Vietnam moves to tackle social unrest

The Vietnamese Communist Party leadership has directed government agencies to to ensure that peoples democratic rights at local level are respected.

The Vietnamese authorities said the move was designed to ease prolonged social unrest in some rural areas.

There were widespread rural protests last year in the provinces of Thai Binh and Dong Nai over local corruption, high taxation and land reform.

The directive calls for regulations to be drawn up specifying the rights and obligations of villagers, civil servants, local government officials and managers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service