Pham Diem
State and Law Institute of Vietnam
Now as before, there always appear people with meritorious services to their countries, who are honored and granted material and spiritual privileges by the State and the society. However, privilege policies and their role in social life differ from country to country, depending on the economic, political, social and historical conditions as well as customs and practices in each country.
In Vietnam, people with meritorious services to the country throughout 30 years of wars for national liberation and defense are those who have contributed to ousting foreign invaders and regaining national independence. They are war invalids, war martyrs, revolutionaries and persons who have supported the revolution. In peace time, such list is added with persons who have made great contributions to, or laid down their lives for, the cause of national construction. With the characters of the nation’s modern history, people with meritorious services to the country account for 8% of the population. Therefore, social privilege policies occupy a particularly important position in the Vietnamese State’s social security policies in the time of peace or war.
Social privileges in Vietnam are understood as material and spiritual preferences rendered to people with meritorious services to the country and their families by the State, communities and the entire society. The institutions on social privileges always constitute the basic institutions of the legal system on social security. Such institution is construed as a collection of legal provisions on the conditions, forms and degrees of material and spiritual guaranty for persons with meritorious services to the country and their family members in their economic, cultural and social lives.
Unlike social insurance institutions which demonstrate the communal assistance among the insured, or social relief institutions which reflect the assistance of the State and the social community to its disadvantaged members, social privilege institutions manifest the obligations and responsibilities of the State and the community towards a special section of population, namely people with meritorious services to the country.
Social privilege policies and regulations bear an important significance in all aspects of social life.
Politically, people with meritorious services to the country are those who have made contributions or sacrifices to the cause of national liberation, construction and defense. Whether or not the country can enjoy peace, whether or not the national independence and sovereignty are guaranteed, it depends largely on persons who dare to sacrifice their lives for the country. Therefore, the preferential treatment of these people not only renders the material and spiritual assistance to them but also builds up confidence in the social regime and creates a source of encouragement for other members of the society to willingly sacrifice their lives for the nation and a great source of strength in national construction and defense.
Socially, social privileges demonstrate the Vietnamese people’s thousands-year-old tradition of “uong nuoc nho nguon” (thinking of the source when drinking water), “an qua nho ke trong cay” (remembering the growers when eating fruits) or “den on dap nghia” (showing gratitude). This is not only the gratitude and respect but also the responsibility and obligation of the State and society towards such special section of the population. The social privilege regime bears the significance of educating every citizen in morality, lifestyle and patriotic traditions and deeds.
Economically, for people with meritorious services to the country (particularly those who participated in revolutionary activities and fought for national defense), who get old and weak or wounded and lead a difficult life, money amounts coming from the privilege regime are their main source of livelihood.
Legally, the institutionalization of social privilege policies constitutes a legal guaranty for the right to enjoy privileges of the people with meritorious services to the country. When it becomes a legal right, these people can take pride in enjoying it, thus doing away with the give-and-take psychology. It is also the legal liability of the State, the society and citizens to implement the social privilege regime.
Fully aware of such great significance of social privileges, immediately after the victorious August 1945 Revolution, the Vietnamese State attached importance to preferential policies towards people with meritorious services to the country. On February 16, 1947, the then President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam signed a decree prescribing the criteria of war invalids, war martyrs as well as the preferential treatment regime applicable to them and their families. Later, many legal documents were promulgated, clearly defining war invalids and war martyrs, monthly allowances, provisional allowances and special allowances for war invalids and war martyrs’ families and providing for the employment, allocation of land and agricultural tax exemption and reduction for these persons. Yet, due to war conditions in this period, the legal documents on social privileges were simple and general and the allowances remained far below the level of privileges.
During the anti-US resistance war for national salvation, the Vietnamese State promulgated 184 legal documents prescribing the preferential regime applicable to people with meritorious services to the country, including such important ones as the Regulation on preferential treatment of war dead’s families and the Regulation on preferential treatment of war invalids, diseased armymen, wounded guerillas, militia men and volunteer youths and others with meritorious services to the nation.
Generally, the preferential regime in this period was fairly comprehensive, initially ensuring the material and spiritual lives for people with meritorious services and mobilizing the entire society to take care of such people, thereby contributing to stabilizing the rear and mobilizing resources for the resistance war.
Since embarking upon the period of peace and national reconstruction, Vietnam has been bestowed with many favorable conditions for the implementation of the social privilege regime. After the war, social privilege activities have focused on the confirmation of war invalids, war martyrs and other persons with meritorious services to the nation, revising the preferences applicable to them. At present, the social privilege regime has been prescribed in some 150 legal documents, particularly the August 29, 1994 Ordinance, prescribing the honorable state title of “Ba Me Viet Nam Anh Hung” (Heroic Vietnamese Mother) and the June 29, 2005 Ordinance on Preferential Treatment of People with Meritorious Services to the Country.
Under the current law, the social privilege regime demonstrates the following basic principles:
a/ The preferential treatment of people with meritorious services to the nation primarily rests with the State.
To fulfill this responsibility, the State promulgates legal documents on social privileges and the administrations at all levels and functional bodies of the State are obliged to materialize such regime. The State provides funds for preferential treatment of people with meritorious services while playing the role of a movement launcher to mobilize the community’s potential for implementing the social-privilege regime.
b/ Fairness and publicity in social privileges. Fairness is manifest in the equality between people with meritorious services, regardless of their gender, nationality and social position, and in that people with greater meritorious services enjoy more privileges. Publicity is practiced in each locality as well as the entire society in the conditions, forms and degrees of preferences, aiming to ensure transparency in the preferential treatment of people with meritorious services to the country.
c/ Determination of a reasonable privilege regime and privilege levels suitable to the country’s economic conditions.
The reasonable privilege regime is manifest in that forms of privilege must, on the one hand, ensure the material and spiritual lives of the people with meritorious services and, on the other hand, create conditions for them to live on their own and to integrate into the community. Social privileges do not stop short at the provision of allowances but also cover employment, lodging, study and healthcare.
The privilege levels must suit the country’s economic situation and conditions in each period. When the national economy develops well, people with meritorious services must be better cared for and the State must amend the preferential regime in order to improve their lives.
Under Vietnamese law, the social-privilege regime covers mainly the eligible subjects and contents of preferences.
The current subjects of social privileges include:
- War invalids, diseased armymen, persons enjoying policies like war invalids;
- War martyrs and their families;
- Armed forces heroes and heroines, labor heroes and heroines, heroic Vietnamese mothers;
- Persons who participated in revolutionary activities before the August 1945 Revolution;
- Revolutionaries and resistance-war activists, who were captured and jailed by the enemies;
- Persons with merits in assisting the revolution;
- Persons who participated in resistance wars and performing international duties;
- Resistance-war activists and their offspring being agent orange victims;
The contents and fields of social privileges show the all-sidedness, urgency and sustainability, including:
- Preferential allowances, which are amounts of money provided in lump sum or monthly to persons with meritorious services;
- Privileges in education and training;
- Privileges in employment;
- Privileges in healthcare;
- Other privileges such as housing privileges and memorial works (martyrs cemeteries and memorial monuments).-