The UN Human Rights Council UPR working group on February 7 approved Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report in the second cycle at its 18th session in Geneva, Switzerland.

Vietnam presented the report to the session on February 5.

The report will be submitted to the council’s plenary meeting about five months after this session.

The session took note of Vietnam’s achievements over the past years, particularly its socio-economic progress, poverty reduction, high rates of school attendance at primary and secondary levels, the national plans of actions for children in 2012-2020 as well as improvements in facilitation of vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, women and children. Participants also spoke highly of Vietnam’s signing of the Convention against Torture and participation in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

They suggested Vietnam exert more efforts to improve judicial and legal reform and boost the freedom of speech, press and religion. Many countries asked Vietnam to share its experience in renovation and ensuring the rights of vulnerable groups.

They also recommended the country to intensify cooperation with UN mechanisms on human rights.

The 18th session of the UN Human Rights Council UPR working group took place from January 27 to February 7 with 14 UN member countries submitting their national reports, which are New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, Macedonia, Comoros, Slovakia, Eritrea, Cyprus, Dominica, Cambodia and Vietnam.

During the session, Vietnam held direct dialogue with 107 nations about concerned issues in this field.-VNA