Proposal to apply security measures to the Standing Secretary of the Secretariat and 2 other positions

On the afternoon of February 22, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Security Guards.

The draft law has amended and supplemented 15/33 articles of the Law on Guards, focusing on major policies such as amending and supplementing guard subjects, guard measures, powers of guard forces, regimes and policies for guard work.

Add the Standing Secretary of the Secretariat to the security category

Presenting the report, Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quoc Hung said that the implementation of the 2017 Law on Security Guards has encountered a number of problems and inadequacies that need to be considered for amendment and supplementation, focusing on the above-mentioned groups of issues.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quoc Hung presented the report

The Government said that, after 5 years of summarizing the implementation of the Law on Guards and the current practical situation, it is necessary to add the Standing Secretariat, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy as the subjects of guard.

The report emphasized that the Standing Secretary of the Secretariat is the person in charge of and presides over the daily work of the Secretariat, holding an important role and position in the organization of the Party and State.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy are the heads of judicial agencies, have a role and impact on trial work, ensure the strictness of law, legal system, human rights, and citizen rights, and have been identified as senior leaders of the Party and State according to Conclusion No. 35 of the Politburo on the list of titles, leadership positions and equivalents of the political system from the Central to the grassroots level.

This requires the application of protective measures and regimes to the above subjects to ensure similarity and consistency with other key, high-ranking leaders in the same group.

Regarding the objects of protection for especially important events, the Government proposed to clearly define the criteria for determining the objects of protection for especially important events. Accordingly, this draft law is amended to narrow the scope of objects of protection for especially important events.

Specifically: Amend and supplement the Law on Guards in the direction of stipulating: "Conferences and festivals organized by the Party Central Committee, the President, the National Assembly, and the Government with guards attending; national congresses organized by socio-political organizations at the Central level; international conferences organized in Vietnam with guards attending".

In addition, this draft law adds the authority of the Minister of Public Security to decide to apply security measures in urgent cases for subjects not covered by Article 10 of the Security Law.

"In urgent cases to protect national security, ensure social order and safety, and ensure foreign affairs, the Minister of Public Security shall decide to apply appropriate security measures to subjects not covered by the provisions of this Article," the draft law states.

According to the Government, security work always has many unpredictable and uncertain factors. Therefore, depending on the security and order situation at each time, it is necessary to have appropriate security measures for each appropriate subject. In practice, the security force has been implementing security work for many other subjects at the request of ministries, departments and branches that are not subject to security, in urgent cases, or to promptly respond to the foreign affairs work of the Party and State according to the principle of equal relations.

The Government also affirmed that the implementation of this task does not generate financial resources because in fact this task has been and is being implemented on the basis of balancing current resources and finances, so it does not generate costs or human resources.

Narrowing down the scope of security to conferences and festivals is necessary.

Presenting the preliminary review report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security (NCDS) Le Tan Toi said that the Standing Committee of the NCDS agreed with the addition of the Standing Secretariat, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, and the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy as security guards in order to promptly institutionalize Party regulations and ensure consistency, fairness, and transparency in terms of titles, positions, and regimes and policies for senior leaders of the Party, State, and Vietnam Fatherland Front.

"The addition of the three above-mentioned titles and positions is consistent with the nature and importance of these positions in the political system" - the review agency stated its opinion.

Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee presents the preliminary review report

The draft Law has narrowed the scope of security for conferences and festivals to apply to conferences and festivals organized by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the President, the National Assembly, the Government, and international conferences organized in Vietnam with the participation of key leaders of the Party and State.

This, according to the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee, is necessary and a condition for better implementation of security work with focus and key points, ensuring effectiveness, consistency with the provisions of the Constitution, and suitability with security and order conditions in our country.

Regarding the regulation that the Minister of Public Security decides to apply appropriate security measures to subjects not covered by the law, many opinions in the review agency agree with the provisions of the draft law, because they believe that protecting national security and ensuring social order and safety are important national tasks and are always given top priority.

Some opinions suggest clarifying "necessary cases" in this law to avoid arbitrary and inconsistent application.

Some opinions do not agree with the addition of this provision in the Law, because they believe that: security measures are applied when there is a protected object (Clause 3, Article 1 of the Security Law), and that applying security measures in cases where there is no protected object is unreasonable.

Source: https://vov.vn/chinh-tri/de-xuat-ap-dung-bien-phap-canh-ve-voi-thuong-truc-ban-bi-thu-va-2-chuc-danh-khac-post1078309.vov