Vietnam to join second UPR cycle on human rights

The second cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review—the cycle that will examine Vietnam—is scheduled to take place in January 2014.

The second cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR)—the cycle that will examine Vietnam—is scheduled to take place in January 2014.

The Working Group for Public Administration Reform (GPAR), the Gender and Community Development Network (GENCOMNET), and the Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN) hosted an April 26 seminar in Hanoi to discuss reports on Vietnam’s human rights situation.

 The Vietnamese Government and relevant agencies are actively preparing for the UPR’s consideration of the country’s human rights situation.

Tran Chi Thanh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Organization Department’s Human Rights Section Head, noted Vietnam participated in the first UPR cycle in May 2009.

The Vietnamese Government’s report has been prepared by ministries under the overarching direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the lead-up to the UPR’s second cycle, the deadline for submitting reports from concerned parties to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) is June 17 2013. Government reports should be submitted by October 28 2013 at the latest.

Vietnamese civil society organizations have compiled their own official report to submit to the OHCHR for the first time.

Their report acknowledges the Vietnamese State’s efforts in protecting human rights while pointing out elements of State apparatus where enforcement of human rights could be improved.

The civil society organizations recommend establishing a national independent human rights agency to monitor the Vietnamese State’s human rights obligations, particularly in regards to civil and political rights.

Constitutional amendments will help set up the suggested agency in the hopes of safeguarding against potential human rights violations.