Geneva (VNA) – The 46th regularsession of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), held at the UNoffice in Geneva, concluded on March 24.

The session consisted of 51 meetings held inboth face-to-face and online formats. Apart from high-level meetings, therewere a number of dialogues and panel discussions about human rights issues.

During the 46th session, the UNHRC discussed andapproved the universal periodic review reports of 14 countries and about 30resolutions, including one resolution on ensuring equitable, affordable,timely, and universal access for all countries to vaccines in response to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister PhamBinh Minh led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the session.

Addressing the high-level segment that began thesession on February 22, he highlighted the country’s policies, efforts andachievements in protecting and promoting human rights amid the pandemic, notingthat Vietnam has concurrently managed to contain the outbreak, care forpeople’s health, sustain economic growth, and guarantee social security.

Minh also briefed participants about Vietnam’scontributions to the world’s concerted efforts in response to the pandemic suchas providing face masks and medical supplies for more than 50 countries andinternational partners. It also proposed the date December 27 be designated asthe International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, which won over the UN GeneralAssembly’s unanimous approval.

Particularly, the Deputy PM and FM also informedabout Vietnam’s bid to run for a seat in the UNHRC for the 2023 – 2025 tenurein its capacity as a candidate of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN), with a wish to pay more effective contributions to the world’s commonefforts in human rights promotion and protection.

The Vietnamese delegation actively gave opinionsat panel discussions and dialogues, in which it underlined the country’spolicies, engagement in international cooperation, and achievements in povertyreduction and human rights promotion and protection so as to realise theSustainable Development Goals.

Speaking at many meetings, Ambassador Le ThiTuyet Mai, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, the World TradeOrganisation, and other international organisations in Geneva, emphasised thecountry’s consistent implementation of and outstanding achievements in ensuringhuman rights.

She also called on countries and the UNHRC toenhance cooperation and dialogue to practically promote human rights in realityinstead of basing on imprecise and unverified information to criticise certainstates.

The Vietnamese delegation, along with thedelegations of the Philippines and Bangladesh, co-authored a joint speech aboutclimate change and human rights which received support from many countries.

Noting climate change has greatly affected theenjoyment of human rights and eroded peace, security, and development, thespeech appealed for more financial and technical assistance for developingcountries to cope with climate change.

The delegation of Vietnam also played an activerole in drafting documents and co-sponsored some resolutions that the UNHRCadopted at the session, including the one on ensuring all countries’ equitable,affordable, timely, and universal access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Representatives of Vietnam and other ASEANcountries also delivered some joint speeches of the bloc at some dialogues anddiscussions about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the enjoyment of humanrights, the role of poverty alleviation in promoting and protecting humanrights, the rights of persons with disabilities to participate in sport, humanrights agencies and mechanisms, and technical cooperation and capacitybuilding.

Vietnam’s participation in the 46th sessiondemonstrated the country’s sense of responsibility, active cooperation,consistent policy implementation, and achievements, as well as ASEAN’sviewpoints and common accomplishments in human rights promotion and protection,thereby joining other states to ensure the UNHRC’s activities accord withfundamental principles of international law./.