Vietnam takes UPR recommendations on human rights seriously: diplomat

The country has especially made efforts in perfecting the legal system on human rights and ensuring human rights in practice, bringing practical results to the people, Viet said after the UPR Working Group approved Vietnam’s National Report on human rights in its 46th session held in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 10.

Vietnam encountered many difficulties and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it finally overcame and protected people’s health and lives, recovered the economy and improved social welfare.

According to the diplomat, there is no single correct model in the field of ensuring and promoting human rights, and each country will be able to choose its own path depending on its circumstances, conditions, and socio-economic development levels.

Vietnam affirms the correctness of the chosen path and will steadfastly pursue it, he stressed.

During the 46th working session of the UPR Working Group, 133 countries registered to speak and made 320 recommendations for Vietnam.

Most of the recommendations contain positive contents and can be accepted, while some need further consideration in terms of compatibility with laws, policies, resources and enforcement capabilities, revealed the diplomat.

He also said several countries made recommendations based on inaccurate information that are not really appropriate, and Vietnam stands ready to hold dialogue and provide information to help those countries better understand the actual situation in the country.

Through UPR cycles, Vietnam said Vietnam has always been evaluated well for its efforts to seriously implement accepted recommendations, and countries have also positively evaluated the sincere, frank and open dialogue spirit of the Vietnamese delegation.

Vietnam will carefully examine the recommendations and announce its stance on these recommendations at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in October 2024.  

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN member state to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years (a cycle). 

According to the Human Rights Council’s “institution-building package”, the Universal Periodic Review Working Group will hold three two-week sessions per year. During each session, 14 countries will be reviewed, therefore 42 countries per year and 193 countries, i.e. the entire UN membership, by the end of each UPR cycle.

Vietnam was among 13 UN member states to present human rights records at the 46th session of the UPR Working Group in Geneva from May 7 – 10. 12 other states were New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, North Macedonia, Comoros, Slovakia, Eritrea, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, and Cambodia.

Since the first periodic review in 2008, all 193 UN member states have been reviewed three times. The fourth cycle of review began in November 2022, and is scheduled to last till 2027.