Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has voiced concerns over terrorism and extremist violence in Africa which is threatening the stability and development of several countries in the continent.

Quy represented Vietnam at the UN Security Council (UNSC)’s debate on “Peace and Security of Africa: Countering Terrorism and Extremism” in New York on March 11. The event was held with China as president of the council this month.

The debate saw the presence of high-ranking officials who shared the view that terrorism in Africa, particularly in Sahel, Lake Chad and Horn of Africa, is alarming and seriously obstructing the peace progress and security in the region and affecting the life of local people.

In his remarks, Ambassador Quy emphasised the importance of addressing the root causes of terrorism and extremism in Africa.

It is necessary to effectively enforce the UN’s international conventions and resolutions on counter-terrorism and suppression of terrorism financing, he said.

The official also highlighted the need for cooperation among African countries to tackle the issues and called for support from the international community to help these countries combat terrorism and violent extremism.

Other representatives also proposed measures to counter terrorism and extremist violence in Africa, with focus placed on addressing political challenges and inequality, promoting the rule of law, and strengthening cooperation and exchange regionally and globally.

They agreed that there should be comprehensive solutions which cover other areas such as socio-economic affairs, human rights, empowerment of women and youth, and that international support is significant for enhancing capacity building and mobilising resources to fight terrorism in Africa./.

At the request of Canada, Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Bùi Thanh Sơn has spoken over the phone with Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Morgan to discuss bilateral relations and share experience in COVID-19 prevention and control.

The officials highly valued the development of their countries’ relations in all aspects, especially since Việt Nam and Canada set up their comprehensive partnership in 2017 and started to implement the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

They agreed to promote delegation exchanges at all levels and maintain existing cooperation mechanisms between their foreign ministries.

The deputy ministers affirmed that their countries will keep coordinating closely at international and regional forums while Việt Nam serves as the ASEAN Chair this year and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-21.

During the talks, both sides also shared experience in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sơn said the Vietnamese Government has taken drastic actions and been making all-out efforts to stop the spread. 

It also pledges to further create favourable conditions for investment, production and business activities in the country, he noted, asking Canada to work closely with Việt Nam in this regard, especially amid the complex and unpredictable developments of the COVID-19 outbreak.

For her part, Deputy Foreign Minister Morgan highly valued the strong and active measures taken by Việt Nam against COVID-19.

She said the Canadian Government will continue enhancing ties with Việt Nam within the framework of the comprehensive partnership and support the Southeast Asian nation in its roles as the ASEAN Chair this year and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-21.

The Canadian Government also hopes the two countries will continue their close coordination on issues of common concern at regional and international forums, she added. And Vietnam is ready to share experience in combating COVID-19 with other nations also./.

"Slave labour is not declining; it has taken on new forms and is growing; it expanded to new sectors where it did not previously exist," said Ivanete da Silva Sousa, an activist in the fight against modern-day slavery in northern Brazil.

This scourge expanded from livestock farming, charcoal and sugar production and other rural activities to urban areas: the construction and textile industries, among other sectors, she told IPS.

As one of the founders of the Centre for the Defence of Life and Human Rights (CDVDH), created in 1996, Sousa has monitored the evolution of contemporary slavery, characterised by forced labour, excessive working hours, degrading conditions, and restrictions on freedom of movement, as typified by the Brazilian Penal Code.

The Centre was born in Açailandia, in the west of the state of Maranhão, because this municipality of 112,000 inhabitants was a hub of slave labour to produce the charcoal consumed by the local iron and steel industry, which exports pig iron, a product of smelting iron ore that is used in the production of steel.

It was also a hotbed of trafficking of virtually captive workers, as it was located on the border of Maranhão, the largest supplier of labour for degrading and illegal work, together with Pará, the Amazon jungle state where slavery conditions are rife.

For these reasons Carmen Bascarán, a Catholic lay missionary from Spain, chose Açailandia as the headquarters of the CDVDH, to put into practice her ideas to help the poor. She was the soul and leader of the Centre, which added her name to its own when she returned to her home country in 2011.

Street vendors of hammocks made in Ceará, another neighbouring state to the east, are recent examples of workers in slavery-like conditions identified in Maranhão, Sousa said from Açailandia in her dialogue with IPS.

Stores are also taking advantage of the new facilities provided by the use of the "hour bank", adopted in the 2017 reform of the labour laws, to force their employees to work many extra hours and give up their weekly day off, without the obligatory compensation.

"Hours worked accumulate," but the compensation in hours off in later days, as stipulated by the law, "never arrives," said the activist, the administrative secretary of the CDVDH for the past six years.

The 2017 reform, defended as an adaptation to the current conditions in the economy and labour relations, offered new opportunities for the "modernisation" of slave labour: "It became more difficult for people to detect slave labour," Sousa said.

The statistics collected by different government agencies engaged in the fight against slave labour also point to a complex picture which has evolved over time.

The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) processed the data gathered from 1995 - when Brazil acknowledged the problem and began to combat it systematically - to 2019.

In the past 25 years, a total of 54,778 workers were rescued from slavery or degrading conditions by the authorities, especially the Mobile Inspection Team, which brings together people from the ministry of labour, the labour prosecutors office, and the police.

The crackdown on modern-day slavery intensified in the 2003-2010 period, when more than 3,000 workers were freed each year, with a record 6,001 rescued in 2007. Since then the number has dropped steadily, to 1,050 last year.

In this process, the rescue operations that were concentrated in the agricultural frontiers of the Amazon jungle states of Pará, Mato Grosso and Maranhão spread throughout the country, to the wealthier and more industrialised southern and southeastern regions as well.

Since 2006, the phenomenon has been expanding in urban areas, especially the construction and textile industries.

"The discovery of slave labour in new parts of Brazil and new branches of activity revealed situations that probably existed already, but which until then no one had reported or which had not been sufficiently or properly investigated," Xavier Plassat, who coordinates the CPT's campaign against contemporary slavery, told IPS.

"These statistics have to be analysed carefully", because they can lead to misleading conclusions, Plassat, a Dominican friar, warned in an interview.

The large number of workers rescued in the first decade of this century, for example, was due to inspections in the sugar industry, which identified in one fell swoop hundreds of workers subjected to abusive conditions during the sugarcane harvest, he pointed out.

That situation changed quickly with the mechanisation of cane cutting, imposed by local governments in response to air pollution in nearby cities, created by the practice of pre-harvest sugar cane field burning.

In the sectors of cattle breeding and farming, where some employers are abusive, there was a similar attempt to reduce the workforce by means of mechanisation, and to reduce the use of agrochemicals as well, said Plassat, who is from France and has lived in Brazil for 31 years.

In the charcoal industry, modern-day slavery was reduced by the heavy scrutiny and inspections triggered by multiple complaints, as well as by the loss of a large part of its market due to the crisis in the pig iron trade.

Finally, Plassat added, the economic recession in Brazil, which began in 2015, led to high unemployment, which made it less likely for workers afraid of losing their incomes - even when earned in terrible conditions in poor-paying jobs - to report abuses.

Complaints, and thus inspections and rescue operations, also fell off, possibly because employers resorted to different tactics to circumvent the crackdown on this form of trafficking in persons.

"They started to use smaller groups of workers, in short-term tasks, to avoid the risk" of being caught, said the friar, who also explained that employers abandoned the practice of transporting workers in large groups over long distances, to escape detection.

In the Amazon, "there is ‘surgical' deforestation, which is on a smaller-scale and takes place in protected areas, where satellite images reveal nothing," he said.

The result is that fewer workers in slavery conditions are detected, even though inspection operations have not been reduced.

Efforts to combat the phenomenon now require "more intelligence in the inspections, examining the companies' books," for example, he said.

The central government reduced the budget for the agencies fighting slave labour. However, the rescue operations continue because local authorities in some states are making a great effort, albeit with limited resources, to fight the problem.

Minas Gerais, Bahia, São Paulo and Goiás are the states that presented the best results in recent years, said Plassat from Araguaina, the city of 180,000 inhabitants where he lives in the central state of Tocantins, near Maranhão and Pará, the areas where the most numerous rescue operations were carried out in the first decade of the century.

The CPT and the CDVDH, which form part of the Integrated Action Network to Combat Slavery (Raice) that promotes initiatives aimed at "breaking the cycle of slave labour" in the heavily affected states of Maranhão, Pará, Tocantins and Piauí, stress the need for prevention rather than merely repression.

Addressing the vulnerabilities and lack of local alternatives that drive people into migration and forced labour, and training rescued victims to keep them from falling back into the trap, are necessary measures to effectively eradicate the new types of slavery.

About 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability, of whom 2-4% experience significant difficulties in functioning. Disability is part of the human condition, and almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life, and those who survive into old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning.

Here the focus is on empirical validation of whether disabilities are associated with economic hardships through loss of employment and consequently impoverishment in rural India. The motivation stems from continuing neglect of health in the budgetary allocations –including the allocations for 2020-21.

For lack of more recent data-the NSS does not cover disabilities- we use the two rounds of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) panel data for 2005 and 2012.

An intuitive methodology is used to overcome reverse causality between poverty and disability by comparing poverty outcomes in 2012 and prevalence of disability in 2005. Priority in time of the latter allows us to make unambiguous comparisons between poverty and disability in rural India.

The sequence of empirical analyses summarised below is: (i) factors associated with disability; (ii) relationship between rural employment and disability; and (iii) between poverty/or a welfare metric and disability in rural India.

The central argument resting on these building blocks is that disabilities are likely to rise; they are associated with loss of long duration employment; and thus with rise in poverty.

The prevaence of dsability is 9.70 % in the rural population in 2012. Of the disabled, more than half (51.3 %) suffer from 2-4 disabilities. Persistence is also largest in this range of disabilities (about 31 % remain in it between 2005-2012).

Shares of those suffering from 1 disability are largest in the age-group 31-50 years, followed by 51-60 years. In the case of 2-4 disabilities, the largest share is found among those 31-50 years old, 51-60 years old and then among the older group,61-70 years.

Shares of those suffering from >4 disabilities rise from those 31-50 years old to 61-70 years and then decline. Within the youngest (15-30 years), about 98 % do not suffer from any disability which declines among older age-groups (just under 50 % among the oldest >70 years). In the older age-group (31-50 years), a vast majority do not suffer from any disability, and small proportions suffer from a single and multiple disabilities.

A similar pattern is observed among those in the age-group, 51-60 years, with substantially lower proportions without any disability and larger proportions suffering from single and multiple disabilities.

Among the older, 61-70 years, the proportion without disability is considerably lower, but those with single and multiple disabilities rise,with about 30 % suffering from >4 disabilities. As aging grows rapidly, the burden of disabilities is likely to surge. But at the same time, high prevalence of disability among a large segment of the working age group is likely to have deleterious employment effects.

Employment in rural areas is disaggregated into four categories: no employment, < 240 hours in the previous year (ie, previous to 2012), part time employment >240 hours, and full time employment (at least 250 days and at least 2000 hours).

What is indeed striking is that among the disabled, the proportion of not employed is just under half, and markedly lower in part-time and full –time employment.As those suffering from disabilities are a small fraction of the rural population, it is not surprising that in each duration of employment the share of those not suffering from any disability is markedly higher than that of the disabled. Specifically, their shares are higher in short and longer duration of employment while those of the disabled mere fractions.

Instead of using a poverty cut-off (the World Bank uses several), we have used terciles of per capita expenditure (at constant prices). The bottom tercile denotes extremely poor, the next middle class and the third affluent.

As non-disabled households are a huge fraction, it is not surprising that their shares are highest in each tercile.

In the non-disabled households, the proportions are almost equally distributed among the terciles.

In the lowest disability group (<0.31) at the household level, the proportion in the first tercile is lowest, and highest in the second and third terciles.

The highest disability group (>0. 60), however, offers a contrast. Their proportion in the lowest tercile is highest compared with other disability groups but slightly lower than the proportion in the second tercile. Their proportion in the third tercile not just within this disability group but also across all other disability groups is lowest.

Thus highly disabled are largely confined to extreme poverty with most restricted prospects of becoming affluent through barriers to long duration employment (including but not limited to discriminatory practices in hiring the disabled).

Ironically, while the SDGs assign high priority to preventing and overcoming disability, officially adopted by 193 countries including India, the FM's budget for 2020-21 is not just a missed opportunity for growth stimulus but almost cruel to those experiencing persistent health deprivation by cutting the health outlay.

Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a political and military alliance of the West headed by the U.S with primary aim of containing the growth of the former USSR and socialist countries in Eastern Europe. To balance against NATO, in 1955, the USSR and socialist countries in Eastern Europe established the Warsaw Pact. The balance of power between NATO and the Warsaw Pact became the cornerstone during the Cold War between the U.S and the USSR.

In the early of 1990s, the world political situation witnessed deep changes with the collapse of the USSR and socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, ending up the bipolarity. Despite being a winning party, NATO’s dilemma and divergence became increasingly bigger as its opponent no longer existed.

The divergence among NATO members

After the end of the Cold War, NATO’s enlargements to include its former adversaries in the central and eastern Europe were aimed to expand its influence to the “Post-Soviet” space. More specifically, during the Cold War, NATO admitted only 4 new members, while 13 others were included after the Cold War, increasing its total memberships to 29. Accordingly, NATO’s border has also been made closer to Russia. However, the fast increase in the number of membership also led to a number of problems, including the decrease in unity, the key factor of the block. If in the war against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the U.S was highly compromised, there was a stark division among the block under the name of the "war on terror" in Iraq in 2003 as some key members including Germany, France and Italy deemed such a military intervention against Bagdad unconvincing and unnecessary. NATO’s policy makers then admitted that the war against Iraq had caused a belief crisis among its members.

In the relations with its Russian adversary, NATO also shows severe disagreements. Some of its central and Eastern European members supported a tough sanction against Russia in retaliation for Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and their perceived threat from Russia. Some also led the U.S deploy strategic air defence systems to counter Russia, worsening their relations. In contrast, some key members held that the block’s sanctions against Kremlin were all counter-productive. In their opinions, NATO should apply more flexible approach to Russia. Ignoring the pressure from the U.S, Germany still strengthened cooperation with Russia, facilitated the “Nord Stream” Project and announced that not only Germany and Russia but all Europe would be benefited from this strategic project. Besides Germany, France also appreciated the role of Russia in the realm of security and development of Europe and Paris. Therefore, Moscow and some NATO members have signed many economic, political and security cooperation agreements.

While the disagreement about its relations with Russia was still unsolved, NATO faced another internal conflict when Turkey conducted attacks into Kurdish communities in northern Syria, a hindrance to the block’s war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group. Especially, some NATO members also imposed an unprecedented arms export ban on Turkey. Some NATO leaders held that internal disagreements are spoiling the block’s unity.

Increasing cracks in the Trans-Atlantic relations

With his “America first” and “Make America great again” slogans, upon coming to the White House, President Trump carried out a number of shocking policies not only revoking his predecessors but also concerning his NATO allies. It is said that Donald Trump is the first U.S president to criticize the Trans-Atlantic alliance which has long been considered the symbol of the West. President Trump announced that it is unfair for the U.S to pay for most of the spending for the benefit of other countries in the block. He threatened that if other NATO members didn’t increase defence budget to 2% GDP, the U.S wouldn’t guarantee security for them. President Trump also imposed higher tariff on European products. In response, Europe, including the U.S long-established allies did the same to American goods. This pushed the U.S and Europe on the brink of a “trade war”. Moreover, Washington always acted arbitrarily as deciding international matters without taking its allies’ security and benefit into account. Many NATO members criticised the U.S heavily for unilaterally withdrawing from the P5+1 Pact (signed in 2015 between Iran and Group 5+1, including Britain, France, China, Russia, US, and Germany) without their consultation, and its revocation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed between the U.S and USSR in 1987. European countries in NATO held that the US cancel of nuclear weapon controlling mechanisms would endanger the world, and Europe might become the battlefield in the confrontation among  nuclear powers – a scary scenario to the old continent. Besides, NATO allies also criticised Trump’s decisions in the Middle East, particularly its withdrawal of troops in Syria which goes counter to the commitments that the U.S has made.

According to international analysts, the relations between the two sides of the Atlantic have long turned bad as the cracks appeared since Obama’s pivoting strategy to Asia – Pacific. Their concern of being abandoned is now becoming increasingly apparent. Following his predecessor, President Trump prioritised his “America first” policies, worsening its relations with European allies. Many European leaders believed that under Trump administration, they are being treated as “second-class citizens” and Europe is becoming a security hostage of the U.S. Due to the concern about instabilities in the Trans-Atlantic relations, European Union, including some key members of NATO, is thinking about building a self-reliant and independent defence to reduce their dependence on the U.S security umbrella.  

NATO’s “brain death”

International observers hold that the divergence among NATO members reflects a fact that this alliance lacks a strategic orientation and coordination at macro level, and fails to compromise on responsibility sharing.  The implementation of the core articles, such as Article 5 on collective defence which rules that an attack into one or more members of NATO shall be considered an attack to all has also been distorted. US refusal to support Britain’s oil tanker arrested in the Hormuz Strait in July 2019 by Iran, citing that US did not sign any agreements ruling its responsibility in such incident, is a controversial topic in the block.

Explaining the main reasons which cause NATO’s “brain death” as in the words of French President E. Macron, analysts hold that the viewpoints and political and military lines relating to collective defence applied by NATO in the Cold War have become outdated since  this alliance has transitioned from a continent-defensive alliance to a global offensive one. Therefore, at the Summit celebrating its 70^th birthday, NATO leaders considered the making of a suitable strategy in the new circumstance is an urgent task and save the block from “brain dead” status. The summit has mapped out some strategic orientations. Besides counter-terrorism operations, NATO will focus more on aerospace; developing protective capability for military and civilian satellites; involving in the strategic rivalry with Russia and China. As such, strategically, NATO has listed China as its rival. Last but not least, this alliance has also agreed on establishing a study group for its new political and military doctrines to suit the reality. Is it the necessary renovation and how far it will go is still an open question.

International opinion holds that amid the context of globalisation and international integration, the main trend of reduced confrontation, peaceful settlements of disputes by dialogues, and cooperation for mutual development, NATO should uphold its positive role as a world leading political and military alliance in maintaining international laws, the UN Charter to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, and that the existence and development of NATO can be achieved only by close cooperation with other countries to deal with and repel the threats, and build a world of peace, stability, development and prosperity; resolutely not to use its deterrent power or force to gain its hegemony in the region and the world.

Vietnam has sufficient capability, resources and experience to control the COVID-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed at a meeting held on March 9 in response to complex developments of the disease in the country.

According to the national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, 106,355 infection cases have been reported around the world, including 3,600 deaths, in 102 countries and territories. There are more than 1,000 new cases each day, and the number could rise slightly in the next few days.

In Vietnam, after no new cases were recorded in 22 days, the 17th case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed in Hanoi on March 6. After that, some persons having close contact with this case were tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. Also on March 6, another case was reported at a concentrated quarantine centre in Ninh Binh province.

As of 8pm of March 8, Vietnam had confirmed 30 infection cases, including 16 already recovering. The 14 latest cases, including five Vietnamese and nine foreigners, have been put in quarantine.

Of the five Vietnamese patients, two boarded flight VN0054, which landed at Noi Bai International Airport at 4:30am of March 2; two contracted the virus from the 17th case, who was also on that flight; and one returned from the Republic of Korea.

Among the 201 passengers on flight VN0054, relevant agencies have got information about the places of residence and travel history of 156 people. Information related to the rest is being updated, the national steering committee said.

The committee has asked authorities of provinces and cities to quarantine the passengers on flight VN0054, it said, adding that it has made a list of people having close contact with the two infected Vietnamese on that flight.

At the meeting between the Cabinet’s permanent members and the committee, PM Phuc repeated the viewpoint of “fighting the disease is like fighting an enemy”, noting the Government always has a good grasp of the situation and prepare detailed plans of action to protect people’s health even at the expense of economic benefits.

The Government is not passive in the battle to protect people’s health, he affirmed, calling on the public to improve their medical knowledge to protect themselves.

He requested personnel and infrastructure conditions be geared up in a timely manner, the capacity of healthcare establishments from the central to grassroots levels be enhanced, and the spread of the disease be minimised.

Praising efforts by ministries, sectors, localities and medical workers in swiftly dealing with the 17th infection case, the PM said it is necessary to understand right, act right, stay calm but not be negligent or subjective so as to prevent the disease from spreading.

He also asked customs, border guard and border gate security forces, as well as airports, to control entry into the country more carefully and ensure safety for tourism activities.

Notably, the Government leader ordered strict handling of persons lying in or dodging health declaration. He also stressed the need to publicise information about the COVID-19 outbreak in a timely manner and ensure the supply of food and essential products for people.

Additionally, the PM shared the view that meetings and gatherings should be limited while information technology should be applied more strongly to the organisation of meetings, studying and health declaration.

He also agreed with the national steering committee that ministries, sectors and localities should suspend foreign trips, except for special cases allowed by the PM./.

Representative of a local university presents support to the fund

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) – Hanoi chapter on March 9 organised a fundraising ceremony for the “Fund for Vietnam’s Sea, Islands”.

The move aims to support soldiers and civilians staying on Truong Sa (Spatly) archipelago in Vietnam’s East Sea to safeguard the country’s sea and island sovereignty.

At the event, Secretary of the chapter Nguyen Ngoc Viet called on young people of the capital city to donate to the fund while doing their utmost to prevent the spread of the acute respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

Staffers of the chapter offered at least one day’s salary to the fund, along with various donations from youth unions of local universities and firms.

In 2018, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided to rename the “Vi Truong Sa Than yeu” (For Beloved Truong Sa) fund as “Fund for Vietnam’s Sea, Islands”.

The fund was established in 2011, aiming to encourage people to turn their mind and heart to Truong Sa archipelago, while enhancing awareness among all sectors, localities and Vietnamese people at home and abroad of the importance of Vietnam’s sea and islands.

It has also helped bring the resolution on “Vietnam's Sea Strategy by 2020” into reality, mobilising social resources to defend the national sovereignty over sea, islands and continental shelf./.

Vietnamese women

Vietnam has constantly fine-tuned its policies to boost gender equality and empower women. It has strengthened the role of the political system and mobilized social resources to achieve these goals.
Fine-tuning policies and laws on general equality, integrating gender equality in socio-economic development programs, and increasing women’s participation in all social activities are among the key tasks of the Vietnamese Party and State.

Achievements in gender equality

Vietnam has fine-tuned and promulgated gender equality-based laws and policies under the 2006 Law on Gender Equality and the UN Convention on Eliminating Discrimination against Women. Vietnam has issued a National Strategy on Gender Equality for the 2011-2020 period aiming to raise awareness, narrow gender gaps, and improve women’s role.

The country has implemented international initiatives to protect women’s rights and eliminate discrimination against women. It has accomplished the goal of achieving gender equality and empowering women, one of the MDG 2013 goals ahead of the schedule becoming one of the countries to reduce gender gaps the most.

Vietnamese women comprise more than half of the population and nearly half of the work force. The percentage of female deputies in the current National Assembly is 26.8%, one of the highest percentages in the region.

Vietnam has female Politburo members, National Assembly Chairwoman, NA Vice Chairwoman, Vice President, and Deputy Ministers. In many localities, there are many female leaders and businesswomen. The number of ethnic minority women doing business and participating in education and public health has increased.

92% of Vietnamese women are literate. 80% of girls in remote mountainous regions attend school. Girls account for more than 50% of Vietnamese students, 30% of Masters Degree holders and 17% of professors. All the figures show a narrowing gap in gender in all areas. Vietnam has fulfilled several goals set out in the National Strategy on Gender Equality until 2020, particularly those involving economics and employment.


Vietnam continues to promote gender equality and women empowerment

Vietnam is facing several challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality – fluctuations in the global economy, the rapid development of the 4th Industrial Revolution, natural disasters, climate change and population changes. Consequently, Vietnam needs to continue to fine-tune its policies and take actions to maintain its achievements and address arising problems.

The nation is devising a National Strategy on Gender Equality in the 2021-2030 period in line with the Law on Gender Equality and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and other related international commitments. Vietnam has integrated gender equality and women empowerment issues in all socio-economic development programs.

Last year, Vietnam adopted a revised Labor Code with 11 stipulations for woman workers aiming to change the approach in protecting woman workers and promoting gender equality in order to realize Vietnam’s commitments under international conventions and new-generation free trade agreements.

It has also raised public awareness about the role of women, expanded international cooperation, and mobilized resources to ensure gender equality.