Medical examination, health consultation, and free medicine for people contribute to ensuring human rights in Vietnam.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council to periodically review human rights performance through reviewing policies, laws, measures and results achieved in protecting and promoting human rights of 193 member states. Since the UPR mechanism was established in 2008, Vietnam has fully and responsibly participated in all cycles.

Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet - Head of the Vietnamese delegation affirmed that this stance was built on the basis of carefully reviewing and examining the recommendations with the full participation of relevant agencies. It is expected that a Master Plan to implement these recommendations will be developed and deployed in the coming time in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation.

Regarding the UPR National Report for the 4th Cycle, Vietnam has developed and defended at the same time many National Reports on the implementation of a number of human rights treaties and the National Report on the Voluntary Review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, Vietnam has a solid basis to determine relatively complete contents that need to be prepared in dialogue with other countries.

The content of the Cycle IV Report focused on reviewing the implementation of the UPR recommendations that Vietnam accepted at the previous review and updating new developments in the protection and promotion of human rights in Vietnam. The report also pointed out the remaining challenges and priorities of Vietnam in the coming time to ensure better enjoyment of basic rights and freedoms for each citizen. The report was comprehensively developed with contributions from state agencies, socio-political organizations, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations and the people.

In his opening speech at the Dialogue Session on Vietnam’s National Report under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle IV of the United Nations Human Rights Council on May 7, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet affirmed: “Vietnam’s commitment to human rights is affirmed in the Vietnamese Constitution and laws, guaranteed in practice and achieved concrete results, especially in nearly four decades of Doi Moi. There have been clear changes throughout the country, and in the lives of the Vietnamese people.”

This has been proven in practice: from a country dependent on foreign aid, Vietnam has become one of the world's leading agricultural exporters, and contributed to maintaining food security in the region and the world. Once among the poorest countries in the world, Vietnam has risen to become one of the fastest growing economies. Between 1989 and 2023, Vietnam's GDP per capita increased 40 times.

In the two decades since 1993, more than 40 million people have escaped poverty. And in the 15 years since 2005, multidimensional poverty has been halved. During his visit to Vietnam in 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described these results as “a testament to the resilience and efforts of the Vietnamese people, and to policies that put people at the center of development.”

Attending the 57th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council recently, representatives of countries and many international organizations and non-governmental organizations highly appreciated Vietnam's serious participation and recognized Vietnam's progress in all aspects of perfecting institutions and laws on human rights, socio-economic development, innovation, sustainable poverty reduction, ensuring social security and the rights of vulnerable groups.

Looking back on the journey since the first UPR cycle, Vietnam has made much progress in ensuring and promoting human rights. Vietnam has continuously improved its legal system, especially the adoption of the 2013 Constitution with a separate chapter on human rights, and then on the basis of the Constitution, Vietnam has built and improved more than 100 different legal documents. Vietnam has also seriously implemented its international commitments and international cooperation on human rights.

To date, Vietnam has joined 7/9 basic international treaties on human rights, and 25 international conventions on labor rights of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The implementation of the treaties has been carried out seriously and closely through a legal framework and a synchronous policy system, and has achieved comprehensive results. Vietnam always attaches importance to dialogue and cooperation with countries and partners in protecting and promoting human rights.

At multilateral forums such as the General Assembly, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and ASEAN, Vietnam has actively participated in contributing to the common concerns of the international community, proposed initiatives, and cooperated and exchanged with countries and relevant mechanisms, which have been recognized and highly appreciated by countries.

Vietnam is currently holding the position of a member of the Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term with 8 major priorities in the following areas: Improving the effectiveness of the Human Rights Council's operations in conjunction with upholding international law; Human rights in the context of climate change; Combating violence and discrimination, enhancing protection of vulnerable groups; Promoting gender equality; Human rights in the context of digital transformation; Right to health; Right to work; Right to access to quality education and human rights education.

However, with an extreme, one-sided, and ill-intentioned view, immediately after the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the results of Vietnam's UPR Cycle IV Report, a number of organizations and individuals immediately expressed dissatisfaction with this result, made false, unobjective, and inaccurate assessments of the human rights situation in Vietnam, and attacked Vietnam's implementation of recommendations under the UPR mechanism.

Such as the distortion that "Vietnam's national security laws are very vague, Vietnam wants to use these laws to arrest anyone who criticizes the government"; "people fighting to protect human rights will always live in an atmosphere of fear because they can be arrested at any time"... At the same time, some organizations and individuals continue to call for the release of those they call "prisoners of conscience", "human rights activists", criticizing the Vietnamese government for imprisoning these people for exercising their basic rights.

In fact, not only now but for many years, hostile forces have frequently taken advantage of issues of religion, ethnicity, human rights... to sabotage Vietnam's revolutionary cause, in which the issue of human rights is often focused on to distort, slander, and defame in many sophisticated, vicious, and deceitful ways.

It must be affirmed that in Vietnam there has never been such a thing as a “prisoner of conscience”, “human rights activist”, “dissident”, no individual has ever been arrested for freely expressing his/her opinions, but in fact these are only law violators who are prosecuted and handled by the authorities in accordance with regulations. It is completely normal for individuals who violate the law, violate national security, and pose a danger to society and the community to be arrested and tried publicly and transparently according to the provisions of the law.

However, these criminally prosecuted subjects are being promoted by some ill-intentioned international organizations, reactionary elements, and political opportunists, who give them the titles of “prisoners of conscience”, “human rights activists”, etc., ignoring that the actions of these people are violations of the law, causing social disorder, opposing the regime, calling for the overthrow of the government, and have nothing to do with the so-called “conscience” or “protecting human rights”!

Like every independent, sovereign nation in the world, Vietnam respects and guarantees basic human rights through its legal system. Therefore, the exercise of human rights and civil rights must not infringe upon national and ethnic interests, or the legitimate rights and interests of others.

The act of giving these subjects the guise of "prisoners of conscience", "human rights activists", etc. is essentially a trick of concept swapping to deceive domestic and international public opinion, deliberately turning subjects who disguise themselves as democrats, take advantage of democracy and human rights to sabotage the country, violate the law, and commit crimes into brave citizens, "flags" fighting for so-called democracy and human rights to sabotage and slander the Party and State of Vietnam.

This is also the purpose for extremist and ill-intentioned organizations and individuals to support, incite, and promote acts of sabotage, violations of the law, and sabotage of the country's construction and development. "Clinging" to these subjects, reactionary forces deliberately lower Vietnam's reputation in the international arena, creating an excuse to interfere in our country's internal affairs.

It is necessary to realize that human rights are universal issues of the world, but each country and nation, depending on its cultural and historical characteristics, will have its own standards and regulations. Therefore, imposing external criteria on countries or seeking to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries is not in accordance with the regulations of the United Nations, so it must be resolutely condemned and prevented.

According to: People's Newspaper