CHAPTER 3. PERSPECTIVES AND SOLUTIONS FOR ENSURING THE
3.2. Solutions for ensuring the implementation of the right to access land
3.2.3. Solutions for methods to ensure the implementation of the right to access
- Regarding the public disclosure and provision of land information by competent authorities:
First, it is necessary to develop and diversify the methods of information provision, especially online services that offer information.
- Administrative procedures related to land must be more specifically disclosed on local websites, with the latest documents and procedures regularly updated. The “Q&A” system should be maintained and its effectiveness promoted, with clear and public contact information for responsible individuals.
Second, better ensure the necessary infrastructure and technical equipment.
Third, regulations should be added to enhance the provision of land information through the activities of government spokespersons and in mass media when necessary.
Fourth, continue to implement solutions to simplify administrative procedures in the field of land.
Fifth, clearly define the accountability mechanisms for officials and competent authorities in providing unverified land information, misleading information, or withholding land information. Additional regulations should address the consequences of providing outdated information as stipulated by law, including the refusal to provide information.
Sixth, there should be clearer regulations regarding administrative penalties for actions related to ensuring the right to access information, including land information, especially actions involving the refusal to provide information or failure to disclose land information as required by law.
Seventh, it is essential to enhance the responsibility of individuals in authority for providing information.
Specific guidelines should be issued to support visually impaired individuals in accessing information. Therefore, raising awareness and improving the professional competence of those responsible for providing information is necessary.
Eighth, there should be strict penalties for violations committed by offenders.
- Solutions for entities entitled to access land information:
First, it is important to raise public awareness regarding the assurance of the right to access land information.
Second, individuals should actively seek and obtain information to protect their rights and avoid unnecessary losses due to a lack of proactive information seeking.
Third, gender equality issues should be integrated into the dissemination of legal knowledge, enhancing legal awareness about the right to access land information for women, particularly in rural, remote, and isolated areas, so that they can protect their legitimate rights and interests. While land law and civil law have created a favorable environment for achieving equality in land-related rights, some provisions in land law remain unclear, potentially undermining women's rights to access land information. Therefore, raising awareness and diversifying methods of communication, as well as direct dialogue on related content, is essential.
Conclusion of Chapter 3
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS OF THE THESIS
Based on the research results on ensuring the right to access land information in Vietnam today, the author draws the following conclusions:
1. The topic has established the concepts of land information, ensuring the right to access land information, and the characteristics and roles of ensuring the right to access land information. Accordingly, ensuring the right to access land information involves activities that create necessary conditions and prerequisites for individuals and organizations to fully and accurately access land information as prescribed by law. Ensuring the right to access land information requires the state to respect, protect, and fulfil these rights in practice. This guarantee should not only focus on building institutions and strategies but also prioritize the implementation and organization of these rights. Information about land must be timely, transparent, equitable, linked to state guarantees, and subject to changes over time.
2. The thesis has analyzed and clarified the principles of ensuring the right to access land information for citizens as stipulated in the Law on Access to Information and the Law on Land. These principles include: All citizens are equal and not discriminated against in exercising their right to access land information;
information provided about land must be accurate and complete according to legal requirements; the provision of information must be timely, transparent, and convenient for citizens, following the proper procedures and regulations established by law; any restrictions on the right to access land information must be legally defined and necessary for reasons of national defense, security, public order, social morality, or community health, the exercise of the right to access land information by citizens and organizations must not infringe upon national and ethnic interests, as well as the legal rights and interests of agencies, organizations, or individuals, the state shall create favorable conditions for disabled individuals, residents in border areas, islands, mountainous regions, and those in particularly difficult socio-economic conditions to exercise their right to access land information. The thesis also analyzes the factors affecting the assurance of the right to access land information today, including economic, political, cultural, and legal factors.
3. The thesis has analyzed the criteria for evaluating the degree of assurance in exercising the right to access land information, from policies and laws to the
transparency of implementation in practice, as well as the awareness and responsibility of those entitled to access land information. The thesis has also examined the limitations of the right to access land information.
4. To ensure the effective implementation of the right to access land information, the thesis has analyzed and clearly identified the mechanisms necessary for this right to operate seriously, actively, and with a high level of responsibility, as well as the mechanisms for effective coordination between state agencies and the beneficiaries of the right to access land information. This includes the obligation of competent authorities to publicly provide information in a timely, accurate, complete, and responsible manner. The law also stipulates the responsibilities of information-providing agencies to implement measures that ensure citizens’ right to access information. In the exploitation of land information data, coordination among various ministries and agencies is necessary. Relevant ministries and agencies are responsible for providing basic survey results and data related to land to the General Department of Land Administration for updating the national land database and land information system. Establishing a unified system of state agencies from central to local levels in land management is crucial for determining the effectiveness of activities that protect citizens' rights to access land information.
From the perspective of those exercising the right to access land information, there is a need to recognize the importance of land information and to proactively seek it, avoiding a passive approach due to fear of interaction with state officials.
The lack of initiative in accessing information has diminished their rights compared to individuals and organizations that actively pursue timely access to information. Local governments should actively collaborate with organizations and mass bodies to promote the Party's guidelines and state laws, raising awareness and the sense of responsibility among citizens regarding the right to access information in general, and the right to access land information in particular.
5. The topic has described the existing legal regulations concerning the assurance of the right to access land information in Vietnam today and has surveyed to identify some limitations and inadequacies in the legal provisions on this issue. Additionally, the thesis has analyzed, surveyed, and evaluated the current state of activities ensuring the right to access land information, highlighting the achievements in safeguarding this right. It has also pointed out
the shortcomings and limitations, as well as the causes of these shortcomings in ensuring the right to access land information in Vietnam today.
6. To determine solutions for enhancing the effectiveness of ensuring the right to access land information in the coming period, the thesis has analyzed related viewpoints. It emphasizes that ensuring the right to access land information must be based on alignment with international human rights standards and the Party's views on safeguarding human rights, while always being connected with the construction of a rule-of-law state of the people, by the people, and for the people, promoting socialist democracy.
Ensuring the right to access land information needs to be linked with anti- corruption efforts and should be placed within the overall context of improving legal frameworks.
7. The thesis has analyzed and identified specific solutions to enhance the effectiveness of ensuring the right to access land information. These include legal improvements, such as the need to supplement regulations for obtaining opinions from residents in neighboring areas where land is being acquired, to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of those affected. It is essential to clearly define accountability mechanisms for officials and competent authorities regarding the provision of unverified land information, misleading information, or withholding information. The thesis also suggests supplementing land use rights certificates with information about foreign spouses, Vietnamese citizens residing abroad who do not meet land use conditions, and details about rights and obligations related to land to increase transparency in joint property ownership and enhance the evidential value of land use rights certificates.
Additionally, there is a need to issue detailed guidelines regarding the right to access land information, which includes access to “…information about land planning and usage plans; land prices; land acquisition; compensation plans, site clearance, and resettlement related to projects and works in the area,” as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 17 of the Law on Access to Information. Clearer regulations should also be established concerning administrative sanctions for acts related to ensuring the right to access information, particularly those involving refusal to provide information or failure to publicly disclose information as required by law.
Therefore, it is advisable to issue a separate decree on administrative penalties related to information access or to include relevant provisions on these sanctions in the decree on administrative penalties in the field of land. - Improving mechanisms for monitoring, complaints, and denunciations in the Law on Access
to Information, the Law on Land, and various other laws is essential. There should be a development and diversification of information provision methods, particularly through online services. Additionally, it is necessary to enhance the responsibilities of those authorized to provide information and to raise public awareness about exercising the right to access land information.
Thus, the scientific hypothesis of the topic has been confirmed: Ensuring the right to access land information, as recognized in the legal system, is significantly influenced by the state, which plays a vital role in guaranteeing this right.
Economic, political, cultural, and legal factors all impact the assurance of the right to access land information. Despite the achievements, the current situation still reveals limitations and inadequacies in ensuring this right, with individuals' legal awareness and ability to exercise this right in practice being relatively low.
Therefore, solutions to enhance the effectiveness of ensuring the right to access land information in practice will help address both the advantages and some limitations present under the current conditions in Vietnam.
For the issue of ensuring the right to access land information to be further researched, several aspects should be considered. This includes identifying ideas for building a more modern national land information data system, enabling citizens to exercise their right to seek and access land information. It also involves creating an operational coordination mechanism among state agencies and social organizations to effectively ensure citizens' right to access land information.
Additionally, research should focus on mechanisms for accountability regarding individuals or entities that violate laws pertaining to the assurance of the right to access land information.
LIST OF PUBLISHED WORKS RELATED TO THE THESIS No. Title of Paper (Article,
Project)
Author/Co- author
Publication (Name
of Journal
Published)
Publication Date
1 Right to Access
Information in Land Acquisition,
Compensation, and Resettlement Support
Author Proceedings of the International
Scientific Conference:
"Policies and Laws on Resettlement from Theory to Practice."
November, 2017
2 Comments on the Draft Law on the Issuance of Administrative Decisions
Author Journal of Social
Sciences and
Humanities - Hue University. (ISSN 1859-1388)
March, 2017
3 The Role of Ensuring the Right to Access Land Information
Author Journal of Industry and Trade
ISSN 0866-7756
April, 2020
4 Protecting the Privacy of the Deceased in the Digital Age
Co-author Journal of
Democracy and Law (ISSN 9866-7535)
April, 2020
5 Ensuring the Right to Access Land Information Increases Material Benefits and Creates Mechanisms to Control Corruption
Author Journal of Human
Resources in
Science and Society (ISSN: 0866-756X)
July,2021
6 The People's Procuracy in Exercising State Power in Vietnam
Co-author Publishing House of
Tula State
University, Russian Federation
November, 2023