On the morning of August 10, continuing the program of the First Extraordinary Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall about the draft Law on Grassroots Mediation (amended).
Delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy (Khanh Hoa National Assembly Delegation) supported the addition of the mechanism of appointing mediators in Article 9 of the draft Law.
According to delegate Thuy, in fact, the election of mediators in some places has encountered difficulties. The addition of a designation mechanism in cases where supplementary elections fail, re-elections are unsuccessful, or encounter force majeure events is extremely necessary to promptly consolidate the mediation team.
However, to maintain the nature of self-management and democracy of grassroots mediation teams, delegates proposed that the Drafting Committee study and supplement Article 9 stipulating: The appointment of mediators must have discussion, consensus and opinions from socio-political organizations that are members of the Fatherland Front in villages, residential groups and representatives of the residential community in groups, villages, and residential groups on the expected list before the Head of the Fatherland Front officially prepares a dossier requesting recognition and sends it to the Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee.
Participating in contributing opinions on the standards for mediators at the grassroots level, delegate Pham Van Hoa (Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Dong Thap) expressed his agreement with the proposed standards. However, this delegate proposed to supplement regulations on the age of mediators.
According to delegate Pham Van Hoa, besides criteria such as village elders, village chiefs, people with capacity, qualifications and prestige, age is also a factor that needs to be considered in the standards of mediators.
I propose that there should be regulations on age standards. In my opinion, mediators should be around 70 years old or older; over 70 years old, mediators should not be regulated" - delegate Pham Van Hoa stated.
Also according to this delegate, for the elderly, village elders, village chiefs or people with prestige in the community, if they still have capacity and are trusted, they can be invited to participate in mediation activities.
At the meeting, clarifying the opinions of National Assembly deputies raised on the mechanism for electing and appointing mediators, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Justice Hoang Thanh Tung said that the draft Law continues to maintain the mechanism of electing combined with supplementing the form of appointing mediators.
Through summarizing the practical situation of some obstacles, the draft Law has supplemented a mechanism for appointing in some cases where no election can be held to ensure that the regular operation of the mediation team at the grassroots level is maintained, removing basic obstacles.
The Minister said that Clause 2, Article 8 of the draft Law stipulates that the forms of election are very diverse, not rigid. Opinions can be taken by ballot, voted by raising hands at meetings or secret ballot, or voted online.
In addition, the drafting agency will study to explain more clearly the regulations on standards for mediators, forms of election, election procedures, determination of the percentage of household representatives participating, and determination of election results.
