The recommendations are important contributions for the Supreme People's Court to propose the National Assembly to include in the juvenile justice law project in the 2023 Law and Ordinance Development Program.

Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh, the Supreme People's Court, speaks at the workshop held in Hanoi on August 31. Photos: UNICEF

Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh shared the idea at a workshop, which was organized in Hanoi on August 31 by the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam and UNICEF with the support of the European Union Justice and Legal Empowerment Programme (EU JULE).

The event is aimed to gather the experiences of countries that have adopted child justice law to enable Vietnam to develop an outline for a comprehensive child justice legal framework.

As such, Vietnam is making significant steps toward a comprehensive child justice law.

In recent years, the Government of Vietnam has exerted considerable effort to reform legislation pertaining to justice for minors in recent years. However, special conflicting handling measures for minors are provided in the Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, and Law on Handling of Administrative Violations. This results in fragmentation and challenges in ensuring coherent, effective, and efficient implementation.

Lesley Miller, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Vietnam, delivers a speech at the event.

Lesley Miller, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Vietnam, said UNICEF applauds the adoption of a holistic approach to introduce strategic changes for increased access to justice for all minors in conflict with the law, as well as victims and witnesses of crime. “UNICEF fully engaged with this significant step toward a comprehensive Law on Justice for Minors,” he noted.

Recognizing the unique vulnerabilities of minors, the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires the establishment of a separate system with a specialized approach when working with minors in conflict with the law. Central to such a system is having a comprehensive law on justice for minors, as many countries have adopted, including most ASEAN countries.

Thomas Wiersing, Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, at the event.

Thomas Wiersing, Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, said a comprehensive Law on Justice for Minors is the cornerstone of a child-friendly justice system, outlining a distinct set of principles, objectives, procedures, and services that have been specially adapted to minors. “The European Union will continue to support Vietnam with this effort”, he emphasized.

At the workshop that gathered international keynote speakers and experts from the National Assembly, ministries, professional and mass organizations, supreme and provincial courts, and development agencies, issues discussed included the need for effective inter-agency collaboration and coordination; child- and gender-sensitive handling of minors; a coherent continuum of sanctions and measures; the role of social workers in all stages of the child justice procedures; and the development of social welfare services for community-based rehabilitation of minors.

Child justice remains of great concern in Vietnam.

Sharing with The Hanoi Times, lawyer Bui Minh Tuan from a law firm in Hanoi said the protection and care of minors are very important since they have not yet fully developed in terms of physical and personality. 

“The prevention and investigation of crimes and the handling of juvenile offenders is a matter of both legal and human nature,” Tuan said, adding that the solution to preventing and fighting crime against minors is not by increasing penalties but by managing education and making policies for juveniles.

In particular, the situation of juveniles committing murder and minor victims being harmed in terms of their life and health is no longer rare, including girls who are in need of alarm on the Internet, the layer warned.

He took Hanoi as an example of its protection measures in combating crime against minors, saying that children in the city are given good care and few violation cases have been detected so far. 

In an announcement, UNICEF said it is a leading advocate for juvenile justice reform, but our approach in Vietnam goes beyond care for children accused of crimes: we also promote equitable access to justice for all children whose rights have been violated.

It argued that like most countries in the world, Vietnam’s justice system is designed for adults and is not equipped to meet the unique needs of children. As a result, thousands of Vietnamese children face major obstacles to accessing justice.

Against this backdrop, UNICEF is working with government and civil society partners to make the justice system more child and gender-sensitive to ensure all children in contact with it are better served and protected.

“Through advocacy and technical support for law reforms, we promote community-based solutions with an emphasis on repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior and reducing detention of children to a measure of last resort,” it said in a statement.