GENEVA (VNS)— Viet Nam’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report, in its second update, was reviewed at a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.
The report stressed the achievements Viet Nam has recorded in protecting and promoting human rights, as well as the implementation of proposals recommended in the first report.
Existing challenges and limitations during the process, plus the Vietnamese Government’s priorities in human rights development, were also mentioned in the report.
The Vietnamese Government is making every effort to finalise the legal system and policies on human rights, such as the adoption of the amended 1992 Constitution, the report said, adding that the document devotes Chapter II to the protection of human rights, as well as the rights of the nation’s citizens.
It also cited the issuance of a range of new laws, namely the Health care Law, the Law on the Elderly, the Law on Persons with Disabilities, and the Law on Adoption.
Further, Viet Nam has engaged in important international treaties on human rights, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, the Law on Persons with Disabilities, the UN Convention against Trans-national Organised Crime, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, in 2012, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 122 on Employment Policy and the ILO Maritime Labour Convention.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc, who led the delegation to the event, noted that the country has always respected human rights, such as the freedom of speech, press, information, religion and belief. He also drew attention to the rights of people in jail, and the socio-economic and cultural rights of citizens.
The country has given priority to the building and development of policies and programmes to promote gender equality reflected by the number of female National Assembly deputies in the 2011-2016 tenure, placed at 24.4 percent and ranking second among ASEAN nations, said the report.
The country has also actively contributed to the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.
Viet Nam has also participated in the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking, while closely coordinating with the UN Children’s Fund, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Migration Organisation and the UN Inter Agency Project.
The country has also signed many agreements on the prevention and fighting of human trafficking with other regional countries, such as Laos, Cambodia, China and Malaysia.
According to the report, Viet Nam has set up regular bilateral dialogues on human rights with several countries and partners, such as the United States, the European Union, Australia, Norway and Switzerland.
On November 12, 2013, Viet Nam was, for the first time, elected to the Human Rights Council, in recognition by the international community of its recent achievements in protecting civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights. — VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News