Webinar with the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam on child protection and juvenile justice

In line with the historic collaboration between the two courts, embodied by a twinning agreement signed in 2013, the meeting was the first step of a cooperation programme decided on 19 April 2021 during an online meeting between First President Chantel Arens and Mr. Nguyen Van Du, Vice-President of the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam.

Following an overview of Vietnamese law on child protection and juvenile justice presented by the Legal Affairs and Research Department of the Supreme People’s Court, Mr. Christophe Seys, judge in the Court of cassation’s criminal chamber and specialized in these issues, introduced the fundamental principles of juvenile justice, including international and European norms, the key role of the juvenile court judge as well as the main inputs of the Code of juvenile criminal justice, which came into force on 30 September 2021.

The meeting gave the occasion to the two courts to exchange on their experiences and to engage an interactive dialogue on juvenile justice, which is of particular importance for the Supreme People’s Court as a draft reform on this topic is foreseen in 2022. In this regard, Vietnamese judges demonstrated a strong interest in the Code of juvenile criminal justice as well as for the various specialized structures existing in French law.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that this cooperation could be further developed through other projects, such as a second thematic webinar between experts or a study visit.