Seminar prepares for review of Vietnam’s initial anti-torture report

 

Hanoi (VNA) – A seminar on the preparations for the review of Vietnam’s initial report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture took place in Hanoi on October 15-16.

Speaking at the event, Director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Legal, Administrative, and Judicial Reform Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Anh said that as one of the nine core UN treaties, the convention was adopted on December 10, 1984 and took effect on June 26, 1987.

On November 28, 2014, the 13th National Assembly’s eighth meeting adopted Resolution No.83/2014/QH13, approving the convention. It officially came into force in Vietnam on March 7, 2015.

After Vietnam became a member of the convention, the Prime Minister issued Decision No.364/QD-TTg on approving a plan to realise the treaty. Based on the decision, the Ministry of Public Security worked closely with ministries, agencies, and localities to build an initial report on measures that Vietnam has taken to meet the treaty obligations.

On April 28, 2017, the national report was approved by the PM before being submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture as regulated in the convention’s Article 19.

United Nations Development Programme Country Director in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen said Vietnam has partaken in seven of the nine core UN human rights treaties. To date, 164 state parties have joined this convention, with more nations looking to ratify it soon. 

She said the scope of the convention goes beyond the issue of torture, seeking to prevent and prohibit the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of all, adding that the international human rights treaty system comes with a unique monitoring system which involves the review of treaty implementation every few years by a committee of independent experts. 

According to Wiesen, the reporting process is an opportunity for Vietnam to identify areas where further actions are required to enforce those rights protected in the treaty.

Documents reviewing Vietnam’s national report include a national report and 14 appendixes, a draft speech by head of the Vietnamese inter-sectoral working delegation at the reporting session and a list of data and figures for the work.

Following the seminar, a reporting rehearsal was held with the participation of 45 members of the inter-sectoral working delegation, foreign experts, and staff of the UNDP in Vietnam.

They were updated on the UN Committee Against Torture’s process of reviewing the national report, experience, and methods of report presentations.–VNA