Disseminate the law with focus and close to practical needs

PV: Could you please tell us about the outstanding results in implementing the Law on Dissemination and Education of Law in the province in recent times?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:After nearly 10 years of implementing the Law on Dissemination of Legal Education, the work of disseminating legal education in the province has had many positive changes, basically closely following and promptly serving the policies of the Party, State and political tasks in localities and units.

The activities of the Coordinating Council for Dissemination of Legal Education at all levels have become routine. The content of annual Dissemination of Legal Education closely follows the Central plan, in accordance with the characteristics of the local situation; the form of Dissemination of Legal Education is increasingly innovated and diversified. In particular, the form of direct Dissemination of Legal Education is widely used (from 2013 to now, 85,711 propaganda and dissemination of law have been organized for more than 13,600,000 people) with the new point of enhancing two-way interaction, exchanging and answering difficulties and problems in implementation.

In particular, with the strong development of information technology and in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Provincial Council for Dissemination of Legal Education has promptly guided and directed departments, branches, sectors and localities to increase the application of information technology in the work of Dissemination of Legal Education, bringing high efficiency.

Mr. Le Ba Thieu spoke at the training conference on commune-level recognition of legal access standards. Photo: Be Vinh

The organization of propaganda and dissemination of legal education for special subjects has received attention. The Department of Justice alone has organized 161 communication and legal aid sessions to 437 particularly difficult villages, hamlets and villages of poor communes in the Western districts; installed 5 propaganda panels on prevention and combat of human trafficking and 5 panels on prevention and combat of social evils in Ky Son, Tuong Duong and Thanh Chuong districts; distributed 11,000 leaflets in ethnic languages, propagating laws on civil status, prevention and combat of child marriage and incestuous marriage; 10,000 leaflets propagating laws on drugs, crime and traffic; 25,000 leaflets on "Some provisions of Vietnamese law on nationality"; 7,000 books on legal questions and answers; 5,000 books on grassroots mediation handbooks.

The Provincial Border Guard has coordinated with local Party committees and authorities to effectively maintain 84 self-management teams for border lines and national border markers; 716 self-management teams for security and order in villages and hamlets; and assigned 593 border guard party members to be in charge of 2,846 households in border areas to propagate and disseminate legal education.

The Public Security sector has built more than 30 models and clubs to mobilize and educate groups of people who are subject to educational measures at communes, wards and towns, people serving non-custodial reform sentences, probation, people sentenced to suspended sentences, people newly released from prison to reintegrate into the community... building and maintaining the effective operation of nearly 40,000 self-management groups on security and order and expanding to 928 points...

Authorities promote the construction of a drug-free village model in Luu Thong, Luu Kien, Tuong Duong. Photo: Cong Kien

The consolidation of the Coordination Council for Dissemination of Legal Education at all levels is regularly carried out, especially at times when there are changes in the titles and positions of its members. The team of legal reporters and legal propagandists is consolidated, ensuring the required quantity and increasingly improved quality, meeting the requirements of the task. (Currently, the whole province has 110 provincial-level legal reporters; 829 district-level legal reporters and 5,954 commune-level legal propagandists).

PV: What are the difficulties and problems that need to be resolved after 10 years of implementing the Law on Dissemination of Legal Education, sir?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:Although certain results have been achieved, the implementation of the Law on Dissemination of Legal Education has also raised some difficulties and shortcomings that need to be resolved. For example, regarding institutions and policies: Some forms of Dissemination of Legal Education stipulated in Article 11 of the Law on Dissemination of Legal Education, such as legal bookcases, libraries, etc., are no longer suitable for practice, leading to inefficiency. On the other hand, there are currently no regulations on periodic allowances for legal reporters and propagandists, so it is difficult to attract people with skills and extensive legal knowledge to participate in this activity.

Muong Tip Commune People's Committee (Ky Son) and other forces coordinate to disseminate the law to the people. Photo: PV

In addition, Article 39 of the Law on Dissemination of Legal Education stipulates: “The funding for dissemination and legal education of agencies and organizations receiving budgets is guaranteed by the State budget and mobilized from other legal sources. The Central budget supports funding for dissemination and legal education for localities that have not yet balanced their budgets.” However, in the process of implementation, there have not been specific and detailed regulations to serve as a basis for making budget estimates.

In terms of resources, many units and localities have not arranged enough people to do the work of disseminating legal education. Legal organizations and officers doing legal work in departments, branches and sectors have not been established and consolidated, therefore, the work of disseminating legal education is still limited, especially in remote and isolated areas. Although the application of information technology in the work of disseminating legal education has been focused on, it has not yet met the diverse and increasing need of people to learn about the law. The situation of law violations and crimes is still complicated, especially violations of ensuring order, social security and traffic safety.

PV: In the coming time, to make the work of disseminating and educating the law more and more effective, in your opinion, what solutions are needed?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:In order for the dissemination of legal education to become more practical and effective, it is necessary to improve the legal system, build mechanisms and policies to encourage individuals and organizations to participate in the dissemination of legal education activities. There must be a specific mechanism to recognize, manage and use the team of legal reporters and propagandists, thereby defining specific tasks and benefits for this team to do better in the dissemination and education of law, especially for specific groups of people.

Ensure funding sources for activities of Dissemination of legal education and mediation at the grassroots level, especially in localities with difficult economic and social conditions; Focus on training and intensive training in information technology application skills for the force working on Dissemination of legal education. In addition, it is recommended that the Central Government specify mechanisms and policies for mobilizing social resources in the work of Dissemination of legal education, creating favorable conditions for the grassroots level in the implementation process.

Tan Ky District Police organized a law dissemination session at the school and distributed leaflets to students. Photo: Quynh Trang

PV: 2022 is also the 10th year of responding to Vietnam Law Day (November 9), so how has this activity been carried out in Nghe An, sir?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:During the 10 years of implementing Vietnam Law Day, Nghe An province has organized many effective response activities, selecting important activities as highlights such as: Conference to honor outstanding mediators in the province; writing contest to learn about the 2013 Constitution; "Excellent Mediator" contest; online contest "Learning about the Civil Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Administrative Procedure Law"; "Youth with Traffic Safety" contest in the form of dramatization; writing contest "Learning about the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations and documents guiding its implementation", script writing contest for propaganda skits on civil and political rights; "Excellent Legal Reporter and Propagandist" contest in the form of dramatization associated with organizing the honoring of excellent mediators at the grassroots level... contributing to encouraging and motivating cadres and people to actively and voluntarily study and learn about the law; raising awareness of protecting the law; strictly complying with and enforcing the Constitution and the law.

Nam Dan Youth Responds to Vietnam Law Day. Photo: CSCC

In 2022, the Central Council for Dissemination of Legal Education selected Nghe An as one of three localities nationwide to organize the Ceremony to respond to the 10th anniversary of Vietnam Law Day. The Ministry of Justice issued Official Dispatch No. 3265/HDPH dated September 27, 2022 requesting the People's Committee of Nghe An province to pay attention and direct relevant agencies and units to proactively and actively carry out activities to respond to Vietnam Law Day; preside over and coordinate the organization of activities to respond to Vietnam Law Day at a commune-level locality with a grassroots mediation model, building a commune that meets standards for effective legal access.

On that basis, the Department of Justice advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Plan No. 695/KH-UBND dated October 10, 2022. In particular, it requires localities and functional branches to objectively and comprehensively evaluate the achieved results; promptly commend, reward, and honor typical collectives and individuals, good models, and effective practices in 10 years of organizing the response to Vietnam Law Day.

The Provincial People's Committee also assigned the Department of Justice to preside over and coordinate the organization of activities in response to Vietnam Law Day 2022 at the pilot unit of Thuong Son commune, Do Luong district on October 31, 2022. Through the activities, it aims to contribute to making Vietnam Law Day (November 9) an important, practical and effective political and legal event.

PV: Thank you!