Vietnam’s human rights review appreciated, says diplomat

The Deputy Foreign Minister met representatives of the diplomatic corps, UN agencies, international and Vietnamese organisations in Hanoi o­n June 4 to keep them informed of the results of the fifth session of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group in Geneva from May 8-12.

According to the participating countries , the review represented in a comprehensive and open manner Vietnam’s consistent policy o­n ensuring human rights and the effects of this policy o­n the country, said Deputy Minister Minh, who was Head of the Vietnamese delegation to the UPR Working Group’s fifth session.

He added that they highly valued Vietnam’s efforts to create essential policies, legislation and administrative reforms to ensure democracy as well as its superb achievements in developing the economy. The country has also addressed social issues, boosted gender equality, reduced poverty and improved people’s lives, especially ethnic minority people and vulnerable groups such as children and the disabled.

The diplomat also reported the Vietnamese delegation’s viewpoints rejecting several flawed arguments.

He said that the UPR Working Group had adopted Vietnam’s UPR at the session and Vietnamese agencies would complete the review’s contents which would be submitted to the Human Rights Council for official approval in September this year.

The UPR was created by the UN General Assembly o­n March 15, 2006, to review the human rights records of every country. Up to now, 80 UN members have presented their reviews using this mechanism.