A literacy class in Gia Lai province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam is going to defend its fifth national report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) at a session in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 29 - 30.

The information was released at a conference held by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Hà Nội on November 23 to provide monthly updates about human rights and external information affairs.

Trần Chi Mai, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Government’s Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, said that since joining CERD in 1982, Việt Nam had successfully defended the national reports on the CERD implementation four times, in 1983, 1993, 2000 and 2012.

The report defence would be a chance for the country to introduce its achievements in human rights protection along with the Party and State’s viewpoints and policies on ethnic minorities and foreigners in Việt Nam. This would help refute slander and distortions of hostile forces and also enhance the mutual understanding between Việt Nam and the international community, she noted.

The fifth national report covers legislative, administrative and judicial measures, and the implementation results of those measures taken during 2013 - 2019 to protect human rights and fight acts of racial discrimination against ethnic minority people and foreigners in Việt Nam.

The report also presents the country’s achievements in protecting human rights for ethnic minorities and foreigners, points out difficulties and advantages in the CERD implementation during the reviewed period, and identifies implementation orientations for the time ahead.

Elaborating on the report’s content, Mai said it would affirm that the Vietnamese Party and Government’s consistent viewpoint and policy on ethnic minority groups as enshrined in Article 5 of the 2013 Constitution completely matched Article 1 on racial discrimination prevention in the CERD.

The report would share the country’s attainments in ethnic minority affairs since 2013. During 2013 - 2019, Việt Nam obtained many remarkable results in promoting great national solidarity and assisting ethnic minority groups in socioeconomic development, poverty reduction, and preservation of their traditional values, languages and scripts.

It also would stress Việt Nam’s commitment to exercising the rights and obligations of a CERD member state by highlighting the country’s achievements in aligning its legal system with international standards and protecting the universal values on human rights, as well as Việt Nam’s efforts to help eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, according to the official. — VNS