Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN, WTO and other international organisations in Geneva, has reaffirmed Vietnam’s consistent policy to promote human rights and highlighted the country’s effective and timely measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The diplomat delivered speeches on both capacities as representative of Vietnam and the ASEAN at dialogues on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Global update on human rights and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the human rights situation in the Philippines, held on June 30, the first day of the 44th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Right Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mai underlined the priority given to ensuring life safety and rights to health care services of the people, especially vulnerable groups in society.

She highlighted the success of the Vietnamese Government and people in preventing and controlling COVID-19, stabilising the socio-economic situation, maintaining public order as well as the normal life of the community, along with the country’s policies to support post-pandemic recovery, thus protecting human rights.

Delivering the report regarding the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, underscored the concern about the bad influence of the pandemic to peace and development, stressing that it could extinguish hope to fulfil sustainable development goals of the UN 2030 Agenda if countries fail to join hands together to roll out urgent response.

Stressing the need to further ensure civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people, especially vulnerable groups, Bachelet called on all countries to continue cooperating with each other to make sure no one is left behind in the fight against the pandemic.

The 44th session, scheduled to last until July 17, will see more than 30 dialogues, including those with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situations in some countries including the Philippines, Myanmar, Eritrea, Belarus, Seria, Burundi, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ukraine and Sudan. 

To ensure safety, participants have the choice to deliver their speech directly at the hall or through videos./.

Telecom service providers sent over 15 billion text messages regarding COVID-19 control and prevention during the first half of 2020 and received donations via text for victims of the pandemic totalling VNĐ152 billion (US$6.58 million).

The information was released at a conference held by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on Monday to review its work in the first half and set out tasks for the remainder of the year.

During the period, the conference heard, the sector put into use 20 COVID-19 control and prevention applications and 12 platforms serving social distancing. Despite a surge in online activities, the number of cyberattacks fell by 26 per cent compared to the second half of 2019 and by 27.1 per cent year-on-year.

There were 600,000 COVID-19-related articles published in newspapers to provide readers with official news.

Notably, in the social distancing period in April, postal companies ensured the smooth flow of goods, with more than 377 million parcels delivered, an annual increase of over 40 per cent.

MIC also announced it has completed the provision of all online administrative procedures at Level 4, meaning service payments can be done online and transaction results are available either online or by post, upon request. The ministry and the health ministry are the only two governmental bodies to have done so to date.

It said that between now and the end of the year it will give instructions to help all localities nationwide build telecom infrastructure development plans to increase the rate of passive telecom infrastructure sharing to 17-20 per cent. It will also work with telecom businesses and smartphone producers to ensure each citizen has a smartphone.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tâm said the ministry will begin piloting Made-in-Vietnam 5G devices in July and a 5G network using such devices in October.

Minister Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, meanwhile, touched on the priorities the ministry needs to carry out, including helping all localities implement the local government service platform and ensuring that the IT systems of all public agencies have four-layer security./.

In a recent report published on the occasion of World Refugee Day this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that nearly 80 million people in the world have been forcibly displaced due to violence, conflict, natural disasters, etc. This figure once again rang a warning bell, urging the international community to join hands in maintaining peace and finding sustainable solutions to the issue of migrants and refugees.

At the UN Security Council’s online meeting held last week, while highlighting the disturbing situation of refugees around the globe, the head of the UNHCR, F. Grandi, said war, conflict, and natural disasters, acts of violence, mistreatment and human rights violations werepreventing about 1% of the world’s population from returning to their home. According to the UNHCR report, global displacement reached a staggering 79.5 million people last year – almost double the number registered a decade ago – owing to war, violence, persecution and other emergencies. This is the highest figure that UNHCR has recorded since these statistics have been systematically collected, being of course a cause for great concern. Notably, since 2012, the number of refugees has increased, especially in conflict countries and regions. In particular, Syria topped the list of countries with the most refugees in the world, where constant conflict has caused 13.4 million people to flee their homeland. Political instability and economic crisis have forced 4.9 million people to look for opportunities abroad. The UNHCR also pointed out that there are many causes leading to the increasing plight of refugees, but the main ones areviolence, inequality and the impact of climate change. An increase in the number of people who have to leave their homes means that conflict and violence have not decreased, along with the rise of both natural disasters and economic difficulties. In Europe, the crisis of migrants who have rattled the region has temporarily eased, with the number of illegal migrants to the “Old Continent” tending to have decreased from 2018. However, “underground waves”still remain as the number of deaths on the journey across the sea continued to increase. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) forces still make daily efforts to save boats full of migrants floating on the Mediterranean. The issue of refugees is a major challenge, in the context that the EU has not resolved disagreements among member countries related to policies regarding the receipt of migrants, while a trend of populism and anti-immigration policies has emerged. In their journey to search for a safer life, migrants and refugees are facing numerous challenges such as discrimination, difficult living conditions, and limited access to services related to education, health, clean water, sanitation, etc. In the context of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, which has plunged the world into a double crisis in terms of both health and economics, these challenges have become even more pressing. However, difficulties are not just for migrants and refugees. The increasing number of refugees means pressure and many burdens being placed on the shoulders of the host countries. At the recent online session, members of the UN Security Council pointed out the serious impacts of climate change and the current epidemic on refugees and agreed to promote accountability mechanisms to support refugees and host countries. The UNHCR urged countries to unite and join hands to devise sustainable solutions to the issue of refugees, the most important of which are efforts to maintain peace, uphold political determination and effectively implement the Global Compact on Refugees. The issue of migrants and refugees is not a challenge at the national scale, but a global crisis. Therefore,comprehensive and sustainable solutions to overcome this challenge include preventing and resolving conflicts through the path of political dialogue, joining hands to consolidate global peace and security and responding to the negative impacts of climate change.

Dung emphasised the importance of fostering collaboration in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and promoting socio-economic recovery.

Multilateral organisations, especially the UN with its central role, can play a key part in coordinating pandemic prevention and control efforts, he stressed.

He called on all parties involved in conflicts to follow UN Secretary-General António Guterres' appeal for a global ceasefire amid the pandemic, while suggesting the UN Security Council to take stronger actions to ease tensions, build trust and boost reconciliation and dialogue to seek long-term solutions to conflicts.

The diplomat affirmed that Vietnam supports the UN chief’s call for easing sanctions which affect COVID-19 response efforts and hopes that the council and its member states take proper measures to facilitate humanitarian aid for sanctioned countries for the interests of their citizens.

He also told participants that Vietnam has taken early actions to prevent negative impact of the pandemic by mobilising the engagement of the entire political system.

At the video conference, Guterres said that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to profoundly affect peace and security across the globe, and makes many countries postpone their elections, intensifies tensions and violence in many countries, worsens the risks of bioterrorist attacks, and causes negative impact on people around the world, especially vulnerable groups such as women, children and refugees./.

 Global upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left society's most vulnerable exposed. Instances of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) found online have increased at an alarming rate over past months.

The incidence is higher, the abuse is worse, and the children are younger. Self-regulated social media companies are dragging their heels implementing reform that bolsters the safety of their youngest members.

This recent upturn comes after decades of rapid growth of CSEM material. INTERPOL, a global policing organisation, reported a 10,000% increase in the amount of CSEM on the Internet since 2004.

Since lockdown measures were put in place, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has blocked nearly 9 million attempts by UK internet users to access child sexual abuse websites. The vast majority of victims identified are 7 to 13 years old.

Many instances of abuse originate on social media platforms. Private messaging services, and childrens' broad access to the Internet have facilitated contact between victims and perpetrators. Each photo published online is evidence of a crime occurring, yet much goes undetected.

At a United Nations briefing in April concerning the effects of the pandemic on children, the European Union representative Walter Stevens noted that the scale of online abuse "continues to expand at an alarming rate." In some countries, such as Australia, the amount of detected material has doubled in recent months.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought more children home, and increased Internet connectivity as teaching turns virtual, the most vulnerable members of society are being delivered into the hands of abusers.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres said earlier this year, "governments and parents all have a role in keeping children safe," adding that, "social media companies have a special responsibility to protect the vulnerable."

Maud de Boer-Burquicchio, former Special Rapporteur on the sale and exploitation of children, criticised tech companies' intentions, "the respect of childrens' rights and dignity, if at all, continues to come as an afterthought."

No company is more central to this discussion than Facebook. According to the New York Times, of the 18.4 million reports of child sexual abuse material last year, 14 million came from Facebook's platform. The Messaging service facilitates contact between victims and perpetrators, and is where images and video are easily sent and disseminated.

Following suit from most other social media organisations, Facebook's plans to implement end-to-end encryption into its Messaging service represents a significant step backwards in combating CSEM globally. The measure is responding to users' calls for greater privacy, yet would prevent anyone, even Facebook, from identifying exploitative messages and media sent in conversations.

Currently, hash technology within a system called PhotoDNA allows for the detection of CSEM across platforms. If end-to-end encryption is introduced, this will no longer be possible.

Andy Burrows, NSPCC Head of Child Safety Online Policy told IPS that this service "will make content moderation virtually impossible and make it easier for offenders to groom children."

A number of leaders from countries like the United States, UK and Australia have criticised Facebook's haste to encrypt its platform. They have called for a delay until child safety can be guaranteed.

Susie Hargreaves, Chief Executive of IWF, told IPS, "we are asking Facebook to give assurances that child protection will not be hampered and that children and victims will be protected in some way, and as yet, none of us have seen any of those assurances."

FBI Director Christopher Wray has expressed his concerns that end-to-end encryption would prevent law enforcement's ability to track down perpetrators of child sexual exploitation.

In October of 2019, Attorney General William Barr sent a public letter to Zuckerberg echoing this concern, and calling on Facebook to, "embed the safety of the public in system designs," and "enable law enforcement to obtain lawful access to content in a readable and usable format."

Fred Langford, IWF Chief Technical Officer, in an interview with IPS praised the social media company for engaging with the issue of CSEM. Facebook has partnered with other tech companies like Google and Microsoft to discuss embedded protections for children, yet many criticize these measures for providing little real change.

At a meeting last month, shareholders noted the severity of CSEM on Facebook's platform, stating, "Facebook's plans to expand end-to-end encryption will make it unable to track CSEM on social media enabling more offenders to evade detection."

Past measures to protect children on the platform have not been effective enough, they said. Shareholders requested a report be compiled detailing how Facebook would address the issue prior to imposing end-to-end encryption. The Board of Directors voted against.

Without effective measures to protect children while ensuring user privacy, end-to-end encryption will make continuing to detect and prosecute offenders nearly impossible. Many are unsure of Facebook's measures to deal with that.

"Tech companies have proven time and again that they are failing to make their self-regulated platforms safe for children," NSPCC's Any Burrows told IPS. The ongoing pandemic, and Facebook's sluggish response to concerns for child welfare on its platform may further endanger our most vulnerable.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung affirmed that Vietnam has well performed tasks in the capacity as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), thus creating an international environment conducive to the country’s development and integration as well as bolstering bilateral ties with countries.

Trung, who is also head of the inter-sectoral working group on Vietnam’s assumption of UNSC’s non-permanent membership, made the remark during a periodic meeting in Hanoi on July 2 to review Vietnam’s performance in the UNSC in the first half of this year and outline tasks for the time ahead.

He mentioned a number of measures to continue improving Vietnam’s position and contributions at the UNSC. He also asked ministries and agencies concerned to enhance joint work and share information related to research and policy consultation.

After listening to the Foreign Ministry’s report, participants shared the view that the rapid, complicated and uncertain developments in the world due to competition among major powers, rising tension in hotspots across the world as well as serious impacts of COVID-19 pandemic posed big challenges to the operation of multilateral mechanisms in the first half.

In such context, the UNSC handled a huge volume of work with over 200 meetings at the level of ambassador and head of delegations, and hundreds of working sessions, along with the adoption of 80 documents on 59 different items in its agenda.

Based on its external policy of independence and self-reliance and as a responsible member of the international community, Vietnam actively participated in the UNSC’s work and reaped noteworthy results, including the successful assumption of UNSC Chair in January 2020 and organisation of an open debate on adhering to the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security, and a briefing on “Cooperation between the UN and regional organisations: the Role of ASEAN”.

In line with Decree No.25 dated August 8, 2018 by the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on strengthening multilateral diplomacy, Vietnam handled issues at the UNSC in an appropriate and balanced manner.

The country strived to play its role as a mediator within its ability to promote the settlement of peace and international security issues on the basis of complying with the UN Charter and basic principles of international law, including respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, non-interference in internal affairs, refraining from the use of force or threat to use force in international relations.

Leaders of the UN, countries and international opinions also spoke highly of Vietnam’s role and participation in the UNSC, the meeting heard./.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink has highlighted the two countries’ cooperation, as the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations (July 12) is just around the corner.

At a press meeting on July 2, he said the normalisation of relations has benefited both sides, noting that his country respects Vietnam and recognises its growing contributions to ties.

During his term, he noted, President Donald Trump has visited Vietnam twice, first on the occasion of the APEC Summit in November 2017 and second the US-DPRK Summit in February 2019.

He also mentioned official visits to Vietnam by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, saying they were all memorable.

Bilateral cooperation activities had been carried out long before the two countries set up diplomatic ties, he went on, highlighting the search for remains of US soldiers listed as missing in action during the war since 1988, while cooperation in issues regarding the consequences of war has also had a substantial role in relations.

The diplomat said he looks forward to stronger people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in the following decades, adding that there are about 30,000 Vietnamese students in the US at present, which also means there are 30,000 cultural ambassadors for the two countries.

He said the two countries’ cooperation in the COVID-19 fight has been extraordinary, and Vietnam’s response to the pandemic has been “perhaps the best in the entire world”.

The US has been proud to be Vietnam’s partner in the health sector for more than 20 years. It is pleased to see that cooperation has extended to Vietnam’s extraordinary efforts to control the pandemic, including sharing technical advice and consultation between the US Centres for Disease Control and Vietnam’s Ministry of Health.

USAID has also been assisting Vietnam in coping with COVID-19 and recovering its economy, he noted.

Appreciating the assistance Vietnam has provided to the US, he cited the saying that “a friend in need is a friend indeed”, and that Vietnam is a good friend of his country.

When the US has faced difficulties amid the pandemic, the Vietnamese Government and thousands of Vietnamese friends have donated millions of face masks and other types of protective medical equipment for use in the US, the diplomat said.

He added he is confident that the assistance from Vietnam has saved lives in the US, and his country is very grateful to Vietnam for that./.

Seventy-five years ago, on July 16, the United States detonated the world's first nuclear weapons test explosion in the New Mexican desert. Just three weeks later, U.S. Air Force B-29 bombers executed surprise atomic bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least 214,000 people by the end of 1945, and injuring untold thousands more who died in the years afterward.

Since then, the world has suffered from a costly and deadly nuclear arms race fueled by more than 2,056 nuclear test explosions by at least eight states, more than half of which (1,030) were conducted by the United States.

But now, as a result of years of sustained citizen pressure and campaigning, congressional leadership, and scientific and diplomatic breakthroughs, nuclear testing is taboo.

The United States has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, when a bipartisan congressional majority mandated a nine-month testing moratorium. In 1996 the United States was the first to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which verifiably prohibits all nuclear test explosions of any yield.

Today, the CTBT has 184 signatories and almost universal support. But it has not formally entered into force due to the failure of the United States, China, and six other holdout states to ratify the pact.

As a result, the door to nuclear testing remains ajar, and now some White House officials and members of the Senate's Dr. Strangelove Caucus are threatening to blow it wide open.

According to a May 22 article in The Washington Post, senior national security officials discussed the option of a demonstration nuclear blast at a May 15 interagency meeting.

A senior official told the Post that a "rapid test" by the United States could prove useful from a negotiating standpoint as the Trump administration tries to pressure Russia and China to engage in talks on a new arms control agreement.

Making matters worse, in a party-line vote last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to authorize $10 million specifically for a nuclear test if ordered so by President Donald Trump.

Such a test could be conducted underground in just a few months at the former Nevada Test Site outside Las Vegas.

The idea of such a demonstration nuclear test blast is beyond reckless. In reality, the first U.S. nuclear test explosion in 28 years would do nothing to rein in Russian and Chinese nuclear arsenals or improve the environment for negotiations.

Rather, it would raise tensions and probably trigger an outbreak of nuclear testing by other nuclear actors, leading to an all-out global arms race in which everyone would come out a loser.

Other nuclear-armed countries, such as Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea would have far more to gain from nuclear testing than would the United States. Over the course of the past 25 years, the U.S. nuclear weapons labs have spent billions to maintain the U.S. arsenal without nuclear explosive testing.

Other nuclear powers would undoubtedly seize the opportunity provided by a U.S. nuclear blast to engage in multiple explosive tests of their own, which could help them perfect new and more dangerous types of warheads.

Moves by the United States to prepare for or to resume nuclear testing would shred its already tattered reputation as a leader on nonproliferation and make a mockery of the State Department's initiative for a multilateral dialogue to create a better environment for progress on nuclear disarmament. The United States would join North Korea, which is the only country to have conducted nuclear tests in this century, as a nuclear rogue state.

As Dr. Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, said on May 28, "ctions or activities by any country that violate the international norm against nuclear testing, as underpinned by the CTBT, would constitute a grave challenge to the nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regime, as well as to global peace and security more broadly."

Talk of renewing U.S. nuclear testing would dishonor the victims of the nuclear age. These include the millions of people who have died and suffered from illnesses directly related to the radioactive fallout from tests conducted in the United States, the islands of the Pacific, Australia, China, North Africa, Russia, and Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union conducted 468 of its 715 nuclear tests.

Tragically, the downwinders affected by the first U.S. nuclear test, code-named "Trinity," are still not even included in the U.S. Radiation Effects Compensation Act program, which is due to expire in 2022.

Congress must step in and slam the door shut on the idea of resuming nuclear testing, especially if its purpose is to threaten other countries. As Congress finalizes the annual defense authorization and energy appropriations bills, it can and must enact a prohibition on the use of funds for nuclear testing and enact safeguards that require affirmative House and Senate votes on any proposal for testing in the future.

Eventually, the Senate can and must also reconsider and ratify the CTBT itself. As a signatory, the United States is legally bound to comply with CTBT's prohibition on testing, but has denied itself the benefits that will come with ratification and entry into force of the treaty.

Nuclear weapons test explosions are a dangerous vestige of a bygone era. We must not go back.