The 42nd regular meeting of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNHRC) has opened. The Vietnamese delegation is led by Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, Head of the Vietnam Permanent Delegation at the United Nations.

Multilateral diplomacy is an important part of Vietnam's foreign affairs.

Right from the first days of independence, President Ho Chi Minh took the initiative and actively mobilized the United Nations, first of all the permanent member countries of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to accept Vietnam as an UN member, to recognize Vietnam's independence, to prevent war in Vietnam and Indochina. The Geneva Conferences, the Geneva Agreement 1954 and the Paris Agreement contributed to ending the war, restoring peace, and leading to the victory of the Vietnamese people's struggle for national independence and national reunification. It is also a major contribution of Vietnam at the multilateral forum to peace, stability and security in the region and in the world.

Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, former Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations said that over the past 40 years of joining the UN, Vietnam has made a lot of contributions, joined many important UN agencies: ECOSOC, the UN Security Council ... In late 2016, for the first time, Vietnam had a representative and was elected as the second Vice Chair of the International Law Commission (ILC).

Vietnam has actively participated in all three pillars of the UN’s activities: peace, security, development and human rights.

In the field of development:

Cooperation between Vietnam and the UN is a prime example of development cooperation among UN member countries, promoting international cooperation in addressing economic, social, cultural and humanitarian issues.

Vietnam has reached most of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of schedule, making a positive contribution to the development and implementation of the Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN and being a pioneer in the application of new cooperation models.

Vietnam has been repeatedly elected as a member of the United Nations Socio-Economic Commission (ECOSOC), actively coordinated with organizations in the United Nations Development System in Vietnam to implement the Unified Initiative on building the UN Common Green House, to coordinate and improve the operational efficiency of these organizations in Vietnam.

Vietnam has actively joined other member countries in promoting the implementation of the Agenda 2030 at the national, regional and global level. Vietnam and the UN have signed and actively implemented the new One Strategic Plan (OSP) for the period of 2017-2021 between the Vietnamese government and 18 UN agencies.

Vietnam is also striving to be one of the leading countries in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, in the fields that it has advantages in and in the fields that it has already performed very well traditions such as poverty reduction, health care, social security and ensuring food security. The country is also striving to achieve green and inclusive growth, implement international agreements on climate change response, environmental protection against plastic waste and ocean protection.

In the field of human rights:

Being elected to the UN Commission for Human Rights (2014-2016 term), Vietnam has actively participated in efforts to promote human rights around the world. Its proposal on the Resolution on the Impact of climate change with children's rights was approved. Vietnam also launched and participated in many initiatives such as protecting the labor rights of people with disabilities, ensuring a safe working environment for workers at sea, enhancing education and preventing trafficking of women and girls ...

For its dynamism, activeness and initiative, Vietnam is trusted to be ASEAN's coordinator at the UN Human Rights Council.

In this role, Vietnam is very active in coordinating the stance of the ASEAN countries at the UN Human Rights Council and speaking on behalf of ASEAN on the related issues at this commission. In particular, Vietnam has launched a broadly supported initiative on the impact of climate change on human rights and the rights of vulnerable groups, including women, children and people with disabilities.

The Vietnamese delegation at the meeting with the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Photo VNA

In the field of peace and security:

Vietnam always actively coordinates with Non-Aligned and developing countries to fight and defend the basic principles of the UN Charter such as the principle of equality of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of countries, not using or threatening to use force ...

In 2007, Vietnam was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2008-2009. This was the first time Vietnam participating in the most important agency of the United Nations for international peace and security. In the context that the UN Security Council has to handle a huge volume of work due to the appearance of many complex security issues, many new global security challenges and the negative impact of the global economic and financial crisis, Vietnam successfully took on this important responsibility, taking part in decisions related to conflict resolution, post-conflict reconstruction, anti-international terrorism, peacekeeping activities and promotion of the UN Security Council’s transparency.

Some outstanding contributions during this term were the UN Security Council’s approval of the 1889 resolution proposed by Vietnam on Women, peace and security, which focused on the needs of women and girls in the post-conflict situation and increasing women's participation in all stages of the peace process. Vietnam also launched an initiative to organize extensive consultations with UN members outside the UN Security Council on the council’s annual report before the UN General Assembly.

Vietnam is a member of most of the major international treaties on disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and is the 10th country to ratify the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Since 2014, Vietnam has sent its army officers to join UN peacekeeping operations, and in 2018 it sent the first field hospital of level 2 to South Sudan, contributing to the joint effort of the UN and the international community in resolving conflicts, creating peace in the region and around the world. With these contributions, Vietnam's prestige and international position are constantly improving. International friends highly appreciate Vietnam's role and positive contribution to the United Nations.

Tran Hang