VZCZCXRO0466
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHHI #1331/01 3401000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051000Z DEC 08 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8812
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5345

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001331 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - (ADDED CAPTION) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV PHUM SOCI VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S DIVERSE BUT POLITICALLY LIMITED CIVIL 
SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS (C-AL8-01684) 
 
REF: A. STATE 92765 
     ¶B. 07 HANOI 750 
     ¶C. 07 HANOI 1215 
     ¶D. 07 HANOI 1246 
     ¶E. 07 HANOI 2617 
     ¶F. HANOI 1102 
 
HANOI 00001331  001.4 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) The responses below are keyed to questions in Ref A. 
This cable is not meant for Internet distribution and should 
remain within USG channels. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: Most of Vietnam's growing and varied civil 
society organizations administer to the poor and 
disadvantaged.  They have limited impact in influencing 
government decisions and in holding leaders accountable.  The 
Party's six mass organizations are now drafting laws and 
doing a better job of representing the interests of their 
membership at the local level.  Our civil society contacts 
say the GVN wants more "safe" groups to take on social tasks 
it cannot.  However, these contacts add that some GVN 
officials worry about civil society organizations fomenting 
"color revolutions."  End Summary. 
 
A Plethora of Organizations 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Vietnam has many different types of organizations, 
associations and groups.  Most of these organizations provide 
services to the poor and disadvantaged.  Their impact in 
influencing public policies on human rights, social policy 
and national budgeting, and in holding the state and private 
sectors accountable, is limited.  The role of the Party's six 
mass organizations has evolved in that they now are drafting 
laws and are doing more to represent the interests of people 
at the grassroots level.  The GVN wants more "safe" groups to 
take on social tasks that it cannot but some GVN officials 
worry about civil society organizations fomenting "color 
revolutions," according to our contacts.  The GVN has moved 
cautiously in granting civil society "more space." 
 
¶4. (U) The Communist Party of Vietnam's "mass 
organizations"(MOs) are: the Fatherland Front (FF), the 
Women's Union (12 million members), Farmers' Association (8 
million members), General Federation of Labor (4.25 million 
members), War Veterans Association (1.92 million members) and 
Ho Chi Minh Youth Union (5.1 million members).  The FF 
functions as an umbrella group for 29 organizations; among 
other things, it screens candidates for National Assembly 
elections.  Historically, the MOs have had a special 
relationship with the Party.  Organized hierarchically, the 
MOs have branches at each administrative level from the 
center to the provinces, districts, communes and villages. 
At the grassroots level, the MOs have some autonomy and can 
act in their local settings, whereas the higher levels often 
serve as a career ladder both within the MOs and into 
government and Party positions. 
 
¶5. (U) "Professional associations" can be divided into two 
major groupings: umbrella associations and professional 
associations.  In the first category are some of the 
organizations under the FF, such as the Vietnam Union of 
Science and Technology Associations, the Red Cross, Union of 
Art and Literature, and the Vietnam Lawyers' Association. 
Others are broad organizations like the Gardening 
Association, which is in 62 provinces and has a membership of 
about 700,000. 
 
¶6. (U) "Vietnamese NGOs" (VNGOs) tend to be small 
organizations that: 1) deliver social services for the 
government in health or education, often charity based; 2) 
carry out research and social work; 3) help marginalized 
groups; 4) work like consulting companies for the GVN or 
Donors in preparing and implementing programs.  VNGOs are 
often more innovative than other organizations, but are 
limited in impact and have limited funding.  They view their 
role quite differently from their foreign counterparts; VNGOs 
see themselves as partners working on development projects in 
support of state policy and as advocates for improved state 
services.  There is a strong tendency for VNGOs to negotiate 
with and educate state officials rather than confront them as 
a tactic to bring about change. 
 
¶7. (U) "Community-based organizations" (CBOs), estimated to 
number from 100,000 to 200,000 groups, work to improve 
people's livelihoods and include groups like water-user 
groups, pig- or cow-farming groups, youth groups, mutual 
assistance groups and education and training groups.  Cities 
have neighborhood groups, family clan groups, and groups 
taking care of festivals and pagodas.  As they operate at the 
grassroots level, CBOs have no independent legal framework 
for their activities.  Presumably, a large number of CBOs are 
 
HANOI 00001331  002.4 OF 002 
 
 
not registered at all. 
 
The Registration Process 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) Associations desiring to work throughout Vietnam must 
gain approval to do so from the Ministry of Home Affairs' 
Department of NGO Affairs.  The overwhelming majority of 
national level organizations have registered under VUSTA, the 
Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) and the 
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VNCCI).  This is 
because VUSTA, VUFO, and VNCCI have long worked throughout 
Vietnam and their leaders are respected and relatively senior 
Communist Party members.  Estimates are that Vietnam has 
roughly 400 associations operating nationally.  Organizations 
or associations seeking to operate in particular areas of 
Vietnam are required to get approval from provincial or city 
people's committees and local offices of the Ministry of Home 
Affairs. 
 
¶9. (U) The GVN's Law on Science and Technology became 
operational in 2001.  This law allows Vietnamese to establish 
science and technology organizations with local science and 
technology departments.  Vietnamese seeking to open a science 
and technology organization technically do not have to go 
through the city people's committee.  A group of Vietnamese 
intellectuals took advantage of the Law on Science and 
Technology to register the Institute for Development Studies, 
which is pushing the reform envelope (Ref. F), with the Hanoi 
City Department of Science and Technology.  IDS scholars did 
not have to go through a several stage process at the Central 
level to register their institute. 
 
The Long Odyssey of the Law on Associations 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The Law on Associations (LOA) remains in limbo.  It 
is not on the National Assembly's 2009 agenda.  The Ministry 
of Home Affairs' Department of NGO Affairs is in the midst of 
revising the law for the 12th time. (Refs D and E discuss the 
difficulties in passing the 11th draft version of this law.) 
MICHALAK