Enhancing Mechanism for Protection of Constitutional Rights in Viet Nam Today: The Case of the Right to Environment

Abstract

This article’s overall goal is to examine the development of constitutional rights and their mechanisms for protection and promotion in Viet Nam through the case of the right to environment. Utilising legal methods, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods, the research investigates the ways in which the right to environment has been protected in Viet Nam through examining the case of the Thi Vai River. Given the strengths and weaknesses of Viet Nam’s existing legal system and its mechanisms for human rights protection through accessing the case of the citizen’s right to environment, the article proposes several recommendations for better protecting and promoting constitutional rights. These include further improving its legal system, establishing independent institutions and effective mechanisms (such as the Constitutional Council, Ombudsman, a National Human Rights Body, and an Environmental Court), and enhancing education, training and dissemination of international human rights law and constitutional rights for all.