Today, June 24, the National Assembly will vote on the state budget settlement.

The National Assembly discussed in the hall two draft laws: Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking (amended); Law on Value Added Tax (amended).

The draft Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking consists of 8 chapters and 66 articles. Accordingly, the draft Law supplements the provisions on the concept of “human trafficking”; amends and supplements the provisions on the basis for identifying victims and regulations on sources of documents and evidence to identify victims...

This amendment and supplement aims to create consistency in legal regulations, in accordance with the Protocol on the Prevention, Punishment and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime), the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and other relevant international treaties to which Vietnam is a member; ensuring compliance with the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017).

The draft Law supplements the concept of “persons in the process of being identified as victims” and supplements regulations on support and protection regimes for people in the process of being identified as victims, including: support for essential needs and travel expenses; medical support; psychological support; legal aid; support for interpretation costs during the victim identification process. Practice over time has shown that this is a group of subjects in great need of support and protection; the addition of these regulations aims to meet practical requirements, creating a legal basis for competent agencies to implement support regimes for essential needs (food, clothing, accommodation, medical care, psychological stabilization, etc.) for them when receiving these subjects.

At the same time, the draft Law also adds provisions to improve the support regime for victims compared to the provisions of the current Law, including: All victims who wish to return to their place of residence will be supported with travel expenses and food expenses to return to their place of residence; supported with medical examination and treatment costs; supported to stabilize their psychology. All victims will receive legal aid. When returning to their place of residence, they will be considered for vocational training support, creating conditions for employment, stabilizing their lives...