 |
| At the recent 54th Session of the Human Rights Council, Vietnam launched two initiatives to promote the human right to vaccination, including the General Statement and the International Discussion on “Promoting the Human Right to Vaccination”. (Photo: QT) |
Human is the subject, the target
Vietnam upholds the principle of universal human rights, shares the view that human rights are universal, the aspiration and common value of all mankind; supports dialogue and cooperation between countries and at multilateral UN mechanisms on human rights, and emphasizes the promotion and protection of human rights in a comprehensive and holistic manner, in accordance with commonly recognized international standards while respecting the relevant legal provisions of each country.
As an active and responsible member of the UN, ASEAN and the international community in general, Vietnam always attaches importance to and has achieved many important achievements in this field, which have been internationally recognized and highly appreciated.
At the national level, the Party and State of Vietnam always identify people as the subject, goal, and also the driving force of the cause of national construction; people are the center of socio-economic policies; the promotion and protection of human rights is the nature and purpose of the socialist regime and an important factor for sustainable development, ensuring the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country to reach victory.
| "As an active and responsible member of the UN, ASEAN and the international community in general, Vietnam always attaches importance to and has achieved many important achievements in the field of human rights, which have been internationally recognized and highly appreciated." |
One of Vietnam's greatest achievements is regaining and protecting national independence, escaping colonial rule, unifying the country, gradually developing the socio-economy, improving the quality of life and implementing human rights of the Vietnamese people. Human rights are affirmed in the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Vietnam's legal system on human rights, including the Constitution, laws, and sub-law documents, is increasingly perfected, concretizing and ensuring the fundamental rights of citizens in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international conventions on human rights to which Vietnam is a member.
In particular, the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam devotes a separate Chapter with 36 Articles clearly defining human rights, basic rights and obligations of citizens. Accordingly, Vietnam has supplemented, amended or newly promulgated more than 100 legal documents related to ensuring human rights and citizens' rights, including a number of important laws such as the 2015 Penal Code, the 2015 Civil Code, the 2015 Law on Referendum, the 2016 Law on Children, the 2017 Law on Legal Aid, the 2018 Law on Cyber Security, the 2019 revised Labor Code, etc.
Vietnam has made remarkable progress in poverty reduction, human development and improving the quality of life of its people. Vietnam has achieved most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of schedule and is actively implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to UN statistics, Vietnam's human development index has increased by nearly 46% over the past 30 years, among the countries with the highest growth rate in the world. The literacy rate for people aged 15-60 is 97.85% and the literacy rate for people aged 15-35 is 99.3%. The average life expectancy of the people has reached 73.6 years (2021). In the past 10 years (2010-2020), GDP grew by an average of nearly 6%; per capita income more than doubled; the poverty rate decreased from 14.2% to below 3%. Health insurance coverage increased rapidly from 60.9% of the population to 90.7%.
Vietnam's human rights guarantee is implemented in accordance with the standards of the international conventions on human rights to which Vietnam is a member. Vietnam is currently a member of 7/9 important international conventions on human rights. Vietnam is also a member of 25 conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on workers' rights, including 7/8 fundamental conventions.
Vietnam always fully implements its international obligations on human rights, including ensuring the implementation of international commitments on human rights and national reports.
At the same time, Vietnam actively dialogues and cooperates with the UN's international mechanisms on human rights, including conducting three reviews under the UPR Mechanism in 2009, 2014 and 2019 and preparing for the fourth UPR in 2024.
 |
| Vietnam has made increasingly impressive achievements in ensuring the rights of ethnic minorities, thereby contributing to enhancing our country's reputation in implementing international commitments, especially the CERD Convention. (Source: Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper) |
Vietnam's strong commitment and efforts
Notably, Vietnam has been actively participating in regional and international cooperation activities on promoting human rights, as well as the activities of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HURC), including being elected and successfully assuming the position of a member of the HRC for the 2014-2016 term and now for the 2023-2025 term, which has been highly appreciated by the international community.
During its tenure as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 term, as well as in the current 2023-2025 term, Vietnam has always actively, proactively and responsibly contributed to the common activities of the UN Human Rights Council, taking initiatives and drafting the UN Human Rights Council's annual Resolution on climate change and human rights (since 2015).
Vietnam contributes to promoting and ensuring human rights under the motto "Respect and understanding. Dialogue and cooperation. All human rights for all". Notably, right in the first session of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, Vietnam has demonstrated its constructive role and made active contributions by proposing initiatives, chairing the drafting, consulting, and proposing the UN Human Rights Council to adopt by consensus the Resolution on the 75th anniversary of the UN Human Rights Council at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (April 3, 2023), with more than 120 co-sponsoring countries.
In addition, in the Southeast Asian region, Vietnam has made practical contributions to strengthening solidarity and cooperation in ASEAN on human rights, especially in the process of building the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Community, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, establishing and promoting the operation of ASEAN mechanisms related to human rights, thereby affirming ASEAN's commitments to promoting and protecting human rights in the region in accordance with generally recognized international standards, creating a framework for enhancing ASEAN cooperation in this field.
In addition to the great achievements, Vietnam faces common human rights challenges compared to other countries in the world. The legal system and coordination mechanisms between agencies and organizations on human rights still need to be improved to better ensure the human rights of the people in the context of common global challenges such as natural disasters, climate change, epidemics, etc. A number of cadres, civil servants and public employees still have limited awareness and skills in implementing human rights in their work. Some countries and international organizations still have different or non-objective views on the human rights situation in Vietnam. Some individuals and organizations have activities that take advantage of human rights to distort the truth, causing social instability.
Vietnam needs to adapt and update itself to new trends and requirements on human rights in the era of globalization. Global challenges such as climate change, epidemics, migration, digital technology gap, etc. have many impacts on people's enjoyment of human rights. Vietnam needs to have policies and measures to protect people's human rights in the face of these new challenges, while taking advantage of new opportunities to improve human rights protection.
Along with increasingly better ensuring the human rights of the people, in the coming time, Vietnam needs to continue its efforts to maintain its participation and actively contribute to the activities of the Human Rights Council as a member of the most important intergovernmental body on human rights of the United Nations, as well as cooperate with other international mechanisms on human rights; contributing to building a world of peace, stability, sustainable development and respect for human rights.
Thus, human rights recorded in the UDHR document issued 75 years ago have been widely recognized in the world as one of the core values of humanity and indicators of human rights achievements and human development are important criteria to assess the development of a country.
For Vietnam, since regaining independence more than 78 years ago, Vietnam has always promoted human rights, participated in most international conventions on human rights, and always made strong commitments and efforts to promote and protect human rights at the national, regional and international levels.
Source
Comment (0)