Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hà Kim Ngọc speaks at the event. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on December 12 held a ceremony in Hà Nội to mark the International Human Rights Day and launch Việt Nam’s universal periodical review (UPR) process for the fourth cycle.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hà Kim Ngọc said that Việt Nam, sharing progressive ideas on human rights as affirmed by the UN in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other important documents, has developed and implemented policies on the protection and promotion of the rights, achieving outstanding results recognised and appreciated by the international community.

As a result, Việt Nam was recently elected to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2023-2025 tenure, the diplomat noted.

The nation had to date completed 82.6 per cent of recommendations from the 3rd cycle of its UPR process and was to complete the workload and launch the preparations for the building of the national report on the 4th cycle in 2023, he said.

He requested UN agencies, development partners and related parties continue accompanying and cooperating with Việt Nam to complete the process on schedule with the highest quality.

UN Resident Coordinator in Việt Nam Pauline Tamesis said the nation’s election to the UNHRC demonstrated concrete efforts to protect and promote economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights in accordance with international human rights standards.

Echoing the view, UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam Ramla Khalidi said the UNDP would continue to accompany and support Việt Nam in the 4th cycle through capacity building for ministries, sectors and all stakeholders, especially NGOs and youth. — VNS