Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (front, right) and Ambassador Mai Phan Dung (front, left) at a meeting of HRC's 55th session in Geneva (Photo: VNA) The 55th session took place from February 26 to April 4, making it the longest session of the HRC so far. It considered over 80 reports and discussed a wide range of areas related to human rights, from climate change, the right to food, gender equality to such issues as impacts of the conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and other regions in the world on the enjoyment of human rights.
Concluding the session, the HRC adopted 32 resolutions and two decisions, approved 14 states’ national reports under the HRC’s fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, and appointed personnel for 14 special procedures of the HRC in various areas, said Dung.
He told the Vietnam News Agency that the delegation of Vietnam, an HRC member in the 2023 - 2025 tenure, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, actively participated in the session’s discussions and making of decisions.
Speaking at the session's high-level segment, Minister Son highlighted Vietnam’s efforts and achievements in economic, cultural, and social development that have helped ensure social security and people’s full enjoyment of human rights. He also shared the country’s viewpoint on and approach to issues of the international community’s common concern. He stressed the requirement for maintaining and respecting peace, stability and international law; promoting mutual respect and understanding, tolerance, inclusiveness and unanimity; respecting differences, dialogue and cooperation; putting people at the centre of every policy; and ensuring inclusive and sustainable development.
The minister re-affirmed the priorities of Vietnam as an HRC member and also called for other states’ support for Vietnam’s re-election to the HRC in the 2026 - 2028 tenure, according to Dung.
The ambassador noted that during the session, apart from its national speeches, Vietnam also actively joined in the drafting and delivered addresses on different topics on behalf of four groups of states.
The country represented the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Timor Leste to give a speech at the dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. It represented the Core Group of the resolution on climate change and human rights (including Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Vietnam) at the dialogue on the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on measures for mitigating climate change impacts on the enjoyment of the right to food. On behalf of 22 states in different regions, Vietnam delivered a speech at a general debate on the protection of people’s essential infrastructure in armed conflicts. As a representative of 63 states, it gave an address at another general debate on accelerating the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals to boost gender equality.
All those issues were priorities of Vietnam and also high on the international community’s concern and priority, Dung went on, adding that the support and co-sponsorship of the speeches by many states reflected their high evaluation of Vietnam’s role, voice, and capacity of promoting dialogue on human rights-related issues at the HRC.
He affirmed that with the country’s role and stature, its active and responsible engagement in the HRC during the 2023 - 2025 tenure, and the international community’s high evaluation of its participation in multilateral forums, most recently its election to the Executive Board of the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) for the 2025 - 2027 tenure, there are grounds to be confident on other states’ support for Vietnam’s candidacy for re-election to the HRC in the 2026 - 2028 tenure./.
VNA
