Comparative law and justice/Vietnam

Brief History
BRIEF HISTORY: The Vietnamese first appeared in history as one of many scattered peoples living in what is now South China and Northern Vietnam just before the beginning of the Christian era. According to local tradition, the small Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac, located in the heart of the Red River valley, was founded by a line of legendary kings who had ruled over the ancient kingdom of Van Lang for thousands of years. Historical evidence to substantiate this tradition is scanty, but archaeological findings indicate that the early peoples of the Red River delta area may have been among the first East Asians to practice agriculture, and by the 1st century BC they had achieved a relatively advanced level of Bronze Age civilization. • Vietnam conquered by French in 19th century • Occupied by Japanese in W.W.II • 1945 end of W.W. II • 1946-54 – Communist Viet Minh League formed and led by Ho Chi Minh; not recognized by France • French and Viet Minh fight for control of Indochina • 1954 – Viet Nam divided with DMZ; elections promised by UN; country to be re-united in 1956 • 1955-6 Ho Chi Minh controls Communist North (DMV); Diem, supported by U.S. controls South; U.S. delays • 1957 – U.S. has Special Forces troops involved in intelligence gathering and training of South Vietnamese, including the Montagnard indigenous people, in guerilla warfare – no official involvement • 1963 – Pres. Diem assassinated; 3 weeks later, Kennedy assassinated • March 1965 – first U.S. combat troops land • October 1965 – first draft card burned • 1968 peace negotiations begin in Paris • 1969 My Lai massacre exposed • 1973 agreement signed between U.S. and DRV; official withdrawal of U.S. • 1976 N. and S. Viet Nam reunited

General
Country's full name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam). Capital: Hanoi.[1] Major Cities: Ho Chi Minh City is populated with 5.6 million people. Following is Hanoi with a population with a little more than half of Ho Chi Minh City, with 3 million people. Other major cities consists of: Danang, Haiphong, and Can Tho. Independence: Vietnam became independent from Japan and France on September 2, 1945. However, Vietnam remained under French control until the communist Viet Minh defeated French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Public Holidays: "Official holidays are: New Year’s (January 1), Tet or Lunar New Year (movable date in January or February), Liberation Day to commemorate the fall of Saigon (April 30), Labor Day (May 1), and Independence Day to commemorate Japan’s withdrawal following its defeat in World War II (September 2).

Land
Land area: 125,622 sq mi (325,361 sq km) total area: 127,244 sq mi (329,560 sq km) Geography: Vietnam is borederd by the South China Sea and is part of the Indochinese peninsula. South of Vietnam is the Mekong River delta. North of Vietnam is China while Laos and Cambodia are to the West.

People
Population: (July 2009 est.) 88,576,758

Age structure (2009 est.) 0-14 years: 26.1% (male 12,069,408/female 11,033,738) 15-64 years: 68.3% (male 30,149,986/female 30,392,043) 65 years and over: 5.6% (male 1,892,505/female 3,039,078) Median Age (2009 est.) total: 27.4 years male: 26.4 years female: 28.5 years Population growth rate (2009 est.) 1.137% Birth rate (2009 est.) 17.73 births/1,000 population Net migration rate(2009 est.)> Year Net migration rate Rank Percent Change Date of Information 2008 -0.39 99  (2008 est.) 2009 -0.38 103 -2.56 % (2009 est.) 2010 -0.38 100 0.00 % (2009 est.)

Urbanization urban population: 28% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 3.1% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.) Sex ratio(2009 est.) at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female

Life expectancy at birth (2009 est.) male: 69.24 years female: 74.45 years total population: 71.71 years

Total fertility rate (2009 est.) 1.98 children born/woman Nationality noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural) adjective: Vietnamese

Ethnic groups: 85%-90% Vietnamese 3% Chinese 7%-12% French, Hmong, Thai, Khmer, Cham, and Montagnards

Languages The primary language in Vietnam is Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt).

Religions: Buddhist (7.6 million) , Roman Catholic (6 million) , Cao Dai (2 million) , Hoa Hao (1 million) , Protestant (500,000) , and Islam (50,000).

Economic Development
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Between the early 90s and 2005, 29%-50% poverty decreased in the Country. This kind of progress unfortunately, depends on which city they lived in because most people prospered in the more urban areas like Ho Chi Minh City. However, rural area poverty also had some declination. In 1993, 66% and in 2002, 36%. Most of the poverty in Vietnam are in the rural areas in the northern parts of Vietnam and central highlands. Despite the progress, the World Economic Forum's 2005 Global Competitive Report ranked Vietnam as the 81st in growth competitiveness globally and 80th in business competitiveness. Ineffectiveness of the competition ranks are due to government corruption and poorly owned state banks. Economy in Vietnam is continuously growing at a rate of 7% per year. In 2003, tourism was at 2.4 million and 2004 international arrivals increased to 2.9 million. Between 1994 and 2004 tourism rates rose by 63%. International tourism consists of 27% from China, 8-9% from U.S., Japan and South Korea each. The unemployment rate in 2004 was 5.6% compared to 6.0% in 2002. Exchange rates as of December 2005 is 15,913D(dong) per 1USD.

Health
HEALTH:

Death rate (July 2009 est.) 5.98 deaths/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate (2009 est.) male: 22.64 deaths/1,000 live births female: 21.84 deaths/1,000 live births total: 22.26 deaths/1,000 live births

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate (2007 est.) 0.5%

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS (2007 est.) 290,000 HIV/AIDS - deaths (2007 est.) 24,000

Major infectious diseases(2009 est.) food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and plague water contact disease: leptospirosis note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds degree of risk: high

Education
EDUCATION: 92% of eligble children were enrolled in primary education. Two out of every three of this 92% finished the fifth grade. Family income compared to tuition costs, books, uniforms, and transportation became less important than finding money to support members of the family so drop out rates were fairly high. However, location is also important. 96% of students in the city completed the fifth grade whereas students in the rural area are less fortunate and only 10-15% go pass the third grade. In the year 2000, 62.5% of students went into higher education. The Vietnam government however, is trying to make secondary education more easier to access.

Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 94% male: 95.8& female: 92.3%

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) (2000) total: 10 years male: 11 years female: 10 years definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 90.3% male: 93.9% female: 86.9% (2002 est.)

Courts and Criminal Law
(Pháp luật)

Punishment
The death penalty exists in Vietnam (Tử hình)

Law of the Sea
Luật Biển Việt Nam in Vietnamese.

Labor Codes
See: Bộ luật Lao động nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam 2012 The labor code is important to Vietnam. Where (foreign) criminal law has the presumption of innocence (to be be proven against with hard proof). The employee in Vietnam has the benefit of being upheld (not to be proven against without reasonable or hard proof). This is commonly discussed as the pro-employee rulings on labor issues. All employee contracts are expected to be in good standing order. Special statutory considerations for employees should be accounted for - even where employment contracts state otherwise. Judges will review workers' rights as a priority.

This is from traditional Asian culture and communist policy. Leadership orients the service (of employment). Employees that aren't opportunistic or willing to be new leaders are retained under proper treatment and rights. A disparity in wages is not necessarily an issue between leader and employees - indebtedness carries to the leader. Because of this culture, leaders can leave organizations with their main supporters. Therefore, protection of business-orientated intellectual-property is not a cultural priority.

In the diaspora, alternative business cultures can exist. Modern employment at foreign national organizations can obey international HR trends. See (Viet):Bộ Lao động - Thương binh và Xã hội

Socialist Law
See: Luật Công đoàn nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam 2012

Social-rights laws are a category of law in Vietnam, which is more than a subcategory of law dealing with issues (for morals and rights).