Nhan Dan Online – The Justice Index provides a measure of people’s accessibility to the justice system, a basis for proposing policy recommendations to ensure equal justice and fundamental rights for citizens from all walks of life.
Chairman of Vietnam Lawyers’ Association Pham Quoc Anh made the statement in his opening remarks at a conference to announce the Justice Index 2012 in Hanoi on October 3.
The first-ever index has been built based on analysing the aggregated results and data collected more than 5,000 respondents across 21 localities nationwide, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and 19 randomly selected provinces.
It covers five dimensions of law enforcement and rights protection, which are accessibility, equity, integrity, reliability and efficiency, and guarantee of fundamental rights.
Addressing the launch, Deputy Country Director of United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Bakhodir Burkhanov said the Justice Index introduces a new approach to the assessment of the ongoing legal and judicial reform process in Vietnam.
He expressed hope that the index provides a useful and practical reference for further reforms, moving towards building a more effective and satisfactory judicial and law system to citizens.
He also pledged UNDP’s continued support to Vietnam in its process of perfecting the justice index.
The first-ever empirical justice index pointed out certain operational limitations in State agencies in securing people’s fundamental rights and solving civil disputes, while putting forth relevant suggestions to meet people’s desire for an efficient, reliable, professional and accessible justice system with a high level of integrity.
Delegates spoke highly of the study’s results, which, they believed, would help State institutions discover and address their administrative weaknesses aiming to enhance the operational efficiency. They also expected that the survey scale be expanded to all 63 cities and provinces to result in a more comprehensive justice index.
Concluding the ceremony, Le Minh Tam, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Lawyers’ Association believed that the justice index along with other indices will practically contribute to giving concrete and objective assessment of the national socio-economic development.
Van Toan
Nhan Dan Newspaper