In Vietnam, social policies have been studied and considered in narrow and broad scopes. In the narrow scope, social policies are construed as those applicable to groups of social labor, known as “policy beneficiaries”. These include policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution; employment policies; income policies; national poverty reduction policies; social insurance policies; policies in support of people facing extremely difficult circumstances; and policies on assurance of basic social services for the people, and social policy beneficiaries who are members of poor  households, households meeting with extreme difficulties, ethnic minority households, families with meritorious services to the revolution, invalids, diseased soldiers, and families with members suffering orange agent effects, etc. In the broad scope, social policies cover also those applicable to people of different strata, such as policies for workers, farmers, youths, intellectuals, etc.

Achievements in implementation of social policies for guaranteeing human rights

Firstly, the institutions on social policies in human rights guarantee and protection have been constantly improved with the timely formulation of a complete and feasible system of laws and policies on social security. Legislatively, the promulgation of the 2013 Constitution and various codes and laws such as the Civil Code, Labor Code, and the laws concerning social insurance, health insurance, children, people with disabilities, the elderly, education, legal aid, and employment, etc., is of important significance, creating a solid legal basis for concretization of social security rights, heightening the efficiency of human rights guarantee and promoting socio-economic development toward sustainability. In fund establishment activities, focus has been placed on assurance of social security for the people and provision of prompt and efficient support for persons in plights, thereby consistently implementing the Party’s and the State’s policy of “nobody is left behind”. The specific policies on social protection, multi-dimensional poverty reduction, sustainable and inclusive development, support for ethnic minority people, people with disabilities and children in special circumstances, etc., have contributed to raising welfare for social policy beneficiaries, satisfying their basic demands, helping prevent and reduce risks, and bringing about substantive equality for vulnerable groups so as to help them make contributions to national socio-economic development.

Especially in the period of COVID-19 pandemic, the Government issued unprecedented policies to implement social policies.[2] These were important policies that provide timely support for the people to overcome difficulties in the pandemic with welfare packages worth tens of trillions Vietnam dong, helping guarantee the fundamental human rights while heightening the operational capacity of the social security system to efficiently respond to global challenges and providing necessary guarantees for sustainable development with medium- and long-term visions.

Secondly, the social security system has been developed into a social security network, constantly expanding its coverage and increasingly satisfying the demand of eligible beneficiaries. This is clearly reflected through positive developments in the following aspects:

The social insurance system has been designed, organized and operating in a synchronous and uniform manner from central to local levels, serving as the “lifebuoys” for the people facing unexpected risks (ailments, disasters, epidemics, job loss due to occupational accidents, etc.), helping stabilize their income, livelihood and life.

The employment support system has played its role in creating diverse jobs, meeting the demand of majority of the workforce; providing vocational training and improvement of quality of human resources; connecting unemployed persons with enterprises; raising income of workers and guaranteeing the people’s right to employment, thereby contributing to efficient poverty reduction.

The social assistance system has helped the people overcome risks and incidents through providing aid in cash or in kind with state budget funds.

The system of incentive policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution and vulnerable and disadvantaged persons has brought about considerable benefits for these persons, contributing to achievement of social justice nationwide.

The system enabling access to basic social services (education, healthcare, housing, information, clean water, etc.) has seen improvements in quality and service scale, satisfying the essential needs of vast majority of people, especially those in deep-lying, remote, mountainous, island and extreme difficulty-stricken areas.

Thirdly, the life of vast majority of people has been constantly improved in economic, cultural and social aspects, helping promote national socio-economic development and raise Vietnam’s prestige and position on the international arena. These can be seen through continuous improvement of important indexes such as human development index (HDI), gender equality index (GEI), life expectancy, per-capita income, etc. These show Vietnam’s important achievements in the context that these indexes in many countries in the world tend to stop or even reverse due to economic difficulties, political instability and untraditional security challenges. Vietnam is also among the nations that have early accomplished the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals, constituting a prerequisite for the country to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Social policy plays a prominent role and effective contribution to establishing and directing social care and welfare in society . It deals with social issues and focuses on social welfare and provides a mechanism for specific programs to enrich the human condition. Social policy is a broad construct that goes far beyond programs and services provided to the poor and disadvantaged. As a result, social policies are present in every aspect of public and private social services, society, and at every stage of daily human experience. All people, regardless of their age, race, ethnicity or gender identity, are directly affected by social policies . So, it influences society and human behavior, and the social work profession has long recognized their importance to social work practice.

Solutions to improve social policies for promoting human rights, social justice and international integration in Vietnam

First, it is required to thoroughly understand and properly implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws on the role and import

Second, it is a need to apply the human rights-based approach for improving institutions and social policies to promote social advancement and justice and international integration in Vietnam.

Third, civil rights and democratic rights of the people should be guaranteed in the cause of socialist-oriented renewal and development.