Nearly 66 years ago, on 10-12-1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is one of the important documents. By which, all the countrie members of the United Nations have affirmed their belief in the fundamental human rights, in the dignity of every human person, in the equal rights of men and women, so that, has decided to promote the social advancement and better living conditions in the wider freedom ...

Before the August Revolution in 1945, Vietnamese people didn’t have any benefit of human rights values​​. When the independence and autonomy were taken, there’s no hope for human rights. French colonial forces only sought to serve the interests of France in spite of impoverishing the Vietnamese people. Thus, the noble significance of the August Revolution is crushing slavery, taking independence and self-determination for Vietnamese people, opening up new era for Vietnam, thereby striving to get better life. Therefore, Vietnamese people had gathered a solid mass under the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party to overcome the two wars against the French and American imperialism in struggle to protect and maintain independence - the first basic factor to build human rights, to develop harmonious unity between social benefits and private interests, between rights and obligations .

After nearly 30 years of Doi Moi, Vietnam has experienced remarkable growth in all sectors of society. In terms of the underdeveloped economy, poor infrastructure and heavy consequences of the wars, the Party and the State have led the country on each firm steps to economic growth and raised the living standards gradually, built the rules of law, promoted social justice, freedom and democracy

Only approaching human rights in spirit of humanity, on the broadest level, we could see why matters as women development, social security, alleviation of poverty, healthcare system and the policy for the development of minority groups have been given priority by the Party and the State. And that policy has been highly appreciated by governments and people worldwide. Not just concerning for human rights in the country, for many years, Vietnam has actively participated in the activities to advocate for human rights and contribute to the development of other peoples in the world. So that, Vietnam's prestige of practicing human rights has been recognized in the international relations and on 12^th November, Vietnam has been elected as new members of the UN Human Rights Council with the most votes.

However, progress is only meaningful when human rights continue to be respected, continue to be realized in life. In the context that humankind is facing with many challenges, only international cooperation and unity can solve. And the first condition for international unity is human rights when everybody has rights of seeking happiness and interests. So, in a wide range and scope of full awareness, all governments in the world should have to promote human rights in their own country and over the world./.

"Ask not what your country has done for you, just wonder what you have done for the country today?". Singing that again reminds each of us of the responsibility for career of building and protecting the country.

Through a thousands-year history of building and defending the country, despite how strong the invading enemies are, they are still generally subject to an unsuccessful end. A humble country could defeat the two powers as the French and American imperialism, firmly safegaurd the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country. But you, the youth, should remember that our country has lost many beloved childs, how the bloody sacrifice to have a beautiful country Vietnam today.

As a young, dynamic and creative intellectual force, the Vietnamese youth will be a pillar of the country and play a key role in the development of the country. But today, many young people are not aware of it. And with immature and irrational enthusiasm in thought and action, especially in acquiring and learning new things, they so easily receive unselective culture which might be inconsistent with our national traditions. Taking out on the roads, they don’t dare to stop bad things and help people, just standing outside cheering and filming,... A pragmatic, selfish, indifferent and irresponsible lifestyle, a lack of enthusiasm and confidence, is a disease of the modern world .

More dangerous thing is newly graduated students who are unemployed, they are easy to be abused of engaging with reactionary organizations and propaganda against the Party and the State. Some, due to poor perception of political and ideological stance, are susceptible to hostile forces, and easily being incited, bribed and seduced to engage in activities of protests and disturbing public order. Superficially, the forms of demonstrations are in favor of the political problems of the country as the East Sea issue, the minority and religion problems,..., but actually they’re served to provoke disorder and anti-government movements.

Typical examples are cases of Nguyen Phuong Uyen and Nguyen Dinh Kha, these people are trained, qualified and always claimed to be the "democracy", fighting for the people. It is not clear what their purposes are when they spread leaflets defaming the Party and State while they and their family are still living in a peaceful country. Maybe they think it's "patriotic propaganda” by going against the State and against the people's interests. It is possible that these students know those behaviors are wrong but still just done to make personal gains because of sweet seduction of hostile forces on a luxury life abroad. But no matter what the misconduct is that has been dealt fairly in accordance with the laws, and will be a great lesson for the youth generation.

Currently, some subjects have also taken advantage of social networks to call of participating meetings, joining groups as "The patriots love the country but the Vietnamese Communist Party" , "The No U FC – Saigon” ... The aim of these groups is to gather members who advocate for the so-called western values​​, and get material supports from the exile reactionary organizations to post or disseminate documents that falsely accuse and distort the reality in order to undermine the Party, the State and the socialist regime in Vietnam. The nature of these group have been disclosed at the trial court of Dinh Nhat Uy and Truong Duy Nhat recently .

Entering a new era of the strategic context, when the world is changing rapidly and unpredictably, our country is facing many difficulties and challenges. Globalization continues to grow in scale, there are positive and negative effects, opportunities and challenges. Along with the development of science and technology, the foreign criminals, transnational criminals and high-tech crimes have increased and changed methods and means. Besides, the enemy forces relentlessly conduct operations against our country, especially poison the thoughts of our youth, students, the future of the country, in an effort to make them lose faith in the Party and the spirit to strive. These issues pose new demands in the struggle to protect the country. It requires all people, especially the youth, students should be aware of the responsibilities and its obligations in the task of building and defending the country./.

On February 18, 2014 , in Hanoi , the Court of Appeal of the Supreme People's Court in Hanoi opened public hearing under trial and appellate procedure for criminal defendant Le Quoc Quan (born in 1971, residing at group 64, Yen Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi) for tax evasion, due to the appeal of the defendant's criminal case.

The trial panel consisting of three members and presided by the Judge Nguyen Van Son, Appeal Court SPC in Hanoi and representatives from the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam reserved the right to prosecution at trial. Lawyers who defended the accused Le Quoc Quan including: Ha Huy Son, Tran Thu Nam, Nguyen Thi Hue and Bui Quang Nghiem. The people who have rights and related obligations summoned to court. There were also representatives from embassies and international organizations in Vietnam as well as foreign news agency.

According to the Instance Judgment 394/2013/HSST of Hanoi People's Court on October 2, 2013, Vietnam Solution Co., Ltd. was set up in April 2001 by Le Quoc Quan and as the company’s director and legal representative of the company with its headquaters in Cau Giay District , Hanoi. During the operation of the company, it changed business registration certificate 13 times. The process of implementation of tax obligations to the State, Le Quoc Quan intructed his accountant Pham Thi Phuong to make fake contracts and buying bogus added-value tax invoices in order to increase the cost of enterprise management and evade corporate income tax.

The Court of Appeals was carried out in the procedure prescribed by law. After considering the comments of the representative from the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam, litigation opinions of counsel and the defendant Le Quoc Quan’s answers at the hearing, the court concluded from the evidence and material litigation process in sessions appellate review, it had sufficient grounds to reject the defendant's appeal Le Quoc Quan, upholding the court of First Instance declared to Le Quoc Quan of crime and punishment. Accordingly, the Court confirmed a 30-month jail sentence for Le Quoc Quan for tax evasion pursuant to Clause 3, Article 161 of the Criminal Code. The Court also declared that Quan’s Company must pay back corporate income tax amounting to 645 million VND (30,700 USD) it evaded during 2010-2011. It was also fined more than 1.29 billion VND (614,280 USD). 

An anti-smoking publicity campaign was launched on February 22 in a bid to raise people’s awareness on the ill effects the habit brings to both smokers and non-smokers.

The initiative, co-organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee and the Ministry of Health, hopes to help enforce the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention by utilising the mass media to spread the anti-smoking message.

As part of the campaign, a photo, video and poster contest themed “Life without Tobacco Smoke” opened across social networks encouraging youngsters to creatively promote the message that smoking is bad for health and the environment.

Contestants can now submit their work online at facebook.com/Vn0khoithuoic until May 31. An Apple iPad is the first prize in each category.

According to Gabit Ismailov from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Vietnam has conducted a lot of effective activities against smoking.

However, the country should exert more efforts to build a smoke free environment, especially around youngsters, he said.

According to the WHO, smoking is among the top causes of death in the world, killing 6 million people every year.

Research shows that raising public awareness is among most effective measures to reduce smoking. It is part of WHO’s strategy to reduce the consumption of cigarettes and cigarette products.

According to 2010 statistics, 47 percent of Vietnamese men and 1.4 percent of women above the age of 15 are smokers, equivalent to 15 million people.

In additional, 73 percent of adults in Vietnam are exposed to tobacco smoke in their home, while 55 percent of working people are passively affected by the smoke in their workplace.

Vietnam is one of 15 countries with the highest rate of cigarette smoking in the world, according to the Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health.

Tobacco use is the cause of 40,000 deaths in the country each year, according to the committee.

The Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention took effect on May 1, 2013 as part of the Government’s efforts to improve the situation.

The law prohibits selling tobacco to people under 18 years old and bans smoking in public places. It also requires cigarette manufacturers to include health warnings on the front and back of cigarette packages.-VNA

A programme launched by the National Fund for Vietnamese Children in 1997 has so far helped treat nearly 20,000 kids with cleft lip and palate, helping them better integrate into society. 

Illustrative image

The information was released at a conference on February 19 in Hanoi to review the “For children’s smiles” programme and to plan new surgeries for this year.

With the positive engagement of the fund’s chapters in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide, most cleft lipped children received free surgery.

The humanitarian programme, which has been widely lauded, has also received positive support from many international organisations including Operation Smile, ESSO from the US , Vietnam Outreach from Australia and the nation’s International Women’s Club.

According to Hoang Van Tien, Director of the fund, 65 billion VND (2.94 million USD) will be mobilised in 2014 to implement programmes helping at least one million poor children and ensuring their fundamental human rights.

In 2013, the fund raised more than 62.7 billion VND, assisting about 1.5 million children with support for heart, eye and smile treatment and educational fees.

VNA

February 17, 2014, three years after “Arab Spring” intruded into Libya, which thrusted the inherently prosperous country in North Africa into a period of instability and turmoil. This event sparked a series of violent protests and paved the way for military intervention by the West to overthrow the regime of Gadhafi in Libya. NATO troops have “withdrawn smoothly”, regimes accused of “dictatorship” by Western countries has ended but Libya is still engulfed in violence and division.

So far, the “Arab Spring” has passed, the regime of former Libya President Gadhafi has collapsed but the country Libya has not yet stable. Over three turbulent years by a series of political events, the transition process in this country can not be performed or even failing. Conflicts between armed groups, kidnapping and killing of diplomats, government officials consecutively happen. The protests and blockade in oil facilities have hampered the activities of the government, seriously threatened the economy which much depends on oil.

Political tensions in Libya led to the plots to coup. The last February 14, a senior General in the Libyan army called to dissolve the National Assembly and called on the Government to “save” the country. Meanwhile, the weak military of Libya can not control the armed groups which “blossomed” since the war that toppled Gadhfi’s regime, causing many regions divided by the control of armed opposition groups. The armed groups are behind the political factions in the power struggle between the Prime Minister , who is pro- Western, and Islamist groups in Parliament, who try to weed him out of political arena. Many mass clashes have happened between factions causing heavy casualties. Recently violence has caused ​​Libya Assembly declared a state of emergency in the Southern desert areas.

Unstable political situation seriously affected to the Libya’s economy. Dilemma of government’s control has made chances for the separatist forces in the East to declare independence and occupy the oil fields in order to arbitrarily export. Petroleum industry is regarded as the lifeblood of Libya’s economy, accounting for 65% of the country's GDP. Therefore, as long as the oil production is sealed to serve the political interests of the different forces, the country still faces the risk of economic collapse. Not economy but politics determines the fate of this North African country. Libya’s ecomomy as well as the process of democratic transition depend on whether they achieve a political agreement between the militant leaders or not. There are no signs of any national dialogue towards a comprehensive solution to help Libya avoid threats to national unity as well as the in trouble economy.

Destructive power of the storm “Arab Spring” has made Libya, a powerful oil producer in the region, split into small pieces by manipulation of the various armed groups. Libya war ended but the transition period in this country has not yet been able to begin. As a number of neighboring countries in North Africa, Libya has gone through three dark years and the “bad scenario” could still happen in the post-Arab Spring.

                                                    A Vietnamese peasant cultivating rice

In 1945, Vietnam was suffered a worst famine in its modern times, but Vietnam now is known as one of the world largest rice exporters. It’s really a miracle which has been made by efforts of the entire Vietnamese Party, army and people.

Thanks to the Doi Moi (renovation) policy launched at the Sixth Vietnam National Party Congress in December 1986 which started the country’s integration into the world economy and also imposed policies encouraging the development of agriculture, rice production in Vietnam increased rapidly. The government increased scope for land ownership, peasant initiative, and allowed people to sell and buy on the private market. They had even begun to make it easier for foreign companies to invest in Vietnam.

Most rice grown in Vietnam is wet-rice, meaning that it is grown in flooded fields rather than dry land. The two main granaries in Vietnam are the Red River Delta in the north and Mekong River Delta in the south with the sown areas of 1.1 million hectares and 4.1 million hectares, respectively. The most prominent irrigated rice system is the Mekong Delta. The Mekong River and its tributaries are crucial to rice production in Vietnam. A total of 12 provinces constitute the Mekong Delta, popularly known as the "Rice Bowl" of Vietnam, which contain some 17 million people and 80% of them are engaged in rice cultivation. The delta produced bountiful harvest of about 20 million tons in 2008, about a half of the country's total production. The rice bowl has assured food security to its population whose 75% of daily calories are met by rice, which is also the staple diet of nearly 50% of world's population of 6.7-billion people.

Starting in 1987, the country began exporting rice, and transformed itself from a rice importer to a rice exporter in 1989. Now Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter, second only to India. Vietnam’s rice exports in 2012 hit a record 7.7 million tons valued at US$3.5 billion. It exports rice to 120 countries. Asia and Africa are the two main importers of Vietnam’s rice, responsible for 71% and 21% of Vietnam’s rice exports, respectively. Traditional importers of Vietnamese rice include the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Cuba, the Ivory Coast, Angola and Ghana. China has emerged as the largest buyer of Vietnam’s rice, importing 2.1 million tons a year, accounting for more than one-fourth of Vietnam’s rice shipments.

Rice production in Vietnam is improving dramatically and substantially contribute to the success of Vietnam economic development. It has been a long and tough way for our country, but now when we look back, we would joyfully admit that it’s worth for our efforts.

Vietnamese people now don’t have to worry about how much of rice they have for their daily use, and clothing also. We have been ensured about our fundamental living standards and basic rights, it’s really a breakthrough in our history.

On February 14, 2014, the Ministry of Justice held a conference on implementation of international cooperation in 2014. Deputy Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long chaired the conference.

In 2013, the unified management of operational cooperation with foreign law was continuously promoted. The international cooperation activities of Vietnam Judiciary have been expanded and enhanced on all levels: bilateral, multilateral and regional (with nine Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, 16 Plans on judicial and law cooperation), thereby supporting positively and effectively in creating and implementing legislation, carrying out strategic and long-term tasks of Ministry of Justice. Especially, the Ministry of Justice has reconnected and deepened legislative relations with Cuba - one of the important partners of Vietnam in Latin America, establishing new partnerships with the Justice Ministry of Austria, Romani and Sri Lanka. At the regional level, the Ministry of Justice has actively and responsibly participated in cooperation with the ASEAN region as chairman nation of Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial among ASEAN, established cooperative relations between ASEAN and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (metabolic syndrome). The forums of law and  policy dialogue were organized regularly by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with donor organizations which creating good conditions for mutual understanding between Vietnam and donors and promoting cooperation in law and judiciary .

However, international cooperation on law comprehensively lacks of content and collaborative subjects. The state management of cooperation with foreign countries in law has not met the requirements despite being more focused.

The Ministry of Justice determines that, in 2014 validity and efficiency of state management of international cooperation of law will continuously improved. Stepping up the conclusion, accession and implementation of international treaties and agreements on legal cooperation with the traditional and potential partners; well managing implementation of programs, projects worked by the Ministry of Justice's governing body as well as other programs with the participation of Departments from the Ministry; giving prominence to effeciency, practicality, transparency and accountability for international cooperation in the international law.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long recognized and highly appreciated the positive results of international cooperation in 2013. Deputy Minister proposed that in 2014, international cooperation should focus on promoting institutional building, organizing and implementing effectively adopted projects; managing effectively programs and projects, strengthening research on engaging capability with institutions in international legal cooperation to meet the requirements in new era./.