Hanoi (VNA) - The year 2023 has witnessed many important events that affirm Vietnam's positive contributions to protecting and promoting human rights in general, and the right to freedom of belief and religion in particular at both the international and national levels.

On April 3, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) proposed and compiled by Vietnam. The resolution is an outstanding hallmark of Vietnam in its second time serving as a member of the council, demonstrating its substantive and responsible contributions in the field of human rights.

In June, a National Assembly delegation led by Vice Chairman of the legislature’s Committee for External Relations Don Tuan Phong attended the Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Morocco. At the inter-parliamentary forum of 163 countries, the Vietnamese delegation informed international delegates of important achievements in ensuring the right to freedom of belief and religion. This recognises the contributions of religious organisations in the fields of education, health, social protection, and charity, and affirmed the role of National Assembly deputies who are religious dignitaries in the nation building and development cause.

In July, State President Vo Van Thuong paid an official visit to the Vatican at the invitation of Pope Francis, during which the two sides officially approved the Agreement on the Status of the Resident Papal Representative and the Office of the Resident Papal Representative in Vietnam. They expressed their confidence that the Resident Papal Representative will properly perform the functions and tasks in the agreement, support the Vietnamese Catholic community to operate in the spirit of respect for the law and the Church's teachings in implementing the direction of “accompanying the nation” and “good parishioners and good citizens”, thus contributing to the country's development.

The above results are indicative of the Party and State in taking care of the lives of religious citizens. It is thereby creating conditions for all people to enjoy socio-economic, cultural, political and civil rights in accordance with international standards. It is also perfecting the legal system and implementing guidelines and policies towards the goals of increasingly improving the material and spiritual lives of all people and better ensuring human rights.

However, hostile forces who are short of goodwill still continue opening forums or participating in many events aimed at sabotaging Vietnam. Recently, the Boat People SOS (BPSOS) – a reactionary organisation based in Virginia, the US, announced that it had participated in and delivered presentations on Vietnam at the Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) forum attended by representatives from 36 governments. It is worth mentioning that although several court cases and events have been publicly and transparently reported on mass media in Vietnam and abroad, the BPSOS and other sabotage groups deliberately mislead in the information, aiming to blacken the situation of religion and belief in Vietnam.

The BPSOS and other extremist organisations such as “Nguoi Thuong vi cong ly” (Montagnard Stands for Justice), “Ban tron da ton giao Viet Nam” (Vietnam Multi-Faith Roundtable) and “Hoi thanh tin lanh dang Christ” (Evangelical Church of Christ) constantly take advantage of religious and ethnic issues to call on the international community to support secession, and to demand the establishment of a "separate state, separate religion" for ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands.

After the terrorist attack in Dak Lak on June 11, 2023, these organisations did not condemn the crime but blatantly accused the government of “inciting violence” and “oppressing ethnic minorities” with an aim to drive a wedge into the great solidarity of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. At the same time, they also deliberately justified the ruse under the disguise of religion to spread narrow-minded nationalistic ideology, plotting to gather forces and proceed to cause disturbances, strikes, and riots.

For years, particularly in 2023, hostile forces have continuously stepped up sabotage activities related to religion, belief and ethnicity in Vietnam. They have called on intergovernmental organisations and major countries to "put Vietnam on a special watch list for religious freedom", cause pressure on and intervene in Vietnam's internal affairs, especially when Vietnam was elected Vice President of the UN General Assembly for the 2022-2023 term and for the second time elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 tenure. Against the increasing sabotage ruses by hostile forces, Vietnam has still recorded undeniable achievements in the fields of human rights and the right to freedom of belief and religion.

Reality has proven that in Vietnam, there is no distinction among beliefs and religions, no contradictions or conflicts between religions, and people of different faiths and religions live together harmoniously in the Vietnamese ethnic community.

In the context of international integration, Vietnam has had more official channels to inform people around the world, helping them better understand the ongoing religious freedom situation. In addition, through bilateral, multilateral, regional and international cooperation mechanisms, especially the UN, the Vietnamese State has demonstrated its positive contributions in the struggle to protect and promote progressive principles on religious freedom, and always stayed steadfast in protecting righteousness in this field at the national and international levels./.