Vietnam requests that the US side make objective assessments based on accurate and comprehensive information sources about the actual situation in Vietnam and soon remove Vietnam from the list of countries under special watch for religious freedom, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang stated.
On the afternoon of July 4, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, answering a question from a VNA reporter about Vietnam's response to the US State Department's 2023 International Religious Freedom Report, in which the US placed Vietnam on a special watch list, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang stated:
“We regret that despite recognizing some of Vietnam’s progress in protecting and promoting freedom of religion or belief, the US State Department’s 2023 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom still makes biased assessments based on unverified and inaccurate information about the actual situation in Vietnam.”
The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized: As a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country with a rich religious and belief life, Vietnam has always consistently implemented a policy of respecting and ensuring the right to freedom of belief and religion, the right to no one being discriminated against on the basis of religion or belief, and the activities of religious organizations are guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of law. These rights have been clearly stated in the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam as well as the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion and related legal documents and are guaranteed to be respected in practice.
According to Ms. Pham Thu Hang, Vietnam is willing to discuss with the US side on issues of mutual concern in a spirit of frankness, openness and mutual respect on remaining differences, thereby contributing to promoting the Vietnam - US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“In that spirit, Vietnam requests that the US side make objective assessments based on accurate and comprehensive sources of information about the actual situation in Vietnam and promptly remove Vietnam from the list of countries under special watch for religious freedom,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang stated.
*Also at the press conference, answering a reporter's question about Vietnam's response to the US State Department's 2024 Report on Human Trafficking in Persons, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said: Vietnam welcomes the United States' objective assessment of Vietnam's positive results in preventing and combating human trafficking.
According to the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in recent times, Vietnam has continued to promote the prevention and combat of human trafficking according to key solutions and tasks in the Program on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking for the period 2021 - 2025 and orientation to 2030, notably amending the Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking in 2011 and strengthening investigation, prosecution and trial of human trafficking cases.
“Over the past time, we have identified and supported victims of human trafficking and promptly responded to new challenges of human trafficking in the region. Vietnam is also making efforts to implement the goals of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (abbreviated as GCM) according to the plan issued by the Prime Minister on March 20, 2020, to strengthen the transparent migration environment, protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrants and prevent the risk of human trafficking in international migration activities. And in that spirit, we hope that Vietnam and the United States will continue to cooperate closely, increase exchanges and dialogues to comprehensively and positively assess Vietnam's efforts and achievements in preventing and combating human trafficking, in line with the spirit of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang.
According to the Communist Party of Vietnam Electronic Newspaper
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