INFORMATION AND INTRODUCTION WORK ON LEGAL AID BY COMMUNITY OFFICIALS
This research paper provides concise, practical, and useful information to help community officials understand the objectives, requirements, process, and content of introducing and communicating about legal aid (TGPL) to grassroots people; including: the State’s policy on free legal aid; persons eligible for free legal aid; ways to introduce legal aid to local people; key information such as what legal aid is, what services legal aid provides to people, whether people must pay when receiving legal aid; guidance for people when they need legal aid; rights and obligations of legal-aid recipients, procedures for requesting legal aid, and how to submit a legal-aid request.
1. Proactively identify needs to learn and use the law, as well as disputes and legal obstacles within the community
Village elders, hamlet heads, clan heads, and community opinion leaders play an important role in connecting legal and legal-aid information to local people. They are respected locally, trusted by the masses, exemplary in complying with the law, and at the forefront of: mobilizing the public to comply with the law and build and defend the country; regularly coordinating with people’s security teams, women’s unions, associations of the elderly, etc., to understand each household’s circumstances; disseminating and communicating about crime and social-evil prevention, implementing new cultural norms, eliminating outdated practices and social ills, promoting production, and poverty reduction; propagating and mobilizing people to implement land policies in accordance with the law; shifting production models and restructuring crops and livestock suitable to local conditions; preventing epidemics; and supporting functional sectors to mobilize the masses to live and work under the Constitution and the law.
Through these activities, community officials can swiftly make contact and grasp the needs to learn and use the law, as well as legal obstacles and disputes in the community. They can provide initial support by offering relevant information, suggesting options or advising people (where possible); one such option is to guide people to request legal aid.
2. Determine eligibility for legal aid
When encountering local residents with difficulties, obstacles, or disputes, community officials should consult Article 7 of the 2017 Law on Legal Aid and related legal documents to determine whether the person falls within the legal-aid eligibility groups (see Sub-section 4.2, Section 4, Part I of this material).
Accurately identifying eligible persons enables community officials to confidently advise them to request legal aid to protect their rights and interests, and helps prevent situations where people request legal aid but are refused because they are not eligible.
3. Ways to introduce information about legal aid to local people
Community officials may choose different methods to introduce and provide information on legal aid to local residents. Examples include:
- Integrating legal-aid introductions into village/hamlet meetings and community activities
- Posting legal-aid information boards at village/hamlet cultural houses (if any)
- Distributing legal-aid leaflets supplied by the State Legal Aid Center
- Broadcasting legal-aid information via commune loudspeakers/media
- Communicating about legal aid via phone, Zalo, SMS, etc.
4. Content to introduce about legal aid to local people
4.1. Explaining what legal aid is
Legal aid is the provision of free legal services (including legal advice, participation in proceedings, and non-litigation representation) by legal-aid providers to legal-aid recipients in the areas of civil, criminal, and administrative law (excluding business and commercial matters) as prescribed by the Law on Legal Aid, contributing to the protection of human rights and citizens’ rights in access to justice and equality before the law.
4.2. Who is eligible for legal aid?
Article 7 of the 2017 Law on Legal Aid provides that the following are eligible:
- Persons with meritorious services to the revolution;
- Members of poor households;
- Children;
- Ethnic minorities residing in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions;
- Persons accused of crimes aged from 16 to under 18;
- Persons accused of crimes who are from near-poor households;
Persons facing financial hardship in any of the following categories:
- Biological father, mother, spouse, or child of a martyr and persons who raised the martyr when the martyr was a child;
- Agent-orange victims;
- Older persons;
- Persons with disabilities;
- Persons aged from 16 to under 18 who are victims in criminal cases;
- Victims of domestic violence;
- Victims of human trafficking under the Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking;
- Persons living with HIV.
Note: If people do not clearly understand eligibility groups, community officials should explain each group; if uncertain, contact the provincial State Legal Aid Center or its branches for support.
Specific groups eligible for legal aid include:
1) Persons with meritorious services to the revolution
Under Ordinance No. 02/2020/UBTVQH14 (9 Dec 2020), this includes: (1) revolutionary activists before 1 Jan 1945; (2) activists from 1 Jan 1945 to the August 1945 Uprising; (3) martyrs; (4) Vietnamese Heroic Mothers; (5) Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces; (6) Labor Heroes during the resistance; (7) wounded soldiers (including “Type-B” recognized before 31 Dec 1993) and persons entitled to policies as wounded soldiers; (8) sick soldiers; (9) resistance participants affected by chemical toxins; (10) persons engaged in revolutionary activities, resistance, national defense, or international duties who were captured or imprisoned by the enemy; (11) participants in the national liberation struggle, national defense, and international duties; (12) persons who helped the revolution.
2) Members of poor households
Under Decree No. 07/2021/ND-CP (27 Jan 2021) on multidimensional poverty standards for 2021–2025:
- Income criterion: Rural: VND 1,500,000/person/month. Urban: VND 2,000,000/person/month.
- Deprivations in basic social services: employment; health; education; housing; clean water & sanitation; information (with 12 measurement indicators).
- Poor household standard: Rural: per-capita income ≤ VND 1,500,000/month and deprivation in ≥ 3 indicators. Urban: per-capita income ≤ VND 2,000,000/month and deprivation in ≥ 3 indicators.
3) Children
Article 1 of the 2016 Law on Children: “A child is a person under 16 years old.”
4) Ethnic minorities residing in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions
Such areas are defined as follows:
(i) Communes/wards/townships in difficult areas: under Decision No. 1010/QD-TTg (10 Aug 2018).
(ii) Especially difficult communes:
- Ethnic and mountainous communes classified as “Region III” under Decision No. 861/QD-TTg (4 Jun 2021) and Decision No. 698/QD-TTg (19 Jul 2024).
- Especially difficult coastal/island communes under Decision No. 353/QD-TTg (15 Mar 2022).
(iii) Especially difficult villages/hamlets: under Decision No. 612/QD-UBDT (16 Sep 2021).
5) Persons accused of crimes aged 16 to under 18
Includes persons arrested, temporarily detained, suspects, and defendants.
6) Persons accused of crimes from near-poor households
Decree No. 07/2021/ND-CP defines near-poor households as:
- Rural: per-capita income ≤ VND 1,500,000/month and deprivation in fewer than 3 indicators.
- Urban: per-capita income ≤ VND 2,000,000/month and deprivation in fewer than 3 indicators.
7) Persons in the following groups facing financial hardship:
- Martyrs’ biological parents, spouse, children, and caregivers of martyrs when they were small;
- Agent-orange victims;
- Older persons (from age 60);
- Persons with disabilities;
- Persons aged 16 to under 18 who are victims in criminal cases;
- Victims of domestic violence (as defined in the 2022 Law on Prevention and Combat of Domestic Violence);
- Victims of human trafficking;
- Persons living with HIV.
“Financial hardship” means belonging to a near-poor household or currently receiving social assistance under the law. Accordingly, a person in any of the seven categories above and who is from a near-poor household or is receiving monthly social assistance is eligible for legal aid.
4.3. In what forms can people receive legal aid?
There are three forms: participation in proceedings; legal advice; non-litigation representation.
- Legal advice: guidance, opinions, drafting documents related to disputes/complaints/legal obstacles; facilitating conciliation/negotiation to agree on solutions.
- Participation in proceedings: legal-aid officers or lawyers act as defense counsel or representatives protecting the lawful rights and interests of the legal-aid recipient under the Law on Legal Aid and procedural laws.
- Non-litigation representation: legal-aid officers or lawyers act under authorization to exercise the person’s rights and obligations in legal relations (civil, administrative, etc.) before competent state agencies; these activities are outside procedural stages.
4.4. Do people have to pay when receiving legal aid?
No. Legal-aid recipients do not pay money or any other material benefit (including gifts or promised benefits to legal-aid providers or organizations).
5. Guidance when people need legal aid
5.1. Rights of legal-aid recipients
They have the rights to:
- Receive legal aid without paying money, material, or other benefits.
- Request legal aid themselves or via relatives, procedural authorities/competent persons, or other agencies/organizations/individuals.
- Be informed about the right to legal aid and its procedures at legal-aid organizations and relevant state bodies.
- Request confidentiality of case information (organizations and providers must keep related information confidential).
- Choose one legal-aid organization and provider on the published list in the locality; request a change of provider.
- Modify or withdraw the legal-aid request.
- Be compensated for damage under the law.
- Lodge complaints and denunciations regarding legal aid.
5.2. Obligations of legal-aid recipients
They must:
- Provide documents proving eligibility (see Appendix 2).
- Cooperate and promptly provide full and accurate information, documents, and evidence related to the legal-aid case, and take responsibility for their accuracy.
- Respect legal-aid organizations/providers and other bodies/organizations/individuals involved. If they infringe upon the health, honor, or dignity of legal-aid providers or the reputation of organizations, the case will not continue under point b, clause 1, Article 37 of the 2017 Law on Legal Aid; such acts may be administratively sanctioned or criminally prosecuted.
- Not request another legal-aid organization to provide legal aid on the same case concurrently.
- Comply with the Law on Legal Aid and the internal rules where legal aid is provided.
5.3. Procedure to request legal aid
a) Who may request:
- The eligible person themself;
- Their relatives;
- Procedural authorities/competent persons or other agencies/organizations/individuals.
“Relatives” include: spouse; biological or adoptive parents; in-laws; biological or adoptive children; grandparents; siblings; great-grandparents; uncles/aunts on both paternal and maternal sides; and nephews/nieces (biological).
b) Dossier for requesting legal aid includes:
- Legal-aid request form (see Appendix 1), obtainable at legal-aid organizations, procedural bodies (police, court, procuracy, detention centers), some administrative petition-reception offices (Inspectorate, commune People’s Committees), and on the Vietnam Legal Aid Portal and provincial legal-aid portals.
- Documents/evidence related to the case:
- For a legal-advice matter: provide relevant documents (if any).
- For participation in proceedings:
Criminal cases: depending on the stage and role in proceedings, present one of: decision on temporary detention; decision to prosecute; summons; conclusion of investigation; indictment; decision to bring the case to trial; judgment; court decision; or other documents evidencing an ongoing case showing the requester’s status (detainee, suspect/defendant, victim, civil plaintiff/defendant, or person with related rights/obligations).
Civil/administrative matters: depending on the stage, present one of: receipt for court fee advance; summons of the court; judgment/decision; or other documents evidencing status (plaintiff/defendant/related party; administrative plaintiff/related party; labor case parties).
- For non-litigation representation: documents from competent agencies resolving the matter; minutes of settlement; records of conciliation results; and other relevant papers.
- Documents proving eligibility for legal aid (see Appendix 2 of this material).
5.4. Ways to submit a legal-aid request
- Direct submission: go to the local legal-aid organization; present originals or submit certified copies of eligibility documents.
- By postal services (mail/fax): send certified copies of eligibility documents.
- By electronic means (email, Zalo, messaging, etc.): send scans/photos of the dossier; later present originals or certified copies of eligibility documents when meeting the legal-aid provider.
5.5. Places that receive legal-aid requests
Legal-aid organizations receive people at their headquarters (with posted schedules and rules). If the case content needs confidentiality, the recipient may request a suitable venue arrangement.
6. Referring people to legal-aid organizations
When, in contact with local people, community officials discover someone needing legal assistance who is eligible under Article 7 of the 2017 Law on Legal Aid, they should explain the right to legal aid and refer them to the local legal-aid organization.
6.1. Legal-aid organizations
At provincial/municipal level these include: State Legal Aid Centers and their branches; law-practicing organizations and legal-consultancy organizations that (i) have contracts with Departments of Justice to provide legal aid; or (ii) have registered to participate in legal aid. Lists are posted on provincial Departments of Justice portals and the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Aid Portal (https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn).
Depending on the person’s residence, community officials should refer them to an appropriate local organization to save time and travel costs and provide the organization’s phone number for contact.
6.2. Notifying legal-aid organizations
Upon discovering eligible people with legal obstacles/disputes, community officials should notify the State Legal Aid Center and provide contact information for the person or their relatives.
Notification can be via: calling the legal-aid organization using published numbers or the legal-aid hotline 024.6273.9631 (to obtain information on local organizations); visiting the provincial State Legal Aid Center/branch; sending SMS/email/letters/documents to the provincial Center or the Legal Aid Department; or visiting the Legal Aid Portal (https://tgpl.moj.gov.vn) for more details.