Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh delivers speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.— VNA/VNS Photo

GENEVA – Việt Nam will ensure better fundamental human rights for its people, Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh said at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.

Speaking at the 32nd session of the UNHRC, she reiterated Việt Nam’s consistent policy of respecting and ensuring human rights as well as obtaining international support and assistance in the field.

The vice president highlighted the crucial role of the UNHRC in addressing human rights issues on a global scale.

The biggest success of the council over the past decade was to promote dialogues and co-operation between countries, especially through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), she said.

She said that Việt Nam twice made the UPR reports and the country realised the active contributions of this mechanism, especially in raising public awareness of human rights and promoting inter-sector co-ordination and people’s engagement in the drive.

Việt Nam is preparing a master plan to implement the UPR recommendations that the country has already approved, she said.

She pointed to numerous challenges that directly affect the enjoyment of human rights such as poverty, natural disasters, diseases, and terrorism, apart from extremism, and cross-border crimes.

She called on the international community to increase dialogues and co-operation to address the issues, saying this is how Việt Nam has approached human rights issues over the past two years of joining the UNHRC and other UN forums.

Việt Nam hopes the UNHRC will support the country in carrying out the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development, specifically climate change adaptation.

She explained that people in the central region, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta of Việt Nam are bearing the brunt of severe drought and saltwater intrusion.

Given that fact, Việt Nam and other members from the UN Working Group plan to introduce a resolution on climate change and human rights at the session, which focusses on children, she said.

She noted that Việt Nam has gained significantly during the 15 years of implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), stressing that the poverty rate was brought down to below 4.5 per cent in 2015 from 58 per cent in 1993.

In the next 15 years, the country will concentrate on mitigating the negative impacts of natural disasters, coping with climate change, and narrowing the development gaps between rural and urban areas.

More importantly, it will ensure that everyone could enjoy the national socio-economic achievements, especially women, the elderly, children, and ethnic minority groups, apart from people with disabilities, she stressed.

To do so, Việt Nam is making a plan to realise the MDGs and integrating those targets into the country’s development policies and programmes, she said.

As a member of the UNHRC, Việt Nam will actively make more contributions and co-operate with other nations to promote the implementation of the MDGs, she added.

Established in 2006, the UNHRC group has 47 countries as members. – VNS