UN Coordinator in Vietnam Pratibha Mehta (Photo: VNA)

All institutions of the United Nations (UN) will continue assisting Vietnam in hastening the approval of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment.

UN Coordinator in Vietnam, Pratibha Mehta, stated this during a workshop held in Hanoi on June 6, which attracted a crowd of domestic and foreign experts to deliberate the details of the convention.

In his opening speech, Chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretariat Vu Hong Nam said Vietnam will take part in the approval of the convention in 2014 to become a member of seven out of nine UN conventions on human rights.

Nam stressed Vietnam’s participation in the convention presents the country’s commitment to combating all acts of torture and cruel treatment, and ensuring the strict implementation of the basic rights of the human.

The move also shows Vietnam’s active international integration and its sense of responsibility for issues of common concern around the world, he added.

Mehta said the convention is one of the important multilateral international treaties on human rights. It was approved by the UN resolution No. 39/46 in 1984 and took effect from June 26, 1987. It aims to eradicate cruel and inhumane treatment and punishment.

As many 81 countries in the world are members of the convention. Vietnam signed the treaty in November last year and the country is preparing the required conditions to ratify it.

During the event, participants also examined the duties of the convention’s member nations, while pointing out the reality of Vietnam’s laws in ensuring human rights in general and those in the field of anti-torture in particular.

VNA