 Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong presents gifts to national contributors
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As of 2017, Vietnam has confirmed 9 million national contributors including war martyrs, heroic Vietnamese mothers, Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces, Labor Heroes, war invalids, war veterans, and their relatives.
Fine-tuning policies
Since President Ho Chi Minh signed a decree in 1947 on allowances for war invalids and martyrs, Vietnam has developed a system of policies and preferences for war invalids, families of war martyrs and national contributors. Under new legislation, more than 1.4 million revolutionary contributors and relatives are receiving monthly allowances worth a total of 1.2 billion USD a year. Last Wednesday, Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong signed a directive defining care for national contributors as a regular and long-term task of the whole political system and society. Mr. Trong called for a new ordinance to replace the current Ordinance on National Contributors and policies on contributors to the Vietnamese revolution inside and outside Vietnam and the 3rd generation of people affected by toxic chemicals.
Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep said: “Under the new directive, by 2020 the living standard of national contributors will reach the average level of the local population. Localities have accelerated the review and settlement of documents pending from the war to identify war invalids, martyrs, and national contributors.”
Expanded movements of paying debts of gratitude
The movements of paying debts of gratitude have expanded. In the last 10 years, Vietnamese people have donated 15.2 million USD to the fund for paying debts of gratitude, have built or repaired 165,000 compassion houses worth more than 520 million USD, and have presented 160,000 saving books. All heroic Vietnamese mothers are being cared for.
Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said: “The movements of caring for war invalids, families of martyrs, and national contributors have involved everyone in society and have been featured at major forums. The movements have contributed to poverty reduction and have stabilized and improved the material and spiritual lives of these people.”
The State has paid due attention to the search for and repatriation of soldier remains and the creation of memorial monuments. Testing centers have been upgraded to help identify the fallen soldiers. Software has been developed to maintain a comprehensive martyrs database on the internet. Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said: “We have developed a missing soldiers website that integrates the databases of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Defense. The website provides a search tool that enables agencies to obtain comprehensive information about martyrs. We use database technology to enable user interaction and collect information from the public.”