Mai Hoa

Every citizen has the obligation to join the militia and self-defense forces.

Based on the draft amendment to the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces submitted by the National Assembly Standing Committee for comments, at the conference, in addition to basic agreement with the draft, some opinions also raised concerns and suggestions.

The Draft Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces (amended) consists of 8 chapters and 50 articles regulating the obligation to participate in the militia and self-defense forces; position, functions, tasks, principles, organization of activities, regimes, policies and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals towards the militia and self-defense forces.

That is, the draft amendment to the Law has not yet specified a specific allowance for working days; but the level prescribed by the current Law is not lower than a coefficient of 0.08 of the general minimum wage, which is still too low.

Therefore, the Law needs to clearly stipulate and increase the level of support for payment of working days for militia and self-defense forces when mobilized to perform tasks to match the general level of working days of the people, at least reaching 200,000 VND/person/day.

Lieutenant Colonel Le Dai Tu - Deputy Head of the Military Department, Provincial Military Command gave additional comments. Photo: Mai Hoa

To ensure raising awareness and responsibility of enterprises, there are suggestions that the Law should clearly stipulate the responsibilities and rights of enterprises in building militia and self-defense forces; because if not clearly stipulated, it will easily lead to leaders of some enterprises having incomplete awareness and not wanting to build and maintain militia activities in their units.

In addition, the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces (amended) needs to supplement and clarify the regulations on rewards for militia and self-defense forces as prescribed by the Government, and provide detailed instructions to comply with the Law on Emulation and Commendation, instead of assigning it to the Ministry of National Defense as in the draft.

On the other hand, according to the draft amendment to the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces, all Vietnamese citizens aged 18-45 for men and 18-40 for women are obliged to join the militia and self-defense forces in peacetime and the term of militia and self-defense force is 4 years in some cases and 2 years in others; however, there are opinions that the term of militia and self-defense force should be extended.

Cua Lo Town Military Command trains militia and self-defense forces. Photo: Mai Hoa

It is necessary to clearly define the responsibilities and obligations of business owners.

Regarding the Law on Reserve Forces, the issue that delegates are also interested in and propose to supplement is the regulation on the responsibilities and obligations of business owners and heads of organizations in creating conditions for reserve soldiers to attend training sessions, avoiding the situation where business owners do not create conditions for their employees to participate or cut income or terminate labor contracts.

The Draft Law on Reserve Forces has 5 chapters and 47 articles regulating the building and mobilization of reserve forces; regimes, policies, funding guarantees and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in building and mobilizing reserve forces.

Regarding technical means mobilized to serve tasks when required, there are opinions suggesting specific regulations on whether these are technical means that are allocated annually from the State budget or mobilized from the people to ensure that annual vehicle registration is carried out more seriously.

Supplementing regulations for cases where an individual is called to mobilize reserve forces, but at that time the individual is not present in the locality, how will it be resolved?

Comrade Nguyen Hai Thiem - Captain of the Legal Team, Provincial Police Department gave his opinion at the conference. Photo: Mai Hoa

In addition, many opinions have also contributed to the draft's layout and wording to ensure accuracy; issues on arranging reserve soldiers into reserve mobilization units; training, drills, and inspections of mobilization readiness, combat readiness of reserve soldiers, reserve mobilization units, etc.