Improve the effectiveness of legal propaganda in border areas

Diversify forms of propaganda

Thanh Thuy Commune (Thanh Chuong) has 6,595 km of border with Laos. There are 1,430 households/6,150 people in the area, the educational level of the people is uneven; the activities of all kinds of crimes, especially criminal, drug and theft crimes, have many complicated developments.

Faced with that reality, the Party Committee and the government have coordinated with the border guard station located in the area to carry out many activities to raise legal awareness for people in the border area. The commune established 2 propaganda teams to disseminate, educate, and provide legal advice to people in combination with using propaganda channels via social networks; Building a model of "Promoting the combined strength of the political system, mobilizing all classes of people and businesses to participate in management, education, and helping people reintegrate into the community".

Most recently, in October 2022, the local government coordinated with the Thanh Chuong District Women's Union and Thanh Thuy Border Guard Station to launch the Women's Law Club in Thuy Son village, with 332 members, thereby creating conditions for women in border areas to have more access to legal policies, contributing to promoting the movement "All people protect national security".

Muong Tip border commune belongs to Ky Son district - a place with complex and rugged terrain, mainly inhabited by Mong, Kho Mu and Thai ethnic groups. With the motto "slow and steady wins the race", the local government has coordinated with functional forces to strengthen their close contact with the area and people to widely propagate the Party's policies and the State's laws in many forms (directly going to each village, to each house, checking each hut or field or integrating through village meetings, meetings of mass organizations, propaganda through the voices of village elders, prestigious people in the area...).

In addition to mobilizing households to sign a commitment to comply with border regulations, not to slash and burn, cultivate illegally, Muong Tip commune also effectively maintains 9 border and landmark self-management groups and 9 village and hamlet security and order self-management groups. In 2022, the Party Committee and government will coordinate with the commune police force to implement the project "Building a drug-free commune" and launch the model "The political system joins hands, contributes to helping and educating people who have made mistakes to reintegrate into the community".

When people are informed and understand the provisions of the law, they will be self-aware and remind those around them to say no to violating the law.

Chairman of Muong Tip Commune People's Committee Ha Ba Thai

Fully aware of the reality of the mountainous area of ​​Nghe An with its rugged terrain, poor and backward material and spiritual life, customs and practices of ethnic minorities, limited legal awareness of the people, and easy exploitation by bad elements, luring them into committing illegal acts such as trading, transporting, illegally storing drugs, human trafficking, etc. Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has focused on directing the People's Committees of border districts bordering Laos to strengthen the work of disseminating and educating the law with a focus, key points, and appropriateness for people to easily absorb and comply.

Many creative propaganda models such as: "Border News" broadcast in ethnic minority languages ​​and Vietnamese on the village public address system; "Learning one law each week" model; "Border lessons"; "Anti-human trafficking shield"; mock trial model; legal aid activities, mobile trials in villages and hamlets... have been effective, contributing to raising legal awareness and preventing illegal acts among the people.

Accompanying the localities, the functional sectors also carried out many practical propaganda activities related to the area. Typically, the Provincial Border Guard effectively maintained 84 self-managed border and border marker teams; 716 self-managed security teams for villages and hamlets. The Provincial Police built and effectively maintained nearly 40,000 self-managed security and order teams. At the same time, issued the Project to build "Border Communes free of drugs".

After 6 months of implementation, the police of various units and localities have detected and arrested 83 cases, 96 drug-related criminals in border communes, seized nearly 15 kg of various drugs, 50 guns, knives, swords and 28 drug retail points in border communes. Up to now, 26/27 border communes have met the criteria of being free of drug addicts, contributing to ensuring order and safety in border areas, fighting fiercely and effectively against crimes and drug abuse in the province in general and on the Vietnam - Laos border in particular.

Strengthening coordination with provinces of Laos

Nghe An has a 468.281km long border, with 6 border districts with 27 communes, 247 villages, and hamlets bordering the 3 provinces of Xieng Khouang, Hua Phan, and Bolikhamxay of Laos. There are 2 main border gates, Nam Can and Thanh Thuy, 4 secondary border gates, and many small roads and openings across the border. Vietnamese and Lao people living in the border area have freely migrated back and forth for a long time.

In recent times, implementing the Agreement between the two governments on the situation of free migration and unregistered marriages in border areas, Nghe An has actively taken early action to review, classify, and compile a list to submit to the competent authorities of the two countries for approval. From 2019 to 2021, Nghe An submitted to the President the Decision on granting Vietnamese nationality to 211 Lao people living in the border communes of Nghe An.

On the other hand, the Department of Justice also organized conferences to disseminate laws on nationality, civil status, and marriage for cases of migrants permitted to reside in the districts of Tuong Duong, Ky Son, and Que Phong. At the same time, it compiled, printed, and distributed 25,000 leaflets on “Some provisions of Vietnamese law on nationality” to officials and people in border areas.

The People's Committee of Nghe An province has also directed to strengthen cooperation activities between judicial agencies of provinces sharing the border through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation agreement between the Department of Justice of Nghe An and the Department of Justice of Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan provinces.

Through this, the parties will exchange experiences and information on resolving legal and judicial issues; support training and fostering of judicial officials; promote propaganda, dissemination of laws, legal aid and mediation at the grassroots level so that people in border areas understand the laws of the two countries, thereby having a way to behave in accordance with the law.

Many border diplomacy activities have also been effectively implemented by localities and functional forces. Up to now, 21 pairs of villages on both sides of the border have been twinned, 8 border posts with 8 units of the Lao Public Security. Districts sharing the border with Laos have maintained good annual meetings, thereby grasping and promptly handling arising issues, and orienting propaganda for people on both sides of the border to strictly implement the Vietnam Border Regulations Agreement.-Laos.

However, according to Ms. Nguyen Thuy Duong - Deputy Head of the Department of Legal Education and Dissemination (Department of Justice): Due to the lack of conditions and resources to implement the dissemination of legal education for people in border areas, especially in terms of funding, the number of quality legal dissemination and education sessions in villages, hamlets, remote areas is not much and not frequent. The target audience is ethnic minorities, low level of education, many people do not know the common language, causing difficulties in the process of conveying legal information to the people. The team doing the propaganda and legal dissemination work at the grassroots level is still limited in knowledge and propaganda skills...

Therefore, it is necessary to focus on innovating the form, improving the quality of propaganda work, applying vivid, easy-to-understand forms, suitable for the target, locality and people's needs. Promote the integration of legal education and dissemination with cultural exchange activities, enhance the application of information technology, and link propaganda and legal education with the implementation of local socio-economic development projects.

Continue to consolidate, improve, and foster knowledge, expertise, and skills for cadres working in propaganda and legal dissemination; promote the role of village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people among ethnic minorities; and at the same time, have appropriate policies for those who carry out propaganda and legal dissemination work for people in remote, isolated, and border areas.