Geneva (VNA) – Vietnam regards theUniversal Periodic Review (UPR) as an obligation of a responsible member of theUnited Nations (UN) as well as an opportunity to introduce the country’s consistentpolicies, efforts and achievements in protecting human rights, according toDeputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung.

He made the statement at a dialogue session onVietnam’s national report under the third-cycle UPR of the UN Human RightsCouncil (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 22.

The report was prepared with the involvement ofParty and State agencies, domestic and international non-governmentalorganisations, researchers and individuals.

With the policy of taking people as the goal andmomentum for the country’s inclusive reform and development, since the previousreview in 2014, Vietnam has gained remarkable accomplishments in promoting andprotecting human rights in building a law-ruled State, fine-tuning the legalsystem on human rights, building a facilitating government, promoting socio-economicdevelopment, improving the efficiency of judicial agencies, promoting the roleof socio-political organisations and the press, and increasing internationalintegration, he said.

Economic growth has been maintained at more than6 percent per year, helping create millions of jobs.

The poverty rate reduced to 7.7 percent in 2017from 9.9 percent in 2015, especially in remote and ethnic minority inhabitedareas.

Vietnam has also joined UN human rights relatedmechanisms such as the Special Procedures of the HRC, Convention againstTorture and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Vietnam’s UPR session drew 122 countries whichrecognised the nation’s policies, efforts and achievements in ensuring humanrights and implementing UPR recommendations.

Many developing countries appreciated Vietnam’sendeavours in reducing poverty and narrowing development gaps among regions aswell as ensuring access to healthcare and education, particularly for peopleinhabiting remote and ethnic minority areas.

The session took place in an open and candidatmosphere. Participating countries hoped Vietnam will continue with dialoguesand international cooperation on human rights, making more contributions to theinternational community’s efforts to promote and protect human rights.

The Vietnamese delegation fielded a lot of questions and provided moreinformation about policies, laws and reality on the promotion and protection ofhuman rights in Vietnam. They received a diversity of recommendations coveringall fields.

The delegation comprised of representatives from the Government Office, theForeign Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids andSocial Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Informationand Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, the Committee for EthnicMinority Affairs, the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, the SupremePeople’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

The UPR working group is scheduled to meet onJanuary 25 to consider the approval of Vietnam’s report which will be submittedto the HRC for official adoption in June 2019.

Established in 2008, the UPR aims to review theprotection and promotion of human rights in all member countries via constructivedialogues.

Vietnam has joined all UPR cycles and seriously and fully implementedrecommendations it received.-VNA