Human Rights Council: 46th Session of the Universal Periodic Review, Viet Nam

Mr President,

We warmly welcome the delegation from Viet Nam.

We welcome Viet Nam’s progress toward establishing an NHRI, development of a revised law on persons with disabilities, commitment to gender perspectives in policy, prevention of gender-based violence, and its draft law on gender affirmation.

New Zealand recommends that Viet Nam:

1. Strengthen its legal framework to protect freedom of expression both offline and online and amend its Penal Law and Law on Cyber Security to ensure consistency with international human rights law;
2. Ensure enforcement of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture; and
3. Provide greater transparency about its frequency of use of the death penalty and accelerate reform towards abolition of the death penalty, including continuing to reduce the list of capital crimes under the Penal Code 2015.

We thank the delegation for its participation today and wish Viet Nam all the best for its review.

Thank you Mr President.