Houses designed to withstand climate change in the coastal province of Cà Mau. — VNA/VNS Photo

GENEVA — International cooperation is the key to handle damage caused by climate change, ensuring that no one is left behind, Ambassador Mai Phan Dũng, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organisation, and other international organisations in Geneva said on September 13.

Delivering a speech at the dialogue on the UN General Secretary’s report on human rights and climate change as part of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Vietnamese diplomat affirmed that climate change has left severe impacts on the enjoyment of basic human rights.

Typhoon Yagi hammering in the Philippines, China and Việt Nam, and floods in Bangladesh, he said, were vivid illustrations for the damaging influence of the extreme weather patterns, elaborating they not only created great human loss but also forced the people to leave their homes, and destroyed infrastructure, affecting long-term economic development.

Dũng particularly stressed that vulnerable groups such as women, children, and people in developing countries are bearing the brunt of the consequences, highlighting it is necessary to pen equal solutions, and prioritise support for the hardest-hit people, helping them develop resilient capacity in the future.

He called on the international community to increase financial resources, and put in place human-right-based measures to address the losses caused by climate change.

The 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, lasting for five weeks, features various programmes, including six discussions on economic, cultural and social rights. — VNS