The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on July 23 launched a key project to help Vietnam improve its obligation to human rights.

Over the next three years, the 1.2 million USD joint Vietnamese Government and UN project will help ministries and relevant agencies understand their human rights duties and improve their ability to report on progress.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Hoang Chi Trung, Head of MoFA’s Department of International Organisations, reaffirmed Vietnam’s commitment to implement its international obligations and to ensure better enjoyment of human rights and citizen rights for all Vietnamese people.

He expressed his hope that the project will assist relevant Vietnamese agencies better implement their responsibilities in this field.

Louise Chamberlain, UNDP Country Director, highlighted the need to identify challenges Vietnam still faces in certain human rights areas, and hoped that the project will find out ways and means to address them.

She reiterated that the respect and protection of human rights is the responsibility of all UN member states, and welcomed Vietnam’s upcoming ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and the consultative process of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) national report.

This willingness is an important step forward and reason for the UNDP to cooperate with the MoFA on human rights in Vietnam, she noted.

In late 2013, Vietnam will undergo its second UPR, a unique review mechanism of the Human Rights Council. The UPR places member states on an equal footing, and provides an opportunity for governments to report on the human rights situation and the progress in implementing UPR recommendations accepted at the last review in 2009.

In recent years the Vietnamese Government has visibly increased its commitment to address issues related to human rights, demonstrated in a number of legal and judicial reforms, and Constitutional amendments that have steadily improved human and citizen rights.

Vietnam is also stepping up its participation in regional and international human rights mechanism, joining five core international human rights treaties, and signing the CRPD in October 2007./.