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International Consultancy for Conducting a Legal Analysis of the Gaps in National Legislation on Children with Disabilities and Implications for Amendment of Law on Persons with Disabilities in Viet Nam

Hanoi

  • Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
  • Location: Hanoi
  • Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Legal - Broad
    • Human Rights
    • Children's rights (health and protection)
    • Social and Economic Policy
    • Disability Rights
  • Closing Date: Closed

International consultancy for conducting a legal analysis of the gaps in national legislation on children with disabilities and implications for amendment of Law on Persons with Disabilities in Viet Nam

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Background: 

Viet Nam has showed strong commitment on people with disabilities, especially children with disabilities. In 2010 the Law on Persons with Disabilities was developed and approved by the National Assembly. In 2015 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was ratified which marked another important milestone for Viet Nam towards fulfilment of its international commitment to protect and promote rights of adults and children with disabilities. In the recently approved Law on Children, there are specific provisions about children with disabilities relating to their rights to access inclusive education, social protection services and other protective measures. There are also other legal documents that guarantee the rights of children and young people with disabilities to equal access to education, health and protection and other social services, as well as the job opportunities.

According to MOLISA, Viet Nam has about 7 million people with disabilities (accounting for 7.8% of total population) and among them 28.3% are children with disabilities[1]. The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) estimates that there are between 1.2-1.3 million children (under 16 years of age) with disabilities in Viet Nam.[2] Despite rich legal documents in numbers, adults and children with disabilities still face significant challenges to fulfil their rights. Estimates suggest that only 900,000 people with severe disabilities have been able to access monthly cash support[3]. UNICEF estimates that up to 90% of children with disabilities had never been to school, with the majority (91.4%) aged between 11-14 years of age[4].

Children with disabilities in Viet Nam are among the society's most stigmatised and excluded children and face significant challenges in their daily lives - including discrimination, limited access to basic health care, education and other public services. Children with disabilities are often abandoned, neglected, and are at higher risk of abuse, violence and exploitation or remain "invisible" in their communities. Children with disabilities experience multiple and overlapping vulnerabilities, and research shows are among the most vulnerable during emergencies and natural disasters, as have been identified through recent anecdotal evidence. There are various reasons that explain why children with disabilities have their rights unmet. One important reason relates to the quality and implementation of related legislation, with relevant laws being declarative with weak/no enforcement mechanism attached, therefore in reality it is not implemented or partially implemented. Another important reason is that the Law on Persons with Disabilities was approved much earlier than the CRPD and it was not fully in line with CRPD standards.

To prepare for the upcoming reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities, MOLISA has requested UNICEF's technical support to undertake an analysis of the gaps in national legislation on children with disabilities and provide recommendations for improving the Law on Persons with Disabilities in Viet Nam.

Previously UNICEF supported a gaps analysis in 2009 to inform the National Assembly discussion and approval of the Law on Persons with Disabilities, however, at that time the report primarily looked at gaps in the draft law without referring to other laws that could support fulfilment of rights of children with disabilities. Since that time, Viet Nam has ratified the CRPD and recently approved the new Law on Children. As such this proposed piece of analysis is important to increase awareness of decision-makers, people with disabilities and disabled people's organisations and relevant civil society organisations, and the public about the alignment of Viet Nam’s national legislation with CRPD and promote their support for the reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities. Findings of this analysis will also be important to inform the upcoming reform of several related laws on education, health insurance, and social protection which have been planned by the government.

Objectives

Overall objective: To generate evidence and analysis on the gaps in national legislation on children with disabilities and provide recommendations and capacity building for improving the Law on Persons with Disabilities in Viet Nam. The report and recommendations will be used for the amendment of the Law on Persons with Disabilities, as well as other pieces of legislation and policies in relation to children with disabilities.

Specific objectives:

  • Map existing laws that are relevant to children with disabilities;
  • Undertake critical analysis on the compliance of the Law on Persons with Disabilities and other selected pieces of legislation (as agreed with UNICEF) related to children with disabilities with the CRPD and other international human rights norms and standards related to children and disability. This should include examples of good practices from other countries that could be applicable to Viet Nam;
  • Undertake an assessment and analysis of the various implementation mechanisms (to be defined and agreed with UNICEF in the Inception Report) under selected existing pieces of legislation (as agreed with UNICEF) and the relevant sub-laws related to children with disabilities;
  • Provide concrete recommendations, with specific annotated drafting advice, for improving the Law on Persons with Disabilities. This should include inclusion of examples of good legislative practices from other countries that could be applicable to Viet Nam.
  • Based on consultations with relevant stakeholders, provide a proposed roadmap with key milestones and timeframes for the reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities.
  • Conduct capacity building workshop with the key governmental legal drafting stakeholders who are likely to be responsible for reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities on the CRPD and human rights-based disability legislative reform. 

Deliverables:

  • Inception Report at the start of the assignment that details the proposed workplan, stakeholder mapping and methodological approach (including proposal on consultation to gain the views of children with disabilities to inform the analysis).
  • A full report in both Vietnamese and English (maximum 50 pages) including a comprehensive executive summary, methodology, analytical research findings in terms of gaps in existing legislations and their implementation mechanisms in relation to children with disabilities and recommendations, with specific annotated drafting advice, for improving the Law on Persons with Disabilities to align with the CRPD and CRC.
  • A policy brief (5-6 pages) to be used for advocacy to inform the amendment of the Law on Persons with Disabilities, with attention to likely controversial issues or counter-arguments for proposed reforms and including a proposed roadmap with key milestones and timeframes for the reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities.
  • Power Point Presentation on the CRPD and the international human rights standards and norms on disability, gaps in existing selected national legislation including implementation mechanisms from children with disabilities, key recommendations for improving existing selected legislation and concrete recommendations for improving the Law on Persons with Disabilities to be delivered in various dissemination and advocacy workshops.
  • Prepare all necessary materials (to be agreed with Consultant and detailed in the Inception Report) and deliver capacity building workshop for the key governmental legal drafting stakeholders who are likely to be responsible for reform of the Law on Persons with Disabilities on the CRPD and human rights-based disability legislative reform.

[1] Government of Viet Nam, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Annual report on people with disability, Hanoi, 2016.

[2] Government of Viet Nam Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Children Indicators in Viet Nam 2013-2014, MOLISA, Viet Nam, 2015. Note that this is likely significantly underestimated due to the lack of reliable national data on children with disabilities because of Viet Nam having not yet adopted the international definitions on disability or children.

[3] National Committee on People with Disability, Annual report on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability, Hanoi, 2016

[4] UNICEF and Government of Viet Nam Ministry of Education and Training, Out-of-school children in Viet Nam: A country study, UNICEF, Viet Nam, 2013, p.84.

Detailed Tasks , Deliverables, Methodological, Technical Approach and Time frame as per the attached TOR Download File Consultancy Notice TOR of the legal gaps analysis.docx

The consultant will be fully responsible for producing intended outputs within this consultancy framework. She or he is strongly encouraged to sub-contract any necessary Vietnamese expertise to support the consultancy (e.g. hiring a national consultant). In such cases, the International Consultant will be fully responsible for recruitment and payment of the National Consultant and be fully responsible for all negotiations, decisions and deliverables.

Management

The consultant will be working under the supervision of Vijaya Ratnam Raman, Children's Rights and Legal Adviser of Social Policy and Governance Programme, with day-to-day support provided by the Parliamentary & Governance Specialist. The consultant will also work closely with the key staff from across UNICEF programme sections.

The International Consultant will be solely responsible for identifying and recruiting the national consultant, including support for quality assurance of deliverables. In engaging a suitably qualified and competent national consultant, UNICEF can support the International Consultant by introducing suitable candidates, but it is the responsibility of the international consultant to hire and supervise the national consultant. The international consultant is also responsible for proper translation between English and Vietnamese.

Qualifications/ Specialised Knowledge and Experience: 

The assignment requires an International consultant with the following qualifications:

  • Advanced university degree in law, strongly preferred focus on public (international) law and human rights;
  • At least ten years' experience working in the field of human rights, with focus on disability and children's rights, with demonstrated experience in disability legislative reform;
  • Demonstrated expertise in working with state institutions particularly on human rights and disability rights;
  • Demonstrated knowledge and experience of working in human rights legal reform in civil law legal systems;
  • Excellent analytical, negotiation, and communication skills, including good advocacy and lobbying skills to assure the transfer of knowledge and experience at the national level and influence policy changes;
  • Outstanding written and oral communication skills in English;
  • Strong knowledge and understanding of the global developments in disability rights and of the situation in Asia-Pacific region is considered an asset;
  • Proven ability to work in a multicultural environment.

To view our competency framework, please click here

If you have got experience of working in a similar capacity and want to make an active and lasting contribution to build a better world for children, please submit the following information:

  • Letter of Interest, including availability and how you meet the criteria
  • Proposed consultancy lump sum amount, inclusive of fees (international and national), travel costs and all associated costs
  • P-11 form ( UN Personal History Form )
  • Details of three (3) referees of similar consultancy assignments.

Closing date for receipt of applications is Tuesday 5 December 2017 at 23:55 hours Viet Nam Time.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.

This vacancy is now closed.
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