Director of the Consular Department Doan Hoang Minh. (Photo: Quang Hoa)

Continuing the achievements in the protection of Vietnamese citizens abroad in recent years, in 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate with domestic authorities and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to continue to promptly and effectively implement the protection of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad, which has received attention and high appreciation from leaders at all levels and public opinion.

In an interview with The World & Vietnam Newspaper, Director of the Consular Department Doan Hoang Minh highlighted the outstanding results of citizen protection work in the first 6 months of this year and the direction of implementation in the coming time.

Could you please tell us the highlights of citizen protection work in the first 6 months of 2024?

More and more Vietnamese citizens go abroad for different purposes and forms, causing the volume and complexity of citizen protection work to increase.

Following the success of the rescue campaign to bring more than 1,500 citizens back home from the war zone in northern Myanmar in the last days of 2023, from the beginning of 2024, citizen protection work will be closely monitored and resolutely implemented by the Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, and citizens in difficulty abroad will be supported quickly, promptly and effectively.

In the context of the world with many existing hot spots as well as many potential risks, I believe that the current environment for implementing citizen protection work has the following major characteristics:

Firstly , conflicts and fighting that have been prolonged and escalated in many places around the world (in addition to the two permanent hot spots of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the conflict in the Middle East region) require authorities to be prepared with plans to promptly protect citizens in unpredictable developments, even crises.

Second , the situation of citizens working illegally at gambling and online gaming establishments in some Southeast Asian countries continues to be complicated; the rate of Vietnamese citizens and workers violating the law and residing illegally in the Northeast Asia region remains high;

Third , citizens who disregard danger and illegally migrate to European and North American countries pose many risks to their lives and property;

Fourth , the situation of fishing vessels and fishermen violating foreign waters is still complicated. Representative agencies need to continue implementing measures to support and protect our fishermen and fishing vessels that are arrested and handled at sea.

Could you please tell us about the outstanding results of citizen protection work implemented since the beginning of 2024?

For hotspots in Russia-Ukraine and the Middle East, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has directed Vietnamese representative agencies abroad in these areas to be proactive in citizen protection, closely monitor the situation of citizens in the host country, provide timely and appropriate recommendations to citizens at each time, and develop and prepare plans to support the evacuation of citizens from war zones if necessary.

Notably, on March 6, 2024, the cargo ship M/V True Confidence was attacked by missiles and caught fire off the coast of Yemen, killing 3 people and injuring many others. The crew included 4 Vietnamese crew members, including 1 crew member who died. The Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Thailand to support the repatriation of 3 crew members and the body of the deceased crew member, and sent condolences to the family of the deceased crew member.

Since the beginning of 2024, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received many requests for support and assistance for citizens abroad. The number of Vietnamese citizens working illegally in gambling establishments in some countries in the region is still relatively large. Vietnamese representative agencies abroad in relevant areas have supported the repatriation of about 600 citizens who were expelled from foreign countries for working illegally in gambling establishments and online games, many of whom were victims of fraud and forced labor.

The rate of Vietnamese citizens violating labor regulations residing in some areas with a large number of Vietnamese citizens studying or working under contracts, although it has decreased significantly compared to previous years, is still high compared to other countries.

In addition to handling arising cases, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad have also, through Vietnamese associations in the host country, promoted and raised people's awareness of complying with local laws, and promptly detected issues that could become hot spots in the community.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Poland receives and reissues identity documents for Vietnamese people affected by the fire at Marywilska 44 Shopping Center on May 12.

Promoting the achieved results and on the basis of assessing the general context of the world and regional situation affecting citizen protection work, could you please tell us the direction of implementing citizen protection work in the coming time?

Citizen protection is one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, receiving close attention and direction from the Party and State leaders and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs leaders.

The orientation for implementing citizen protection work in the coming time will still be to strengthen monitoring and forecasting work to improve the proactiveness and readiness of citizen protection work, which is relatively passive in responding to arising problems.

Regarding specific measures, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad will focus on the following measures:

Firstly, promote the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Steering Committee on Citizen Protection in large-scale citizen protection cases; complete, promptly promulgate and apply the Citizen Protection Procedure in crisis situations to improve the professionalism and effectiveness of this work.

Second, strengthen coordination with ministries, branches and localities to promote safe and legal migration, monitor fluctuations in the number of Vietnamese citizens in localities, and facilitate the implementation of citizen protection.

Third , coordinate with relevant agencies and localities to raise awareness among workers working abroad about organizational awareness and compliance with the law.

Fourth , closely monitor and direct consular work and citizen protection, enhance the sense of responsibility, proactiveness and timeliness of functional units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, thoroughly implement the spirit of "wholehearted service", openness, transparency, compliance with legal regulations, absolutely not allowing corruption and negativity to occur, ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of Vietnamese citizens abroad.

Thank you!