Editor-in-Chief of The World and Vietnam Newspaper Nguyen Truong Son and Representative of the Standing Office of the Steering Committee on Human Rights Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Human Rights Magazine chaired the Workshop.

The workshop was attended by nearly 80 delegates from agencies, departments and sectors directly involved in foreign information work on human rights such as the Standing Office of the Government Human Rights Steering Committee, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Diplomatic Academy, the Academy of Journalism and Communication; the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and press agencies, etc.

Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet (middle) speaks at the conference.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet emphasized that, currently, along with the country's great achievements, communication on human rights and foreign information has been strongly deployed with the attention, direction, participation and contribution of the entire political system.

However, the Deputy Minister also pointed out that the work of external information on human rights is facing many problems. That is, only focusing on the work of fighting and refuting, but not really promoting the work of proactively informing, building trust, and creating information flows; the work of informing issues related to human rights is still slow, passive in the face of information from foreign press; objective impacts from the international and regional situation...

Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet pointed out that there needs to be "new approaches" to promote external communication work in the field of human rights in Vietnam today.

Firstly, it is necessary to identify the implementation of foreign information work, including the field of human rights, as a political task, requiring synchronization and unity in perception and innovation in thinking and working methods at all levels...

Second, foreign propaganda work, including foreign propaganda on human rights, needs to be more creative to easily conquer the public, foreign politicians and international friends. Forms of propaganda can focus on applying social networking platforms, conveying the message we want...

Third, domestic human rights communication work requires foreign affairs sensitivity, taking into account the timing, context of propaganda, and Vietnam's foreign relations with other countries.

Fourth, the foreign communication strategy on human rights focuses on areas where the country has achieved many achievements such as: poverty reduction, gender equality, children's rights, rights of people with disabilities, access to education and health care... The Deputy Minister believes that it is possible to tell specific stories and specific people to be convincing and highly influential among international friends.

Scientific conference on foreign information on human rights in the new situation.

Mr. Nguyen Hung Viet also emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation with international organizations and foreign press in the field of foreign communications to fight for and protect human rights in Vietnam, thereby promoting the national image, raising international awareness of the human rights situation in Vietnam and building an environment of fair dialogue in international forums.

In her opening speech, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Human Rights Magazine, affirmed that in recent times, Vietnam has achieved many great achievements in ensuring and promoting human rights, which have been recognized by the international community, contributing to enhancing the country's position in the international arena.

In the context of hostile and extremist forces that are thoroughly sabotaging Vietnam in the fields of democracy and human rights, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong said that foreign information plays an extremely important role, helping the international community correctly and clearly understand the viewpoints, guidelines, policies and achievements of our Party and State on human rights; combat and refute false and distorted information, thereby gaining support for the cause of building, protecting and developing the country.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong also emphasized that external information work on human rights is facing new requirements and tasks, requiring innovation in both content and methods, especially in the context of the country entering an era of development.

Delegates take souvenir photos at the program.

Taking place in the morning, the Workshop included two sessions: “Foreign information and human rights: Where is the connection?” and “Solutions to promote foreign information on human rights in the new situation”.

Mr. Dinh Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of External Information, Ministry of Information and Communications, said that foreign information currently mainly takes place on cyberspace. Therefore, in order to meet the motto required by the Politburo on foreign information "proactive, synchronous, timely, creative, effective", it is necessary to prioritize effectively exploiting the strengths of communication on digital platforms to provide transparent information to people at home and abroad about the efforts and achievements in ensuring human rights of our State; explain, clarify, and refute false and distorted information about the human rights situation in Vietnam, harmoniously combine "building" and "fighting", contributing to creating a positive image of human rights in the country, enhancing Vietnam's position and prestige in the international arena.