Vietnam views human rights as key to national development

Hanoi (VNA) - A foreign ministry official said Vietnam has identified the promotion and protection of human rights as lying at the core of its causes of national construction and development.

" Vietnam has ratified a host of international conventions on human rights and is
seriously implementing the obligations as a member of those conventions," Deputy
Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told at a seminar on December 18 to mark the 60 th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The seminar, which also focused on the Convention on the Rights of People with
Disabilities, was jointly organised by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry and the UNDP
in Vietnam .

UNDP's Resident Representative John Hendra said that, as one of the first countries
to have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Vietnam has
demonstrated its determination to promote and respect human rights.

He applauded the Vietnamese Government for moving to make the country the 118 th
member to sign up to the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and
pledged to continue supporting Vietnam in this area, as well as providing the
country with the necessary assistance to carry out work in this field.-Enditem