The Government Committee is Not Enough: CEMA of Vietnam
The Committee for Ethnic Minorities (CEM) is a ministerial level agency of the government of Vietnam responsible for overall development of strategies, planning and implementation of government policies on ethnic minorities and mountainous areas who constitute about 14% of the total population of Vietnam.
The government of Vietnam has repeatedly changed the name, organizational structure and powers and functions of the Committee dealing with the Ethnic Minorities. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas (CEMMA) was created in 1993 only to be replaced by the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Area Affairs (SCEMMAA) in 1998. Again in May 2003, the government replaced SCEMMAA with “the Committee for Nationalities”. Finally, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities was brought in by Decree 60/2008/ NĐ-CP dated 9th May 2008.
The need to frequently change the name, powers and functions of the Committee dealing with the Ethnic Minorities exposes the failure of the Committee and the constant efforts of the government of Vietnam to provide more mandate to the Committee. Yet, a mere Ministerial-level committee like the “Committee for Ethnic Minorities” is totally insufficient and unsatisfactory to fulfill the interests of the Ethnic Minorities.
Evolution of CEM
Ethnic minority issues have been at the core of the government’s agenda - albeit primarily from a strategic point of view - since the country’s independence from France in 1945. In September 1946, Socialist Republic of Vietnam decided to create an Ethnic Minority Department under the Office of the Prime Minister, primarily to conduct research and resolve the problems concerning ethnic minorities. In 1959, it was upgraded to Committee status with better defined functions and organizational structure, including a research department, a department of propaganda, culture, and education and a department of security. The Committee was empowered to advise the government in policy making for ethnic minorities and to oversee the implementation of those policies. In 1987, the Committee was dissolved but was re-established in 1990 under the name Office of Mountainous Areas and Ethnic Affairs.
In 1993, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas The Government Committee is Not Enough : CEMA of Vietnam (CEMMA) was created. CEMMA was responsible for Ethnic Minority development and for mountainous areas. In 1998, CEMMA was replaced by the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Area Affairs (SCEMMAA) under Decree No. 59/1998/ND- CP of 13 August 1998 issued by the Prime Minister. The SCEMMAA was “an agency of the Government providing the State management functions in the fields of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas nationwide, and at the same time acting as an advisory agency to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the guideline, policies towards the ethnic minority groups and mountainous areas”. It was headed by a Minister (who is called the Chairman of the SCEMMAA) and the Minister was assisted by the Vice Chairmen who are “nominated or dismissed by the Prime Minister”. The Minister- Chairman of the SCEMMAA was accountable to the Government, the Prime Minister and the National Assembly.
Again under Decree No. 51/2003/ ND-CP of 16 May 2003, the government of Vietnam replaced SCEMMAA with “the Committee for Nationalities” which is a “ministeriallevel agency of the Government”. Finally, on 9 May 2008, the name was changed to “the Committee for Ethnic Minorities” by Decree 60/2008/ NĐ-CP dated May 09, 2008. It is a ministerial level agency under the Government mandated to perform the functions of state management on ethnic minority affairs nationwide, and on public services within its authorities as prescribed by the law. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities (CEM) is headed by the Chairman who is a Minister in the Union Cabinet. He is assisted by the Vice Chairmen. Presently, there are three Vice Chairmen in the CEM.
Powers and functions
Under Decree No. 60/2008/NĐ-CP dated 9th May 2008, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities is a ministerial level agency under the Government mandated to perform functions of state management on ethnic minority affairs nationwide, and on public services within its authorities as prescribed by the law. The functions of the Committee ranges from development of laws to implementation of the programmes, their monitoring and acting as inter-agency of different ministries of Vietnam and liaisoning with international agencies.
Activities of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities
It is pertinent to mention here that although Decree No. 51/2003/NDCP of 16 May 2003 has “replaced” the Government’s Decree No. 59/1998/ND-CP of 13 August 1998 which established the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Area Affairs, both the donor agencies (such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, UNDP and foreign governments etc) and the government of Vietnam continue to refer the Committee as “Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas” (CEMMA).
The CEMMA and its successors the Committee for Nationalities and the Committee for Ethnic Minorities have been the nodal agency in implementation and monitoring of various ethnic minorities specific projects. The most important programmes implemented in Vietnam for development of the ethnic minorities and mountainous areas under the aegis of Committee for Ethnic Minorities are as follows: (a) Programme 135: Programme on Socio-economic Development in Mountainous, Deep-lying and Remote Communes with Special Difficulties; (b) Program 826: Policy of Support for Ethnic Minority Households in Extremely Difficult Circumstances; (c) Land and housing for Ethnic Minorities; (d) Technical Assistance Project of ADB; (e) Rural Clean Water and Sanitation Program; (f) Resettlement and Sedentarization Program; (g) Price and transportation subsidies program; and (h) Linking Bank Credit Model project.
That the ethnic minorities have not benefited much from the policies and programmes could be identified from the failure of the government to substantially reduce poverty among the ethnic minorities. While the national poverty rate fell from 58.1% in 1993 to 16% in 2006, poverty remains much higher among the ethnic minorities than among the Kinh and Chinese majority. The ethnic minorities who constitute only 14% of the total population account for 44 percent of the poor and 59 percent of the hungry. In the last 13 years, their poverty rate has been declining at an average of 2.6 percentage points per year, against 3.4 points for the Kinh and Chinese majority. In 2006, 52 percent of ethnic minority people were still living in poverty, compared to only 10 percent of Kinh and Chinese people. The majority Kinh and Chinese have been the major beneficiaries of the policies and programmes targeting hunger eradication and poverty reduction. For instance, the poverty rate of the Central Highlands fell by a remarkable 23 percentage points between 2002 and 2006. However, a closer examination suggests that there has been almost no improvement in living standards for ethnic minorities in that region. Poverty among the ethnic minority has remained high in both the Northern Mountains and the Central Highlands, poverty among the Kinh and Chinese people in those regions has declined at 4.6 and 2.8 percentage points per year respectively.
Hence, the Committee for Nationalities and the government of Vietnam must reconsider their policies and programmes and ensure that the conditions of the ethnic minorities are uplifted equally.
The present Committee for Ethnic Nationalities which is a ministerial level agency of the government is not enough for the development of the ethnic minorities who live on the lowest rung of the Vietnamese society despite Vietnam being recognized as one of the fastest emerging economies in Asia.
Besides development and access to basic facilities such as food, healthcare, education, sanitation, housing, safe drinking water and communications etc, the ethnic minorities of Vietnam need protection from violations of their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms by the state and majority Kinh or Viets.
Hence, the government of Vietnam must do much more than a mere ministerial level committee which has no independence and resources to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities. Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network (AITPN) recommends that the government of Vietnam sets up a separate Ministry for Development of the Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas and initiate the process for establishment of a National Commission for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the protection and promotion of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the ethnic minorities in Vietnam.