Symposium spotlights Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence

Hanoi (VNA) - A scientific workshop in Hanoi on September 1 highlighted the significance of the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 75 years ago.

Held by the National Political Publishing House and the Institute of Ho Chi Minh and Party Leaders at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA), the symposium marked 75 years since the August Revolution and also the 75th National Day.

In his opening remarks, HCMA Deputy Director Associate Professor Le Van Loi emphasised that the great victory of the August Revolution and the Declaration of Independence heralded a new era in the country’s history - an era of independence, freedom, and socialism.

At Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi on September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, read the declaration, which he compiled himself, proclaiming the independence and freedom of Vietnam and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, he noted.

Other speakers shared the view that the Declaration of Independence affirmed the success of the August Revolution, marking a great turning point in Vietnam’s development process as well as the end of absolute monarchy and colonialism in the country.

Professor Mach Quang Thang from the HCMA said that the declaration approached national rights based on human rights in all aspects, from economics, politics to culture and society. By affirming the natural and fundamental rights of all people, the Declaration of Independence asserted that all nations have the right to independence, freedom, and happiness, which it said is a sacred and inviolable right of each nation.

Echoing that view, Associate Professor Bui Dinh Phong, a senior lecturer at the HCMA, held that the declaration is a valuable summary of human rights and the rights of nations around the world.

According to the late leader, human rights must be in line with and inseparable from national rights. The right to equality among nations must also be recognised, on the basis of respecting progressive values and principles of humankind, Phong noted.

Participants at the workshop added that the Declaration of Independence is a particularly important legal document that crystallised the country’s noble cultural values and that era’s quintessence and will continue to resound around the country and humankind’s history./.