In 2019, Vietnam joined the International Labor Organization (ILO)'s Convention 98 on the application of the principles of organizational rights and collective bargaining, the Global Voluntary Commitment on Children's Rights and the Declaration on Safe School. Photo by Le Anh Dung

The UPR 3rd cycle report of Vietnam was approved by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in mid-2019. The report was compiled elaborately with the active participation of 18 ministries and agencies involved in promoting and protecting human rights in Vietnam, and it fully complies with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' rules and guidelines for the UPR process.

At the meeting to approve Vietnam's National Report under the UPR 3rd Cycle, most countries recognized Vietnam's achievements in securing human rights.

Since the previous UPR review (2014), Vietnam's development achievements have been recognized by the international community, including the fulfillment of many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of schedule and initial achievements in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); Vietnam's per capita income is constantly increasing, of which the income of poor households were up by 15-20%; the rate of poor households under the multi-dimensional standards were down by 1-1.5% (to about 3.73 - 4.23%) and up to over 4% for poor districts by October 2019. Vietnam's poverty reduction record continues to be a bright spot, that is highly appreciated by the international community.

People in all regions have access to radio and television, with Internet, which facilitates their access to information faster and easier. Currently, about 70% of Vietnamese people have access to the Internet every day, not only for their livelihood, education, and entertainment but also for directly exercising their human rights, including civil and political rights, such as contributing opinions to draft policies and laws.

However, besides these positive achievements, Vietnam still has many shortcomings and difficulties in implementing human rights policies, which will more or less affect the implementation of UPR results.

For example, in reality, the people's awareness of their rights is not sufficient; the capacity of officials who are in charge of ensuring the rights of people is insufficient while the socio-economic conditions do not allow us to have the adequate resources to secure the rights of people.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Head of the Vietnam Permanent Representative Mission to the United Nations at the discussion on Human Rights Promotion and Assurance at the 3rd Committee, UN General Assembly. (Photo: Quang Vinh/baoquocte)

In addition, there are still a number of challenges and problems regarding the legal framework, resources and policies to promote and ensure human rights in Vietnam, especially for disadvantaged groups in society.

The Government has proposed the priority directions in the near future to ensure better enjoyment of basic rights and freedoms of every citizen.

In the field of law, for example, Vietnam needs to make the law more effective and less overlap. The administrative system must better serve the people. Judicial reform strategy must be carried out and the legal system needs to be completed. This shows that the Party and the State recognize that there still exist shortcomings in the legal and judicial system.

To implement the results of the UPR 3rd cycle, Vietnam will need to continue to improve the legal system based on promoting positive aspects and achievements in human rights policy. Vietnam will have to continue to improve policies, to supplement policies related to human rights issues, and at the same time develop specific measures to enforce laws on human policies; and actively exchange and share human rights enforcement experiences with international friends and refer to their experience.

Looking at Vietnam's readiness and proactiveness, observers optimistically said that the implementation of UPR recommendations will surely have a significant impact on all aspects of social life, especially in the field of building the legal system on human rights, ensuring social security, improving people's living standards and promoting cooperation and dialogue at the regional and international level on human rights issues.

The UPR mechanism has been in place since 2008 and is one of the outstanding achievements of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights because it is built on the principle of transparency and fairness. With a consistent policy of protecting and promoting human rights, Vietnam attaches special importance to the UPR mechanism and always fully and seriously fulfills the UPR obligations and commitments, including the implementation of approved UPR recommendations. 

 Tran Hang