Hanoi (VNA) 🅰– Vietnam’s growing concern about a series of global negative issues was shared at the General Debate of the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 8-10.

Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh, Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, led a Vietnamese delegation to attend the event, which focused on urgent humanitarian issues in the context of increasing armed conflicts over the world. In his speech at the event, the Ambassador said Vietnam takes interest in some heart-breaking news, from bombings to killings, migration to climate change as they are posing a blunt and brutal challenge to humanity. “Vietnam knows only too well the massive suffering caused by armed conflicts, especially among civilians,” Thanh stressed, adding that even after more than forty years since its end, the US war continues to inflict most brutal and countless consequences on tens of thousands of Vietnamese people. He stressed the need to hold regular dialogues among nations as well as enhance compliance with the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), particularly the Geneva Conventions 1949 and their Additional Protocols. He added that the conference should focus on the implementation of IHL on the principal basis of voluntary, non-contextual consensus and non-politicisation, rather than formulating amendments to or even new norms for the existing IHL treaties. “In relation to the protection of persons deprived of their liberty, our discussions seem to call for continued deliberation in order to eventually achieve further progress needed to ensure legal protection for persons deprived of their liberty in the context of non-international armed conflicts (NIACs), especially in prudently determining the body of international law governing the treatment of detainees in NIACs,” he voiced. The Vietnamese official also showed concern about the issue of sexual and gender-based violence during and post armed conflicts, while denouncing the violence in all forms and manifestations against women especially child girls who suffer most during and even after armed conflicts. Vietnam backs practical measures to raise awareness on and elimination of sexual and gender-based violence and has in fact engaged in various programmes, domestic and international, in consistence with the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, Thanh stated. The global strengths of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were built up by its communities at the local level. The organisation has 17 million volunteers and has established its presence in more than 165,000 local branches from the largest cities to the most remote villages in 190 countries. The Vietnam Red Cross Society joined the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on November 4, 1957 during the IFRC General Assembly in New Delhi, India.-VNA