VIETNAMESE LAW AND ASSESSMENT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEMIN VIETNAM IN COMPARISON TO THE UNITED NATIONSCONVENTION AGAINST TERRORISM
Le Thi Van Anh *I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Terrorism is a transnational organized action against the UN’s principles and purposes which are to
maintain international peace and security and settle international disputes by peaceful means. In recent
years, terrorism has increasingly become an urgent global issue. Beside the great loss of people andproperty, terrorist activities also cause a permanent alarmed and fearful state for the world community.
Therefore, preventing and suppressing terrorism is the common task of nations worldwide, of which the UN
plays the central role. With its roles and responsibilities, since its establishment, the UN and otherinternational organizations have issued 13 multilateral conventions and protocols related to the prevention
and suppression of terrorism in relation to different areas of international affairs.
Along with many other countries worldwide, the Government of Vietnam has been actively participatingin the fight against terrorism. This is shown in the persistent policies of the State and the Government infighting crime in general and terrorism in particular. Vietnam considers terrorism as indefensible andstrongly condemns and suppresses it, especially when this crime is used against ordinary people. Vietnam
has acceded to and fully implemented 8 of the 13 Universal Conventions/Protocols on combating terrorism.
Vietnam is actively considering the possibility of acceding to the remaining treaties. Vietnam has issued
many legislative regulations related to the prevention of terrorism. Additionally, new documents on
preventing international terrorism are being considered, amended and affixed in order to enhance theeffectiveness of terrorism prevention and suppression in Vietnam and to cooperate with other countries incombating international terrorism in the region and all over the world.
Presently, Vietnam has some legislative regulations related to preventing terrorism including theCommon law and the Procedural law. The most important ones are the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure
Code. The present Penal Code of Vietnam has articles related to preventing terrorism. These articles can bedivided into two kinds: the first one directly relates to terrorist acts and the second one refers to acts which
are not for the purpose of terrorist prevention but can be applied to examine penal liability of thosecommitting terrorist acts according to Vietnamese law and international conventions on terrorism
prevention.

II. VIETNAMESE LAW ON TERRORISM
A. Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
1. Crimes Directly Related to Terrorism are Defined in the Penal Code as Terrorism (Article 84) as follows:“1. Those who intend to oppose the people’s administration and infringe upon the life of officials public
employees or citizens shall be sentenced to between twelve and twenty years imprisonment, life
imprisonment or capital punishment.

2.

In the case of committing crimes by infringing upon physical freedom and/or health, the offenders
shall be sentenced to between five and fifteen years of imprisonment.

3.

In the case of committing crimes by threatening to infringe upon life or committing other acts ofmoral intimidation, the offenders shall be sentenced to between two and seven years of
imprisonment.

4.

Those who terrorise foreigners in order to cause difficulties to the international relations of theSocialist Republic of Vietnam shall also be penalized according to this Article.”Pursuant to the Penal Code of Vietnam, terrorism includes one of four following
acts:* Expert, Department for Criminal and Administrative Legislation, Ministry of Justice, Vietnam.

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Infringing upon the life of officials, public employees or citizens;•

Infringing upon physical freedom and/or health of officials, public employees or citizens;•

Threatening to infringe upon life of officials, public employees or citizens;•

Intimidating the morale of officials, public employees or citizens.

Also, pursuant to paragraph 4 of this article, when the above acts are taken against foreigners in order tocause difficulties to the international relations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, offenders shall be
penalized according to this Article. However, the said-above acts are considered as terrorism pursuant to thePenal Code of Vietnam if they are taken with the aim of opposing the people’s administration or causing
difficulties to the international relations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Therefore, if acts of murder,
inflicting injury, threatening to murder or inflicting injury or intimidating morale of Vietnamese officials,
citizens or foreigners are taken but not for the two above purposes, they do not commit the crime ofterrorism but other correlative crimes provided in the Penal Code such as murder (Art. 93), threatening tomurder (Art. 103), intentionally inflicting injury on or causing harm to the health of other persons (Art. 104),
illegal arrest, custody or detention of people (Art. 123). The Penal Code of Vietnam also has an article on
conducting bandit activities (Art. 83) with some similarities to terrorism in Article 84. It has acts of murderin order to oppose the people’s administration, but the difference is that these acts are taken by armed
groups in mountainous, marine and other difficult to access areas.
2. Crimes Which are Not for Terrorism Prevention Purposes but can be Applied to Examine the Penal
Liability of Those Who Commit Terrorism are Regulated in the Penal Code as Follows:(i)

Hijacking aircraft, ships (Art. 221). This crime relates to terrorism, especially to the current
situation when international terrorists hijack aircraft or ships to attack targets on land. The
content of this article is as follows:“1. Those who use force, threaten to use force or use other tricks to appropriate aircraft or ships
shall be sentenced to between seven and fifteen years of imprisonment.
2. Committing the crime in one of the following circumstances, the offenders shall be sentenced
to between twelve years and twenty years of imprisonment:a) In an organized manner;b) Using weapons or dangerous means;c) Inflicting injury on or causing harm to the health of other persons;d) Dangerous recidivism.
3. Committing the crime and causing human death or other particularly serious consequences,
the offenders shall be sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital
punishment.
4. The offenders may also be subject to probation or a residence ban for between one and five
years.”
Hence, if a person commits acts of using force, threatens to use force or uses other tricks to appropriate
aircraft or ships they are sconsidered as committing this crime, regardless of whether they appropriate
aircraft or ships for any purpose. If terrorists use the above tricks to appropriate aircraft and ships forterrorist purposes, they will be sentenced pursuant to this article, not to Article 84. Therefore, Article 221
can be applied to punish terrorists with strict penalties even though it is not called terrorism.
(ii)

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Illegally manufacturing, stockpiling, transporting, using, trading in or appropriating military
weapons and/or technical means (Art. 230) and Illegally manufacturing, stockpiling, transporting,using, trading in or appropriating rudimentary weapons or support devices (Art. 233) are twocrimes related to arms control, military weapons and technical means. These crimes punish acts ofviolating the system of controlling military weapons, civil weapons and technical means which
terrorists often use to commit crimes in general and terrorist crime in particular. Vietnamese law
does not allow people to trade in weapons and does not allow normal people to use weapons. Thus,
all acts from illegal manufacturing, stockpiling, transporting, using, trading or appropriating
weapons are considered as crimes, pursuant to the Penal Code. In fact, people using weapons tocommit a certain crime (usually violent crimes such as murder, intentionally inflicting injury,

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plundering property) shall be examined for penal liability for two crimes: the main crime and thecrime of illegally using weapons.
(iii)

Illegally manufacturing, stockpiling, transporting, using, trading or appropriating explosive
materials (Art. 232) and illegally producing, stockpiling, transporting, using or trading in
inflammables, toxins (Art. 238) are two crimes related to controlling explosive materials,
inflammables and toxins. These materials are controlled and used under strict procedures because
if terrorists seize them, they can threaten the community’s safety.

(iv)

Laundering money and/or property obtained through the commission of crime (Art. 251) is thecrime provided in order to prevent money laundering. Accordingly, those who, through financial
and/or banking operations or other transactions, legalize money, property obtained through thecommission of crime or use such money and/or property to conduct business activities and othereconomic activities are liable to between one and five years of imprisonment. If they commit thecrime in particular circumstances, the offenders are liable to between 8 to 15 years of
imprisonment.

Besides, the Penal Code also regulates some other crimes which can be applied to examined penal
liabilities of those committing acts of terrorism, such crimes as amending and/or using certificates andpapers issued by agencies and/or organizations (Art. 266); forging seals and/or documents of agencies and/ororganizations (Art. 267); and illegally leaving or entering the country (Art. 274). Apart from that, the Penal
Code of Vietnam also defines other cases such as the preparation for the commission of a crime, incomplete
commission of a crime and complicity. These can be applied to offenders who commit crimes in general andterrorist crime in particular.

B. The Penal Procedure Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
The Penal Procedure Code (2003) has one part (Part 8) which regulates some matters of international
cooperation in criminal proceedings. This part has two chapters: chapter 36 regulates mutual legal
assistance and chapter 37 defines criminal extradition. This part provides provisions which are common
principles for international cooperation in criminal proceedings; for the implementation of mutual legal
assistance in criminal matters; for criminal extradition in order to examine penal liabilities or executejudgments; cases of denying extradition, exchanging criminal files, material evidence, property and money
related to the case.
III. ASSESSMENT ON THE COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN VIETNAMESE LAW AND
THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONS AGAINST TERRORISM
A. International Treaties that Vietnam has Acceded
As said above, preventing terrorism is the central task of the United Nations. The purpose of thisorganization is to maintain international peace and security. Therefore, to fully implement its purpose, theUnited Nations may carry out activities in order to eliminate the risks threatening peace, prevent
invasion/war, enhance human rights and help develop economies.
In recent times, the United Nations has carried out many activities in order to confront threats ofterrorism. One of the remarkable achievements is issuing the system of international treaties related to theprevention and suppression of terrorism.
As with many other countries worldwide, Vietnam is actively preventing and suppressing terrorism.
Thus, Vietnam has acceded to 8 of 13 Universal conventions/protocols related to terrorism.
1. The United Nations Conventions that Vietnam has Acceded(i)Convention of Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, 1963;(ii) The Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, 1970;(iii) Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 1971;(iv) Conventions on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against International Protected Persons
including Diplomatic Agents, 1973;(v) Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil
Aviation, Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 1988;

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No.71(vi) Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988.
(vii) Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on theContinental Shelf, 1988;(viii) International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, 1999.
2. The United Nations Conventions/Protocols that Vietnam is Considering Acceding to(i)Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection, 1991;(ii) International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, 1997;(iii) International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, 1979;(iv) Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, 1979;(v) Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001).
Thus it can be said that the Government of Vietnam is making great efforts in cooperation with the worldcommunity to combat international terrorism.

B. Assessment of the Legal System in Vietnam in Comparison with the UN Convention against Terrorism
1. The Definition of ‘Terrorism’
The world community has not had a common and acceptable definition of ‘terrorism’ even though great
efforts have been made to define this crime. However, the content of international legal documents refer to‘terrorism’ as a criminal act in order to cause a fearful state in the public, a group of people or certain people
for political purposes.
The current Penal Code of Vietnam does not have any articles which define ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorist
crime’. However, according to Article 84 of the Penal Code (1984), terrorism is considered as the act of
infringing upon the life of other people; threatening to infringe on the life of other people or other acts ofmoral intimidation in order to oppose the people’s administration or to cause difficulties to the international
relations of Vietnam.
2. Obligations Regulated in International Documents of Preventing Terrorism
Each international treaty related to preventing terrorism has its own object and scope of adjustment.
However, the common purposes of these documents are preventing international terrorism and preserving
peace and security. Therefore, some common obligations that these international documents require ofStates Parties are as follows:(i) Making a list of organizations and individuals performing acts of terrorism
Relating to this obligation, it is possible to say that Vietnam has not discovered any group involved in
terrorist activities like Al-Qaeda or Taliban. However, this does not mean that Vietnam will never
have such kinds of organizations and organizations or individuals that indulge and financeinternational terrorist organizations in the future. Vietnamese law does not allow any person toestablish an organization with the aim of committing criminal acts. Although there is no article in the
Penal Code regulating the crime of establishing a criminal organization, but any member of thatorganization who commits crime will be prosecuted for their crimes with the aggravating
circumstance of it being an organized commission of a crime. Vietnam has been in cooperation with
the international community in making and supplementing lists of organizations and individuals
involved in acts of terrorism, preventing terrorists arriving and leaving Vietnam.
(ii) Criminalizing acts of terrorism and other acts related to terrorism
Normally, in order to implement international treaties, the States Parties need to incorporate theregulations of those conventions into their national law. Many international treaties related topreventing terrorism state that States Parties have obligations to criminalize acts of terrorism.
These are compulsory obligations that States Parties have no choice but to criminalize acts ofterrorism. The Penal Code of Vietnam was issued in 1999, two years before the terrorist attack on
September 11 in the USA. At that time, Vietnam’s law makers did not have in mind international andbrutal terrorist attacks. Thus, international terrorism is not regulated in the Penal Code. Article 84
regulates terrorism in order to defend national security but not to prevent international terrorism as
in related international legal documents. These international documents state that the purpose of
preventing terrorism is preserving not only one’s national security but also regional andinternational peace and security. As stated above, Article 84 only applies to acts of terrorism which
are against the people’s administration or cause difficulties to the international relations of the64132ND INTERNATIONAL SENIOR SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS

Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Therefore, acts of collecting money, formulating plans, inciting,assisting by other means terrorists which are carried out in Vietnam but for terrorist targets in othercountries and are not directed against Vietnam or intended to cause difficulties for international
relations of Vietnam, have not been proceeded because Vietnam lacks the legal basis to examine
penal liabilities pursuant to Article 84. The penal liabilities examination in the above case is incontrast to the basic content of the Penal Code of Vietnam which is “a crime is an act dangerous to
the society prescribed in the Penal Code” (Art. 8). This principle is very close because the crime isregulated by the law and in the Penal Code, not in another legal document. Presently, the penal lawof Vietnam does not allow any correlative law principle to examine anyone.
As for criminalizing the act of financing for terrorism, the Penal Code of Vietnam does not have any
article regulating this crime. Those who finance for act of terrorism defined in Article 84 areprosecuted pursuant to this article as helpers (pursuant to Art. 20). However, they are only
prosecuted if there is enough evidence that the act constitutes terrorism as in Article 84 of the Penal
Code. Therefore, the act of financing international terrorism in other cases cannot be examinedaccording to the present provisions in the Penal Code of Vietnam.
Relating to the obligations of criminalizing act of laundering money, the present Penal Code ofVietnam has appended one article (Art. 251) which regulates the crime of legalizing money and/or
property obtained through the commission of crime. Accordingly, those who through financial and/or
banking operations or other transactions, legalize money and/or property obtained through thecommission of crime or use such money and/or property to conduct business activities or othereconomic activities shall be punished. At present, the Government of Vietnam has issued a Decreeon the prevention of laundering money in order to strictly control financial transactions through thebanking system and to report suspicious transactions to authorized agencies like the Police andInstitute of Procuracy. These are the basis for investigation and examination of acts of laundering
money pursuant to Article 251 in the Penal Code. The act of laundering money is an independentcrime, therefore, it can be applied to examine anyone, including terrorists, providing that the person
commits the crime described in Article 251 and money and/or property are obtained through thecommission of crimes regulated in the Penal Code of Vietnam.
Terrorists often use forged certificates, paper or passports when moving from one country toanother in order to avoid the control of authorized agencies. From that fact, international
Conventions require States Parties to have measures against forging public certificates and papers
and using them for terrorism purposes. To meet this demand, the Penal Code of Vietnam has threearticles that regulate this. They are Article 266 – amending and/or using certificates and papers
issued by agencies and/or organizations, Article 267 – forging seals and/or documents of agencies
and/or organizations and Article 268 – Appropriating, trading in, destroying seals and/or documents
issued by State agencies and/or social organizations. These articles prevent and restrain acts of using
forged certificates to trick authorized agencies. Thus, Vietnam now has legislative tools to prevent
acts related to forging State certificates. These can be applied to combat terrorism. Though, incomparison with related international conventions, these articles in Vietnam have one basic
difference relating to whether a person commits a crime or not. International conventions do not
require the users of forged certificates to commit a crime and to cause serious consequences.
Whereas, the Penal Code of Vietnam regulates those who commit crime when they use forgeddocuments, certificates to commit illegal acts, causing serious consequences or they have alreadybeen administratively sanctioned for such acts but continue to commit them. It is possible to say
that, international conventions are stricter than the Penal Code of Vietnam.
(iii) Establishing jurisdiction over terrorist offences
Relating to this matter, Vietnam’s current legal documents in general have met demands ofinternational conventions on the prevention of terrorism. The Penal Code of Vietnam regulates
jurisdiction to criminal acts in Article 5 and 6 of the Penal Code.
According to Article 5, all criminal offences committed in the territory of the Socialist Republic ofVietnam are subject to Vietnam’s jurisdiction. For foreigners who commit offences in the territory ofVietnam but are entitled to diplomatic immunity or consular immunities under Vietnamese laws,
international treaties which Vietnam has signed or acceded to or international practices, theircriminal liability shall be settled through diplomatic channels. Article 6 of the Penal Code regulatesVietnamese citizens who commit offences outside the territory of Vietnam and states they may be

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examined for penal liability in Vietnam according to the Penal Code. This provision also applies tostateless persons who permanently reside in Vietnam. Foreigners who commit offences outside theterritory of Vietnam may be examined for penal liability according to the Penal Code of Vietnam in
circumstances provided for in the international treaties which Vietnam has signed or acceded to.
(iv) International cooperation in preventing terrorism
Terrorism is a transnational crime; therefore, no single nation can prevent terrorism effectively if it
does not have close cooperation with other states. Hence, international cooperation is important andhas been defined in relevant international terrorism prevention documents.
Defining the importance of international corporation in combating international crime in general andterrorism crime in particular, Part 8 of the Penal Procedure Code of Vietnam (Chapter 36 andChapter 37) regulates international cooperation in criminal proceedings. This part provides the basic
principles for international cooperation’s between Vietnam and foreign countries in criminal
proceedings. This is the legal basis for Vietnam’s competent authorities to carry out mutual legal
assistance in criminal issues, extradition of criminals and extradition of offenders to foreigncountries. Pursuant to the provisions in the Penal Procedure Code of Vietnam, mutual legal
assistance in criminal matters between Vietnam and other countries is implemented on the basis ofinternational conventions that Vietnam is a contracting party, on the principle of reciprocity andinternational practices. Therefore, the competent authorities of Vietnam can implement a request of
mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with states that Vietnam has not signed a convention on
the principle of reciprocity but in contravention of the laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
international laws and international practices. Relating to criminal extradition, Article 344 in the
Criminal Procedure Code does not allow extradition in some cases in which the extradited person isVietnamese, the person has been examined and sentenced pursuant to Vietnam’s law or the
extradition may lead to restrictions on that person due to reasons of nationality, ethnicity, race,
religion, social background or political viewpoints.
Also, at this moment, Vietnam has signed 14 bilateral treaties of mutual legal assistance of criminalcases, of which 13 treaties contain provisions of mutual legal assistance and criminal extradition.
Moreover, apart from 8 international conventions related to the prevention of terrorism, Vietnam has
signed the UN Convention for fighting against transnational organized criminals and the UN
Convention for fighting corruption, which have many provisions on mutual legal assistance andcriminal extradition.

IV. CONCLUSION
Vietnam is fully aware of the potential dangers and consequences of terrorism acts in all areas of life in allstates. In that spirit, Vietnam stresses that states need to maintain consistent positions on terrorism, inparticular “not supporting, harbouring and indulging terrorists or terrorist attempts against international
peace and security”. However, to combat terrorism effectively and thoroughly, Vietnam is making efforts
with the following activities:
•

•

•

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First, amending and appending the Penal Code, in particular Article 84, with the intention ofwidening the scope of its application towards international terrorism in the spirit of international
conventions and protocols and Resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
Moreover, it is necessary to append to Vietnam’s Penal Code the crime of financing terrorism. This
will regulate those who finance or raise funds or property for terrorists. It also amends and appends
crimes of amending and/or using certificates and papers issued by agencies and/or organizations on
the direction that only using such certificates with the purpose of crime is enough to penalize, even
if it hasn’t led to any serious consequences.
Second, Vietnam is on the way to compiling a law on mutual legal assistance and shall issue a law orordinance on the extradition of criminals in the near future to have a basis in implementing
international obligations related to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and criminal
extradition.
Third, Vietnam is actively concentrating great efforts to research the content and consider the
possibilities of acceding to the last four international conventions related to the prevention andsuppression of terrorism that Vietnam has not been a member.