Vietnamese State always pays attention to protecting its citizens

Question (Nguyễn Minh Hoàn, Vietnamese resident in the UK): Does the State has any program or plan to protect Vietnamese citizens in other countries when they break the host country's laws and get imprisoned?

Answer (Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs): So far, the Vietnamese State has always given special attention to the work relating to Vietnamese people abroad, acknowledging it the responsibility and obligation of a regime to its citizens.

Việt Nam's representative bodies in other countries have made efforts to protect legitimate rights and benefits of Vietnamese citizens. However, due to some objective reasons (in many cases, Vietnamese citizens do not want the host authorities to inform the Vietnamese representative bodies or the local authorities themselves do not inform Việt Nam; in other cases, the person concerned does not cooperate with the representative bodies) and subjective ones (shortages of fund and manpower), the protection of these people is limited.

The protection of citizens requires both the representative body and the person concerned to join hand. It must follow the host country’s laws as well as international practices. Generally, those who breaks the host country’s laws are subjected to its punishments. However, through diplomatic activities, Việt Nam's overseas representative bodies can interfere so that there is no discrimination in trails and no harm to the bilateral ties.

To enhance the protection of citizens abroad, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng on July 25, 2007, issued a decision setting up a Fund for the protection of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities in other countries to provide additional financial assistance to Việt Nam's representative bodies in carrying out the work and support all citizens in need. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance are completing necessary procedures and documents to put the Fund into reality as soon as possible.