Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (source:dangcongsan.vn)

Minister Minh said that since its establishment, as one of the three major pillars of the United Nations, the Human Rights Council has been an effective mechanism to protect and promote human rights around the world.

In the face of serious and complex challenges to human rights, Minh said, in order to become the core UN body in the field of human rights, the Council needs to expand its resources, increase its effectiveness, and find solutions to the multi-dimensional challenges of human rights. He said the Human Rights Council should be a forum that genuinely fosters cooperation and dialogue among Member States and promotes a balanced and holistic approach based on the principles of universality, transparency, objectivity, and impartiality in all of its activities. He reiterated Viet Nam’s commitment to actively working with and contributing to the common efforts of the Council and all Member States.

Minister Minh said Viet Nam’s consistent policy is to respect and ensure human rights in accordance with international norms. Over the past few years, human rights and fundamental freedoms have been better ensured in Viet Nam. In pursuit of a foreign policy of independence and sovereignty, and active and comprehensive international integration, Viet Nam has been engaging in and making constructive and responsible contributions to international affairs, including in the field of human rights. Viet Nam is a party to most of the important human rights treaties and is taking final steps to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to accede to the Convention against Torture. Minh said that because Vietnam places special importance on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, it accepted and has been implementing recommendations of the first UPR cycle. Viet Nam has also strengthened dialogues with Special Procedures. Since July, 2010, it has received four Special Procedures on minority issues, extreme poverty, the effects of foreign debt, and the right to health. Viet Nam will in the near future receive Special Procedures on the rights to education, food, and culture and continue to consider receiving other Special Procedures as committed.

Minister Minh told the UN Human Rights Council that Viet Nam has also been expanding bilateral cooperation and dialogue on human rights with a number of countries to share information and experience for better human rights protection. Vietnam conducts annual human rights dialogues with many other countries, and makes practical contributions to human rights cooperation within ASEAN, particularly the establishment and operation of the ASEAN Inter-Government Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the development of the ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights.

Minh said Viet Nam is still a developing country dealing with the lingering alerts of wars, the current effects of economic difficulties, and striving to build a State ruled by law. Viet Nam, therefore, has to deal with many challenges in the field of human rights and is poised to work even harder in order to protect people’s economic, social, civil and political rights.