MIGRANTS' RIGHT OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN VIETNAMESE LAW

ABSTRACT

The right to information is recognized as a constitutional right in Vietnam, and the nation of Vietnam has adopted the Law on Access to Information and guiding guidelines to concretize this right in 2016. The aforementioned consequences have established a legal framework for migrants to exercise their right to information and defend their rights; nonetheless, Vietnamese legal constraints on migrants' right to information continue to exist. deficiencies in rules on agencies safeguarding the right to access information, and on dealing with violations of the right to access information.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Право на информацию признано конституционным правом во Вьетнаме, и в 2016 году Вьетнам принял Закон о доступе к информации и руководящие принципы для конкретизации этого права. Вышеупомянутые последствия создали правовую основу для осуществления мигрантами их права на информацию и защиту своих прав; тем не менее, вьетнамские правовые ограничения права мигрантов на информацию продолжают существовать. недостатки в правилах об органах, обеспечивающих право на доступ к информации, и о борьбе с нарушениями права на доступ к информации.

Keyword: The right to access information; migrant; guarantee human rights; international migration; human right; Vietnamese law.

Ключевые слова: Право на доступ к информации; мигрант; гарантировать права человека; международная миграция; право человека; вьетнамское законодательство.

1. A general review of migrants' right to information

The right to information is one of the basic human rights recognized by international legal documents very early in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) through the recognition of the right to freedom of search, seek, and receive circulars through any media regardless of borders. In Vietnam, the right to access information is defined as the right to read, examine, listen to, take notes on, copy, and photograph material made public by state agencies and information requested by the right holder. Migration is defined in Vietnamese law as the movement of people from one nation to another, from one administrative unit to another. Within the scope of the article, the author approaches migration from the perspective of population movement from other countries to Vietnam, so that migrants after arriving in Vietnam can become Vietnamese citizens (in the case of immigrant migrants) or foreigners (in the case of non-immigrant migrants who retain their nationality). The majority of migrants who retain their foreign nationality are those who come to Vietnam to work; thus, the author will study the right of migrants to access general information as well as the right of employees to access information within the scope of the article. Thus, the right of migrants to access information may be regarded as the right to read, view, hear, record, copy, and photograph material released by state agencies and information requested by migrants.

2. Current status and execution of legal rules on migrants' right to access information in Vietnam

The advantages of Vietnam's law provisions on migrants' right to information

Firstly, Vietnam has a legislative framework that respects the right to information.

The fact that Vietnam acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966 from September 24, 1982, which incorporates rules on the freedom of people to access information, is the first legal foundation established in the legislation. Get information in Vietnam. For the first time, Vietnam promulgated the Law on Access to Information in 2016 to specify the principles, order, and procedures for exercising the right to access information, the responsibilities and obligations of state agencies in the protection of information, and to ensure access to information for Vietnamese citizens. Along with the Law on Access to Information, which was passed in 2016, Vietnam issued documents to guide its implementation, such as Decree 13/2018/ND-CP guiding the Law on Access to Information; Circular 64/2018/TT-BQP stipulating information provision within the Ministry of National Defense; and Decree No. 47/2020/ND-CP dated April 9, 2020 of the Government on Management, connection, and sharing of digital data of state agencies... These papers are the state of Vietnam's affirmation of the right to information's recognition, protection, and guarantee, and they also provide a significant contribution to migrants' and Vietnamese citizens' ability to enjoy one of their fundamental rights.

Secondly, Vietnam has various rules to ensure the obligation of state entities to disclose information, therefore ensuring migrants' (Vietnamese citizens') right to access information.

According to the terms of the Law on Access to Information 2016, competent state agencies are responsible for supplying information themselves. It is especially the obligation of state agencies to publish information (such as legal papers, administrative documents of universal applicability, administrative procedures, and so on) in different formats (such as publicity on the internet; publication in the official gazette;...). In a time when Vietnam is promoting the construction of the digital government, there is a lot of information that is publicized on the websites of state agencies; additionally, the implementation of many administrative procedures online makes it easier for migrants to access information.

• Restrictions in Vietnam's legislative rules on migrants' right to information

Firstly, Vietnamese law currently lacks definite and unambiguous laws to safeguard and ensure migrants' (foreigners') right to access information.

According to the 2013 Constitution, the subject entitled to access information is a Vietnamese citizen. Furthermore, the 2016 Law on Access to Information, which expressly and directly controls the right to access information in Vietnam, requires the exercise of citizens' right to access information. Rules, regulations, and processes for exercising citizens' right to information, as well as the roles and obligations of state agencies in safeguarding citizens' right to information. As a result, it is clear that the guiding texts of the 2016 Law on Access to Information apply solely to Vietnamese nationals. The above regulations show that for migrants who have immigrated to Vietnam, the right to access information is recognized, guaranteed, and strictly protected by law; however, for non-immigrant migrants (foreigners), Vietnam currently has no regulations defining their right to access information, and there are no regulations to ensure and protect this right for them. This will make it extremely difficult for foreign national migrants to use their right to knowledge, thus influencing the exercise of other civil and political rights of foreign migrants, foreign nationality. At the same time, the fact that migrants with foreign nationality are not recognized or guaranteed their rights has a direct impact on their ability to exercise their rights. When migrants with foreign nationality are unable to exercise their right to information, it has a direct impact on their compliance with the provisions of Vietnamese law, resulting in law infractions.

Secondly, the provisions of Vietnamese legislation on the right of Vietnamese migrants to access information continue to have flaws in dealing with misleading public information, impacting the exercise of the right to access information. Information about migrants who are Vietnamese citizens

As a result, the 2016 Law on Access to Information includes an obligation to "timely" update and disseminate rectified information when a competent state agency finds that information was developed by them and has been made public. Exactly, information generated by other agencies but released by themselves is inaccurate. At the same time, the Law establishes the duty to demand the agency that has disseminated the updated information to release the corrected information "timely" when it finds that the information generated by itself is not disclosed exactly by another agency. Thus, the Law has established the need to "timely" rectify and broadcast inaccurate information, but the Law does not specify how this "timely" requirement is met within a particular time frame. This may result in a scenario in which competent state authorities postpone the fulfillment of their duties to rectify, publicly correct publicly published faulty material, thus impacting the right to information. Information about migrants who are Vietnamese citizens.

Thirdly, the implementation of the Law on Access to Information in 2016 still has flaws that impair the right to information of Vietnamese migrants.

Firstly, state agencies and people have not understood their rights and obligations with respect to the enforcement and assurance of the right to access to information. Second, authorities and organizations charged with supervising the implementation of the right to information have not met their commitments in practice. Third, many state entities have not completely complied with the obligations of the 2016 Law on Access to Information.

3. Some ideas for ensuring migrants' access to information

To begin, include foreigners in the category of subjects with limited access to information in Vietnam

As stated in Section 2, the lack of measures in Vietnamese legislation to record, preserve, and safeguard foreign migrants' ability to access information has a detrimental impact on their rights and life. Migrants are both foreign nationals and employees of government agencies. As a result, Vietnam should consider recognizing that foreign migrants are also entitled to access to information in Vietnam in order to protect the human rights of foreign migrants and to ensure the management of state institutions. In particular, the Law should expressly state that foreign migrants have less access to information than Vietnamese citizens. To make the integrity of the country feasible and convenient for foreign migrants and competent state agencies in Vietnam, the right to access information at the request of foreign migrants should be exercised through diplomatic missions rather than competent state agencies like Vietnamese citizens.

Furthermore, Vietnamese legislation should incorporate the "timely" requirement into the responsibility of Vietnamese state agencies that have published wrong information to repair and broadcast rectified information.

As mentioned in Section 2, Vietnam's law clearly stipulates the "timely" requirement in the regulations on the obligation of a Vietnamese state agency that has disclosed incorrect information to correct and disclose corrected information, which may result in a state agency's delay in fulfilling its obligation to correct and publicize corrected information when disclosing untrue information. Meanwhile, the information disclosed by state agencies in 2016 is recorded in the Law on Access to Information, which includes: legal documents; administrative documents, constitutions, programs, projects, schemes, plans, and master plans for socioeconomic development of the country and locality; sector and field planning and methods and results of implementation; annual work programs and plans of state agencies; information about products, goods, and services that have Information about the public interest and community health; information concerning taxes, fees, and levies...These are all incredibly essential pieces of information that have a significant impact on all elements of economic, cultural, and social life, as well as people' rights and duties. As a result, if publicly erroneous information is not changed promptly, it will have a significant detrimental influence on people's lives as well as the state's reputation and administration. As a result, precise guidance on the "timely" obligation under Article 22 of the Law on Access to Information 2016 should be available in Vietnamese law shortly.

Additionally, Vietnam must boost promotion and disseminate the 2016 Law on Access to Information, as well as the papers that guide its implementation, and strengthen the right to access information locally. At the same time, authorities and organizations in charge of monitoring the implementation of the right to access information must take their responsibilities seriously. As a result, the National Assembly and the People's Council must organize the supervision of ensuring citizens' right to access information as prescribed in Article 13 of the Law on Access to Information 2016 in the years 2023-2024, and request the Government, People's Committees at all levels to include contents related to the situation of ensuring citizens' right to access information in annual socioeconomic development reports and sue the government. Simultaneously, People's Councils at all levels must allocate funds for People's Committees and judicial departments/sections/civil servants to organize the dissemination of 9 contents of work that state agencies in the locality must do in accordance with the Law on Access to Information in 2016, as well as upgrade public infrastructure to provide information to citizens.

All in all, Vietnamese law recognizes, protects, and ensures the right of Vietnamese migrants to access information, but it does not recognize the right of foreign migrants to access information. There are no explicit rights protection and protection regulations, which has a detrimental influence on both the exercise of migrants' rights and the management operations of state agencies. As a result, governmental authorities and migrants themselves must be more proactive in order to implement and safeguard the right to information in Vietnam.

References:

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948//URL: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights  (date of application 21.03.2024)
2. Law on access to information 2016 //URL: https://data.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/dataset/law-on-access-to-information/resource/276bee87-644a-4302-a54e-739b91ee38e4  (date of application 21.03.2024)
3. Resolution 47/2022/QH15 Monitoring Program of the National Assembly 2023 //URL: https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/EN/Bo-may-hanh-chinh/Resolution-50-2022-QH15-program-on-formulation-of-laws-and-ordinances-2023/521111/tieng-anh.aspx (date of application 21.03.2024)