Communist Review - Protection of citizens working abroad under international agreements on labor cooperation is the need of several countries around the world, including Vietnam. Accordingly, regulations on citizen protection need to be improved in the coming time.

The 2013 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam affirms: “Vietnamese citizens living abroad shall be protected by the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”(1). The Law on Vietnamese Nationality states: “The State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam protects lawful rights of Vietnamese citizens living abroad. Domestic state agencies and overseas Vietnamese representative missions shall take all necessary measures in accordance with laws of host countries and international law and practice to effect such protection”(2). Accordingly, the system of appropriate authorities specialized in citizen protection has been increasingly consolidated, their quality and quantity have been improved. The state responsibility in taking all necessary measures in accordance with local laws, international laws and practices, and Vietnamese law on the protection of rights and interests of Vietnamese citizens living abroad is clearly stipulated. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, through diplomatic missions and consular missions of Vietnam in foreign countries (representative missions) carry out all measures so that Vietnamese migrants shall fully enjoy rights and interests under the law of the host country and international agreements signed by Vietnam and that country or under customary law. When the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese citizens are violated, representative missions are in charge of taking all measures to guarantee them.

Current situation of Vietnamese citizens abroad protection

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifically the Consular Department and the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, take initiative in protecting the interests of Vietnamese nationals abroad. The Consular Department performs functions related to citizen protection such as: State management of migration activities of overseas Vietnamese, consular protection of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad, guiding Vietnamese representative missions abroad to coordinate with competent authorities in protecting legal rights and interests of Vietnamese citizens living abroad(3). In order to improve citizen protection affairs, the Office for the Protection of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad, under the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was established in April 2012. It is the focal point for resolving issues related to overseas Vietnamese protection. Besides, the Web Portal on consular affairs managed by the Consular Department publishes information on citizen protection and gives necessary warnings to citizens to prevent and avoid risks during their migration. The Call Center supporting overseas Vietnamese citizens and legal entities has been launched since February 2015, receiving all their information and requests for help.

The State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese is a general department-level agency directly under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assuming the state management over overseas Vietnamese affairs. Accordingly, it has the task of synthesizing and assessing the situation of overseas Vietnamese community; supporting them to stabilize their lives as well as integrate into the host society and consolidate national unity; guiding overseas Vietnamese organizations and individuals to connect with domestic ones(4). In practice, it has been shown that the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese nationals is proactively and methodically conducted by Vietnamese authorities. This work is basically done through the direct management mechanism from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Consular Department) to the relevant representative agencies.

Overseas Vietnamese representative missions play a key role in carrying out protection activities. They are established by the Government on the basis of needs, activities, foreign relations and agreements with host countries and international organizations and are under the direct management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They perform consular duties (including consular assistance) and support, protect the overseas Vietnamese community(5).

In the field of labor, the Department of Overseas labors under the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs is responsible for assisting the Minister in performing the state management of Vietnamese workers working abroad under contract. The Labor Management Board under Vietnamese representative mission has been established by the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs in countries and regions where many Vietnamese migrants work. Currently, Vietnam has labor management boards in 6 countries and territories with a large number of Vietnamese workers working, including: Japan, Korea, Taiwan (China), Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia. For countries that have not yet established a labor management board, the Vietnamese representative mission in the host country will, on behalf of the Vietnam State, assume duties of solving problems related to Vietnamese workers.

Citizen protection affairs during the past time have achieved positive results thanks to the efforts of Vietnamese authorities abroad on the one hand and the close coordination with relevant authorities in the host country on the other hand. Most countries where Vietnamese workers live and work create the most favorable conditions for citizen protection. Some countries with a big number of migrants or citizens working abroad similar to Vietnam have created flexible and effective mechanisms, such as the establishment of specialized agencies. Sri Lanka established a High-Level Advisory Board with the participation of ministries, sectors, private organizations, trade unions, social organizations to promote work from key ministries and sectors(6). This agency has correspondingly the authority to make decisions on how to act or directly assign tasks to functional agencies when incidents occur. They may also set out regulations on information exchange and establish rapid response teams among relevant agencies to resolve problems.

In Vietnam, when citizen protection is needed, many operational measures have been actively implemented by representative agencies, effectively affording protection to citizens. For example, they regularly discuss with the competent authorities of the host country to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to live, study and do business legally; promptly protect citizens when being arrested or detained for violating the laws of the host country;  lend migrants in difficulty a helping hand; mobilize Vietnamese associations to actively support citizen protection affairs; appoint officials to attend court hearings to protect employees’ rights and request employers and insurance companies to compensate workers when having occupational accidents, provide alerts and appoint staff to operate the 24/7 hotline to promptly take protective measures in crisis situations. Vietnamese representative missions abroad have contributed to solving numerous cases, this is recognized and highly appreciated by relatives and families of overseas Vietnamese nationals in difficulties.

However, the coordination mechanism with host countries constitutes a weakness in the protection of overseas Vietnamese nationals working abroad, especially in regions where representative missions of Vietnam have not been established yet. At present, Vietnam still does not create a mechanism for close coordination and responsibilities between domestic authorities and Vietnamese representative missions abroad. In crisis situation that needs rapid response, problem solving is not consistent and efficient, partly reducing the effectiveness of citizen protection in general and the protection of overseas Vietnamese nationals working abroad under contracts in particular. In many cases, competent agencies of countries that have not signed consular agreements with Vietnam do not notify the arrest and trial of Vietnamese citizens to Vietnamese representative agencies. This is detrimental to the protection of citizens. Another disadvantage is that, in countries that have not signed mutual legal assistance agreements with Vietnam, Vietnamese citizens must complete legalization procedures if they want to use documents issued by Vietnamese authorities and pay the court fee in advance when being sued in court and foreign court decisions are not recognized and enforced in Vietnam(7).

In order to strengthen and perfect institutions and mechanisms to protect Vietnamese citizens working abroad in accordance with international agreements on labor cooperation, a selection of key policy considerations is highlighted as follow:

Firstly, improve the role and operational efficiency of Vietnamese diplomatic missions and consulates abroad in approaching and assisting Vietnamese workers abroad, tackling disputes with foreign employers and brokers about employment and working conditions, wages, income, income tax and expenses stipulated by law. Citizen protection work at Vietnamese embassies abroad needs to ensure gender equality, support both male and female workers in cases of abuse so as to protect their rights, ensure their anonymity and confidentiality, respect their personal privacy. For markets that record high female employment, at least one female labor manager is required.

Secondly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should clearly define the functions, tasks and coordination mechanism between the Consular Department and the State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese to specialize and improve the effectiveness of protection of overseas Vietnamese nationals abroad. Consequently, the Consular Department is the focal agency responsible before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the protection of Vietnamese citizens abroad. It is in charge of leading and coordinating with relevant units and agencies to carry out citizen protection activities when necessary. It is needful to build a Crisis Management Center under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which a full-time or part-time department can be established to develop a national plan for crisis management. On that basis, relevant ministries and branches will develop response plans suitable to their functions and tasks. When a crisis situation occurs, the Center will operate the crisis management process and be on duty 24/7 to receive related information and deal with crisis. In addition, it will develop a set of training materials for citizen protection in crisis situations. Crisis management procedures at different levels also need to be unified.

Thirdly, increase the number of representative agencies, reduce part-time representative agencies, especially in areas with a large number of Vietnamese nationals working and living. Moreover, a priority should be given to increasing the staffing of consular sections at representative missions. In case of necessity, it is needful to consider the creation of mobile offices to handle consular affairs in neighboring countries of the consular area so as to promptly provide people with the support they need. Furthermore, a due consideration should be given to improving the qualifications and capacity of officials assuming consular duties abroad.

Fourthly, strengthen the coordination among relevant agencies. Due to the complex and diverse nature of citizen protection, the coordination between direct agencies and other relevant ones plays a pivotal role that determines the effectiveness of citizen protection. Accordingly, in the immediate future, it is indispensable to provide more specific regulations on regular and periodic coordination mechanisms between functional agencies, especially between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, the People's Supreme Court, the People's Supreme Procuracy to unify citizens protection measures, avoid problems during the process of protecting Vietnamese workers abroad who hold dual citizenship, resolve issues related to repatriation, deportation of Vietnamese citizens abroad, restoration or renouncement of Vietnamese citizenship and so forth.

Fifthly, build a database on migrant workers, implement citizen registration activities for Vietnamese nationals abroad. In fact, the database on Vietnamese nationals working abroad has not been updated regularly and consistently because there are cases when agencies and enterprises do not report to the Department of Overseas Labor as well as the Consular Department. An accurate database on migrant workers or on citizen registration will enable Vietnamese representative missions to grasp information about the number of Vietnamese workers living in the area under their management, their identities so that they can take prompt measures when needed. For this, in the immediate future, it is required to conduct a review and assessment of the citizen registration activities so as to clarify limitations and inadequacies and find appropriate solutions. A particular priority should be given to propagating widely about the importance of citizen registration for Vietnamese nationals abroad. Besides, it is essential to improve the professional competence and raise awareness of consular officers about citizen registration. In the long term, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should work closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs to develop a legal document regulating the registration of Vietnamese citizens abroad, facilitating the nationality verification of Vietnamese nationals working abroad when citizen protection is needed.

Sixthly, strengthen the international coordination mechanism with the receiving country on the protection of Vietnamese citizens working abroad in accordance with international agreements on labor cooperation. In the forthcoming period, in order to improve the effectiveness of citizen protection in conformity with international agreements on labor cooperation, it is imperative to focus on the coordination relationship between Vietnam and countries receiving workers through bilateral and multilateral agreements on labor export. Accordingly, an adequate attention should be paid to improving the legal framework for the protection of overseas citizens when facing difficulties. Continue to promote international cooperation in the fight against illegal migration; strengthen the cooperation and support of international organizations as well as host country authorities. /.

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(1) Clause 3, Article 17, Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2013

(2) Article 6, Law on Vietnamese Nationality 2008, amended and supplemented in 2014

(3) See: Decision No. 227/QD-BNG dated January 21, 2014 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on “Defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Consular Department”

(4) See: Decision No. 11/2019/QD-TTg dated February 18, 2019 of the Prime Minister on “Defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Oversea Vietnamese Committee directly under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”

(5) Articles 7 and 8, Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2009, amended and supplemented in 2017

(6) See: Pham Thi Hoan: State management of Vietnam's labor export in the current period, PhD Thesis in economics. LA 11.0284.2, National Library, 2011, p. 79

(7) See: Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Protecting the interests of Vietnamese citizens abroad, Research project, October 1998, Hanoi, p. 132

This article was published in the Communist Review No. 969 (July 2021)