Detention of children under Vietnamese administrative law: Is it criminal?

In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, two systems exist to handle children who come in conflict with the law – the criminal law system and the administrative law system. The latter is the system most commonly used by Vietnamese executive authorities. This system permits the detention of children who have committed minor violations of the law for up to two years with very little procedural safeguards to protect their rights as guaranteed by international human rights law. The situation of children handled under Article 24 of the Ordinance attracts the protections of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR concerning the right to liberty and security. However, in light of jurisprudence of Human Rights Committee, and the European Court of Human Rights, this thesis would like to go one step further. The clarification and development of the concept of a ‘criminal’ charge by these two bodies allows for the full application of Article 14 of the ICCPR and the right to a fair trial to situations where individuals are charged with offences under laws distinct from the criminal law, but which are nevertheless ‘criminal’ in nature. The present thesis will pose the question: To what extent does the sending of juveniles to reform schools under Vietnamese administrative law deal with ‘criminal’ charges. This thesis found the scope and nature of the offences under Article 24, as well as the nature and severity of the corresponding penalty are ‘criminal’ in character and warrant the application of Article 14 of the ICCPR