The Vietnamese Government Committee for Ethnic Minorities (CEM) in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam warpped up a two-day seminar on matters relating to ethnic minority rights on July 13.

 This international workshop, titled “Mechanisms for ensuring human rights of ethnic minorities in Vietnam and experiences of European and South-East Asian countries" is part of a series of activities focusing on human rights issues, facilitated under the EU-funded strategic dialogue program.

Focusing on the importance of international cooperation on matters relating to human rights and in particular to ethnic minority rights, the seminar attracted over 130 participants, including a majority of participants from 25 different provinces. It was also the culmination of a number of provincial seminars previously funded by the EU.

The seminar was opened by Mr Hoang Xuan Luong, CEM Vice chairman and Mr. Juan Jose Almagro, Advisor from EU Delegation to Vietnam.

The initial sections of the seminar addressed existing problems to ensure the rights of the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, the role of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on human rights, the role of communities and local officers and the rights of women in ethnic minority communities. The speakers highlighted the current situation in Vietnam and abroad, main issues on the implementation of existing legislation and standards and the challenges associated to them.

Apart from Vietnamese speakers from Ministries, Government and Research Institutions, Ms Ewa Chylinski, a senior expert of the European Centre for Minority Issues, presented the international standards, protection mechanisms and structures ensuring ethnic minority rights around the world.

She highlighted experiences from ASEAN and EU countries in dealing with ethnic minority rights issues and presented practical examples from different European and South East Asian nations./.

 (CPV)