Vietnam Parliament Chairman Urges Govt to Do More for Ethnic Minorities

Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Sinh Hung has urged the government to provide further support for ethnic minorities, which are among the most vulnerable groups in the country. The government should spend more on infrastructure, education and healthcare in ethnic communities, Mr. Hung said at a meeting of the NA’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs on Sept 23. Ministries need to propose policies that offer incentives to attract more investment in the communities to improve the livelihood of local residents. Giang Seo Phu, minister-chairman of the committee, said at the meeting that 98.6% of communes having concrete roads and 99.8% of communes gaining access to the national power grid. The poverty rate dropped by 4% annually while all children accessed primary education and illiteracy was eliminated. Up to 98.7% of communes had post offices with newspapers and books and all communes had health clinics. Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a document that targets to improve life of ethnic minorities by raising investment in socio-economic development and intensifying care to residents in remote areas. Vietnam has 54 groups of people with the Kinh people being the largest group accounting for 87%, followed by Tay people with 1.9%, and Thai people 1.8%. Most of the ethnic people reside in mountainous and remote areas like the northern region, north central region, and the Central Highlands. The Vietnamese government has been criticized by rights groups for having policies prioritizing the Kinh people while most of the ethnic minorities are mired in hardship. (Vietnamplus Sept 23)