Ha Que Lam
Director
Ethnic Policy Department
Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Regions
Customary law is the historical phenomenon reflecting the social relations of ethnic minority groups and being of extremely important significance for the questions of ethnology, sociology and national law in all states governed by law and customary law of which the customary law is a tool for self-governance in ethnic minority hamlets. Furthermore, it also reflects the cultural identity and fine traditions of the ethnic minority groups in the history of their development process. The customary law also supports the management and regulation of social relations within hamlets, ethnoses as well as the family ties. However, due to the historical characters of the process of its formation and development, the customary law contain backward provisions which have affected the maintenance of the State disciplines and laws, as goes the saying “The king’s rulings have to yield to the village customs”.
Prompted by the urgent social development requirements as well as practical requirements, the value, role and contents of the customary law should be further studied and evaluated in a scientific and serious manner so as to work out appropriate policies to preserve and develop the precious values of the customary law which has been built up by various ethnic groups and passed from generation to generation as the local law provisions.
Particular attention should also be paid to the study of the customary law’s provisions on the relations between ethnoses as well as among members of an ethnos, including material relations and non-material relations, to the study of traditional cultural customs and prac-tices in the fields of education, language, script, healthcare, physical training, traditional medicine prescriptions, etc.
Efforts should also be concentrated on the evaluation of the current status of the customary law existing among various ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands, central and northern provinces of Vietnam in order to assess and compare the provisions of the customary law as well as village rules with the current law provisions regarding the customary law and the question of environmental protection, the customary law and the question of land ownership, the customary law and the regulation of social relations.
All these shall serve as basis for proposing to the Party and the State appropriate measures and policies based on the positive factors of the customary law in order to preserve the fine traditions and practices and develop appropriate forms of self-governance in ethnic minority hamlets and communities along the general lines and policies charted by the Party and the State.
As clearly stated in the Resolution of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee, the elaboration of village rules and the application as well as inheritance of the quintessence of the customary law should be encouraged. This is of great urgency particularly during the time when the country is pursuing the policy of “doi moi” (renewal) while promoting the nation’s cultural identities passed down from our ancestors, thus contributing to the building and effective use of customs and practices in ethnic minority hamlets for the promotion of the customary law and for the development of the countryside.
To us, the study and preservation of the customary law according to the contents of the current regime of management by law shall positively contribute to the cause of national renewal, construction and development along the socialist orientation, building Vietnam into a civilized, prosperous and strong country.-