DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- This Decree provides for a number of social relief policies and regimes to render material and spiritual support and assistance to the lonely elderly, orphans, the seriously disabled and victims of natural calamities and other force majeure, who themselves and their relatives are unable to overcome the consequences (hereafter collectively referred to as social relief beneficiaries).

Article 2.- The State encourages and creates conditions for domestic socio-political organizations, economic organizations, social organizations, individuals, foreign organizations and individuals as well as overseas Vietnamese to voluntarily give assistance to social relief beneficiaries.

Article 3.- Social relief shall be chiefly rendered to families and communities where social relief beneficiaries live. The support for nursing at social charity establishments shall apply only to lonely persons who have no support or meet with exceptional difficulties.

Article 4.- Organizations and individuals that have sufficient conditions in terms of material base and financial sources for nursing orphans, disabled persons and the lonely elderly for a long time with the minimum or higher level prescribed by law, in compliance with the State�s planning and request no financial support from the State, are permitted to set up social charity establishments.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall submit to the Government for issuance the Regulation on the setting up and operation of social charity establishments.

Article 5.- The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall base themselves on the practical conditions of the social relief beneficiaries and their local potential resources to set forth the social allowance levels which must not be lower than those stipulated in Article 10 of this Decree.

Chapter II

REGULAR SOCIAL RELIEF REGIME

Article 6.- Beneficiaries of regular social relief under the management of communes and wards include:

1. Orphans being under-16 children whose parents are all dead or who are abandoned by their parents, lose their nursing sources and have no relatives to rely on; children whose either parent is dead and the other is missing under Article 88 of the Civil Code or incapable or unable to bring up his/her children according to the provisions of law.

2. The supportless lonely elderly being persons who reach full 60 years of age and live alone; elderly persons who live with their spouses who are also senile, have neither children nor relatives to rely on and have no income sources. Single women without support and income, who reach full 55 years of age and are enjoying social relief allowances, shall continue to enjoy such allowances.

3. Seriously disabled persons without income sources and support; seriously disabled persons who have relatives but they are too senile or too economically poor to take care of them.

4. Chronic mental patients being persons who suffer from mental diseases like schizophrenia and mental disorders, which have been treated more than once by specialized psychiatric clinics but still persist and thus concluded as chronic illnesses, live alone without support or live with their poor families.

Article 7.- The social relief beneficiaries defined in Article 6 of this Decree who face exceptional difficulties and are unable to support themselves shall be considered and admitted into social charity establishments.

Article 8.- For persons who are in the same situation as social relief beneficiaries but still have some support and nursing source while their families make applications to voluntarily send them into social charity establishments, which are approved by the competent authorities, their families must bear all costs as prescribed.

There will be no financial support from the State budget for the subjects stated in this Article.

1. Children aged 13 years or older, still living in social charity establishments and having no more schooling, shall be recommended to vocational training centers to learn jobs according to current regulations of the State.

2. Children having grown up, disabled persons having been functionally rehabilitated and mental patients having their illness stabilized, who are all living in social charity establishments, shall be sent back to their localities. The commune/ward People�s Committees as well as their families shall have to receive and create conditions for them to have jobs and integrate themselves into their communities.

1. The minimum regular social relief allowance level managed by communes and wards is 45,000 dong/person/month.

2. The minimum nursing cost-of-living allowance level at the State-run social charity establishments is 100,000 dong/person/month; particularly for under 18-month children who should be fed with additional milk, the allowance level is 150,000 dong/person/month.

Article 11.- Apart from the nursing cost-of-living allowance prescribed in Clause 2, Article 10 of this Decree, the subjects living in State-run social charity establishments shall also be entitled to the following allowances:

1. Allowance for buying daily-life essentials.

2. Allowance for buying common curative medicines.

3. Allowance for buying textbooks and learning aids, for children who are taking general education or supplementary education classes.

4. Monthly allowance for personal hygiene, for women beneficiaries of child-bearing age.

5. Allowance for funeral costs.

The presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall decide the allowance levels suitable to the practical conditions of their respective localities.

Article 12.- The social charity establishments are allowed to receive, use and manage all sources of funding and aid in kind (if any) contributed and donated by charity organizations and individuals, ensuring that they are used for the right purposes and the right beneficiaries and settled according to current financial regimes.

Article 13.- The funding sources for nursing, operational apparatus and capital construction investment in social charity establishments shall be ensured by the budget of the level that manages such establishments according to the current provisions of the Law on the State Budget.

Chapter III

IRREGULAR SOCIAL RELIEF REGIMES

Article 14.- Beneficiaries of irregular (one-time) social relief are persons or households that meet with difficulties due to natural calamities or other force majeure, including:

1. Households with dead or missing member(s);

2. Households with collapsed, swept-away, burnt or seriously-damaged houses;

3. Households that lost production means and suffer from hunger;

4. Seriously injured persons;

5. Persons who suffer from pre-harvest hunger;

6. Persons who are seriously injured or dead due to some misfortune occurring outside their residence areas, while their families are not aware thereof and thus cannot attend to or bury them.

7. Wandering beggars during the time they are gathered and waiting for being sent back to their residence places.

Article 15.- The irregular social relief allowance level for each category of beneficiaries defined in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Article 14 of this Decree shall be decided by the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities, depending on the extent of damage and capability of mobilizing resources.

The wandering beggars during the time they are gathered and waiting for being sent back to their residence places shall receive 5,000 dong/person/day for no more than 15 days.

Article 16.- The funding sources for irregular relief include:

1. Annual allocations from the State budget; allocations from the provincial, district and commune budgets;

2. Support from organizations and individuals inside and outside the country;

3. Donations from foreign countries and international organizations provided directly to the localities or through the Government or social organizations;

Where the above-mentioned funding sources are not enough for irregular relief, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall report such to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

Chapter IV

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 17.- The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assist the Government in exercising the State management over the social relief work; assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in guiding the implementation of this Decree.

1. The Ministry of Finance shall have to ensure funding for social relief according to current regulations and in compliance with the Law on the State Budget.

2. The Ministry of Health shall have to guide the disease prevention, check-up and treatment for social relief beneficiaries and the assessment of the illness for the mentally ill persons and disabled persons.

3. The Ministry of Education and Training shall have to guide the organization of literacy education; the exemption and reduction of school fees and other contributions for students who are social relief beneficiaries according to the current regimes.

4. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall have to coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs in determining the seriousness of natural calamity consequences, crop failures and pre-harvest hunger so as to work out remedial measures and guide the provision of irregular social relief.

Article 19.- The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to:

1. Manage social relief beneficiaries and social charity establishments in their respective localities;

2. Organize the implementation of the social relief regimes for each category of social relief beneficiaries defined in this Decree;

3. Direct the construction and management of social charity establishments in their respective localities;

4. Direct the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs agencies and functional branches to guide organizations and individuals to support social relief beneficiaries;

5. Make annual cost estimates for regular and irregular social relief according to the provisions of the Law on the State Budget and its current guiding documents; guide the lower-level People�s Com-mittees, the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs agencies and functional branches to compile and synthesize the regular and irregular social relief plans.

Chapter V

REWARDS AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 20.- Persons who make achievements and contributions to the charity activities for social relief beneficiaries shall be considered for rewards according to the State�s commendation regime.

Article 21.- Violators of the provisions of this Decree shall, depending on the seriousness of their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned and, if causing material damage, pay compensation according to the provisions of law or, be examined for penal liability.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 22.- This Decree takes effect 15 days after its signing.

The previous provisions which are contrary to this Decree are all now annulled.

Article 23.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decree.

On behalf of the Government
For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
NGUYEN TAN DUNG