Foreign experience needed to set up national human rights body

Vietnam should learn from other countries’ experience and clarify its specific demand and circumstance to select the most appropriate model for a national human rights body, an expert has said.

At a symposium in Hanoi on September 25, Vice Director at the Hanoi Law University Chu Manh Hung continued to say that the model of a national human rights agency varies by political and socio-economic systems and there is no such thing as a common model for all nations.

Vietnam needs to ensure representation in its national human rights agency, said Vice Dean of the university’s Faculty of Public International Law Nguyen Thi Hong Yen, adding that will help guarantee the objectiveness, equality and multidimensional approach of the body’s decisions.

Regardless of the form of establishment and scope of authority, the organisation’s operations must be part of State agency activities to better protect human rights.

Associate Professor Dr Hoang Van Nghia from the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration said a specialised agency is instrumental in further ensuring human rights.

The group should be organised on the basis of international regulations and practices while adhering to socialism-oriented directions and the Party leadership, he noted, adding that it is necessary to design a thorough roadmap with preparations to set up such an agency.

The symposium, held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hanoi Law University, drew Vietnamese and foreign human rights experts. Opinions raised at the function will be useful for relevant State agencies in the implementation of recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s second Universal Periodic Review cycle that Vietnam accepted.-VNA