On November 24, 2023, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) jointly organized an international workshop to consult on the draft National Report of Vietnam under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the fourth cycle of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet chaired and delivered the opening speech at the workshop.
The workshop was attended by the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, Ms. Ramla Khalidi, along with representatives of central ministries, departments, sectors, socio- political organizations, socio-professional organizations, people's organizations, non-governmental organizations, research agencies of Vietnam, UN development agencies, international organizations, and foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet affirmed Vietnam's efforts, commitments and achievements in protecting and promoting human rights and implementing the accepted UPR recommendations of the third cycle. This is a great effort of Vietnam in a turbulent period of the world with many emerging challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, environmental degradation, food security, armed conflicts that have long-term impacts on all aspects of socio-economic life, even pushing back the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in many countries and posing unprecedented obstacles to ensuring basic human rights. During this period, Vietnam has made great efforts to implement the accepted UPR recommendations of the third cycle, especially in perfecting the legal system on human rights, sustainably reducing multidimensional poverty, ensuring social security, improving people's lives and ensuring the rights of vulnerable groups. These results have been highly appreciated by countries, international organizations and UN human rights mechanisms.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to the UPR process and always ensures the participation of all relevant parties on the principles of transparency, cooperation, substantive and constructive dialogue. At the same time, the UPR process is not only an opportunity to review the progress of implementing recommendations and assessing achievements, but more importantly, to identify areas that need improvement and draw lessons. Therefore, Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet suggested that the Workshop focus on discussing and providing practical and useful comments and information in that direction, as well as proposing priority directions and cooperation needs of Vietnam, development partners and relevant parties.
At the workshop, Ms. Ramla Khalidi, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, emphasized the importance of the UPR mechanism and highly appreciated Vietnam's commitment. The Acting Resident Coordinator highly appreciated Vietnam's pioneering role in protecting and promoting human rights and sustainable development, which has been recognized by United Nations agencies, most recently during the visit to Vietnam by the Special Rapporteur on the right to development in early November 2023, as well as Vietnam's initiative and leading role in the UN Human Rights Council adopting the resolution "Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 30th Anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action" in early 2023. Vietnam has typical experiences in participating in the UPR, which need to continue to promote, especially having Master Plans to implement accepted UPR recommendations. Ms. Ramla Khalidi affirmed that UN development agencies, especially UNDP, will continue to accompany Vietnam in the UPR process in particular and strengthen the protection of human rights in general in Vietnam.
At the workshop, representatives of units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some member agencies of the Inter-Agency Working Group on the UPR report presented an overview of the draft report, as well as detailed information on the results of implementing the UPR recommendations of the third cycle in a number of important areas, with many recommendations. On that basis, representatives of departments, ministries, sectors, mass organizations, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, development partners and foreign representative agencies in Vietnam participated in detailed discussions with many constructive and specific comments to complete the draft National Report.
Focusing on appreciating Vietnam's efforts in protecting and promoting human rights and implementing the UPR recommendations of the third cycle, many delegates suggested that the draft UPR report of the fourth cycle should more clearly reference and link with assessments and data in Vietnam's national reports under other mechanisms, especially the Voluntary National Review Report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (VNR). Delegates also added information on the participation and contributions of relevant parties to the implementation of the UPR recommendations of the third cycle and priorities and commitments for the fourth cycle to address challenges and propose solutions to protect and promote human rights in the next UPR cycle.
It is expected that the draft report will continue to be completed and consulted with relevant parties in the coming time before being submitted to the Prime Minister for approval and sent to the Human Rights Council by the end of January 2024./.
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