Citizens and children engaged in learning anti-corruption laws
May 23 2015, Local citizens, particularly women and secondary school students in Yen Phong District, Bac Ninh Province, were actively engaged in learning anti-corruption laws and provided with legal advice on corruption-related issues on the spot.
The activity was under the framework of Project 45 – Building image of ‘Justice warrior’ and model of law dissemination for community initiated and implemented by Law Faculty – Vietnam National University in Hanoi (VNU Hanoi) in partnership with a number of local authorities from 2014 – 2015 . Project 45 is one of 19 winning projects of VACI 2014 (Vietnam Anti-corruption Initiative) co-hosted by the Government Inspectorate and the World Bank in Vietnam.
The organisation team for this activity included lecturers and 16 qualified students from the Law Faculty – VNU Hanoi, officers of Towards Transparency (TT) and a lawyer of Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) under the Vietnam Justice Support Association for the Poor (VIJSUAP).
Youth participating education on integrity and law-related issues
The role play sending the message of “living with integrity” in school by Yen Phong secondary school’s students
In the morning, role plays and quizzes were organised to provide information on anti-corruption for school children and teachers in Yen Phong secondary school.
The law students brought to the stage well – prepared and entertaining performances conveying information on anti-corruption to the younger students, which was enthusiastically received by the latter. The teenagers, in return, contributed a role play scripted on their own, sending the message of “living with integrity” in school.
The following quizzes on ethical issues, integrity and standard behaviors contributing to anti-corruption provided students and teachers of the school informative and practical knowledge, especially for the young with the motto “every little helps”.
Local citizens sharing legal advice demand
Free legal advice for local citizens at their houses
One important goal of the activity was to identify the demand of local citizens on legal assistance, giving evidence for the Project 45 team to propose feasible solutions and supports afterwards.
Divided into groups, the law students met with households in Yen Phu Commne, Yen Phong District. Each group was accompanied by TT’s staff, ALAC’s lawyer and their lecturers as technical mentors.
These mobile group helped explain legal issues in areas such as: land, environment, marriage and family, labor for local people, introduced basic information on anti-corruption laws and people’s rights and responsibilities on anti-corruption. The students also received and filed people’s comments, questions and recommendations on these issues.
Especially, local citizens raised a number of concerning issues on road construction, environment, administrative procedure, etc.
Listening to women’s voices
Lawyer Nguyen Van Hoang from ALAC providing free legal advice on anti-corruption laws
Realising that local women were still facing with many obstacles in accessing legal support services, particularly in corruption-related cases, the team, in collaboration with Women Union in Yen Phu Commune, Yen Phong District organised a consultation session to provide direct law dissemination and advice for women in needs.
Representative of Project P45 briefly explained major content of the Anti-Corruption Law and listened to questions from the women. Lawyer Nguyen Van Hoang from ALAC gave them detailed answers and explanation, and also introduced them of the free legal assistance of ALAC.