The Right to Access Information in Sustainable Poverty Reduction Policy in Vietnam

Abstract: The right to access information is one of the basic rights of citizens as stipulated in the Constitution and legal documents in Vietnam. Ensuring these rights requires guaranteeing equal access for all social groups, including the poor. In the sustainable poverty reduction policy in Vietnam, the multidimensional poverty line is determined using income and access to basic social services, in which basic services are determined to include: employment, health, education, housing, water and sanitation, and information. In particular, the criteria to determine information deficiency are telecommunications services and other means of accessing information. Based on these criteria, the State is currently promulgating measures to compensate for the shortage of those two indicators. Using text analysis, comparative research of international experiences, and secondary data, the study reveals certain shortcomings in the scope of access to information and information poverty reduction in Vietnam. Additionally, the study offers recommendations with policy implications to address these shortcomings. From there, it is proposed to amend the criteria for determining the information poverty line, and supplement documents regulating information poverty reduction in the sustainable poverty reduction policy system in Vietnam. Keywords: Access to Information Rights; Sustainable Poverty Reduction Policies; Multidimensional poverty reduction; Information Poverty Reduction; Information Poverty Reduction Policy.