Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Ninety-second session

Summary record of the 2180th meeting*

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, at 10 a.m.

Chair:Ms. Haidar

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under article 18 of the Convention

Ninth periodic report of Viet Nam

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under article 18 of the Convention

Ninth periodic report of Viet Nam (CEDAW/C/VNM/9; CEDAW/C/VNM/Q/9; CEDAW/C/VNM/RQ/9)

At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Viet Nam joined the meeting.

A representative of Viet Nam, introducing her country’s ninth periodic report (CEDAW/C/VNM/9), said that it had been prepared in close coordination with relevant ministries and on the basis of extensive consultations with United Nations entities, sociopolitical organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through forums, workshops and written submissions. The Constitution provided that male and female citizens were equal in all respects and that the State was to adopt policies to ensure the right to and opportunities for gender equality. The implementation of women’s rights and gender equality was a priority that was closely linked to the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, in which women were considered to play a key role.

During the reporting period, Viet Nam had undertaken the most extensive legislative reforms to date to achieve harmonization with international standards on women’s rights. The Labour Code of 2019 expanded freedom of choice of occupation, introduced paternity benefits for male workers to encourage the sharing of family responsibilities and established the responsibility of employers to contribute to childcare, which reduced the burden of unpaid care on women and helped promote their career development. The Law on Social Insurance of 2024 provided for maternity benefits for women participating in voluntary social insurance schemes and broadened social security coverage to part-time workers and workers without labour contracts, thereby helping to narrow the gender gap in access to social and economic rights. The Land Law of 2024 explicitly prohibited gender-based discrimination in land management and use, thereby providing a legal basis for protecting the equal rights of women to have access to, use and benefit from land in practice. The Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control of 2022 expanded the range of acts considered to constitute domestic violence, prevented the misuse of mediation to evade penalties and introduced practical support and protection mechanisms for victims, including a national helpline. The State Budget Law of 2025 established the requirement to mainstream gender equality in budget management and allocation with a view to ensuring that policies on women’s rights were supported with adequate financial resources. The Legal Aid Law of 2017 expanded the availability of legal aid to women from poor households, women from ethnic minorities in highly disadvantaged areas and victims of domestic violence and trafficking in persons. Lastly, the Population Law of 2025 marked a major shift in establishing respect for couples’ autonomy to decide how many children they wished to have and supporting families who wished to have two children, including by providing them with priority access to social housing. At the same time, the Law continued to strictly prohibit gender selection. Under the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Normative Documents, all draft laws and decrees were subject to rigorous gender impact assessment procedures before submission to the National Assembly.

The National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2021–2030 included a wide range of initiatives to narrow gender gaps and create opportunities for women and men to participate and benefit equally across all areas of social life. Those initiatives were supported by robust intersectoral coordination mechanisms that ensured practical resource allocation and the accountability of heads of agencies. The Government had also launched a number of specialized programmes, including the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security for the period 2024–2030, a programme to promote the equal participation of women in leadership and management positions at all policymaking levels for the period 2021–2030, a programme to prevent and respond to gender-based violence for the period 2021–2025, a programme on communication with regard to gender equality for the period until 2030, a project to address the gender imbalance at birth, a project to integrate education on gender equality into the national education system and long-term plans to respond to gender-based violence. As a result of such efforts, Viet Nam had been ranked 74th out of 148 countries in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index – an improvement of nine places on its ranking in 2024.

Since 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs had been responsible for leading State efforts to ensure gender equality, which had strengthened the connection between administrative reform, human rights management and the promotion of women’s rights. Institutional mechanisms for women’s advancement had been established at all levels of administration, with annual training programmes on gender-sensitive governance skills for key officials. More than 30% of the members of the National Assembly and the People’s Councils were now women, and the proportion of women in the Party Central Committee had reached nearly 11% in its fourteenth term. Since 2016, women had for the first time held key political, economic and administrative leadership positions including President of the National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister, member of the Politburo, member of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party, Vice-President, Vice-Chairperson of the National Assembly, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Health. The labour force participation rate for women was 63%, which was high in global terms. The proportion of women business owners was 28.2% and was growing faster than that of men, supported by policies to improve access to capital, management skills training and priority access to digital markets. Gender gaps in the national education system had largely been eliminated and women’s status in scientific research had been enhanced, with women accounting for 39% of holders of doctorate degrees. Women’s life expectancy was currently 76.5 years, and it had been projected that the maternal mortality ratio would fall to 42 per 100,000 live births by 2025. An inclusive social safety net had been established, with more than 6,000 community-based mechanisms for supporting victims of gender-based violence. The Government consistently integrated gender-sensitive measures into relief packages provided in response to situations caused by climate change and other events, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, particularly with a view to enabling women from rural areas and ethnic minorities to recover, grow more resilient and continue their lives in a stronger position.

The Government was aware of the challenges to implementing the Convention that it continued to face. It needed to counteract the influence of gender stereotypes in family life and the economic, political and social spheres. It was necessary to address gender gaps in politics, employment, education, training and healthcare, particularly in remote and mountainous areas, areas inhabited predominantly by ethnic minorities and areas with challenging socioeconomic conditions, and to combat gender-based violence, which was a complex issue that continued to affect personal safety and national development. Lastly, it needed to overcome constraints on human and financial resources and institutional capacity to invest adequately in implementation efforts. To address those challenges, it was continuing to improve its laws and policies, including by developing proposals to adapt the Law on Gender Equality to the digital age, new labour models and emerging challenges; mainstreaming gender affairs throughout the national budget process; developing and effectively implementing programmes and projects on gender equality and women’s empowerment; and strengthening international cooperation, sharing experiences and mobilizing the participation of NGOs to realize gender equality objectives and eliminate discrimination against women.

Articles 1–6

Ms. de Silva de Alwis said that, given that the State Party had launched the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security for the period 2024–2030, she wished to know what financial and institutional arrangements had been implemented in accordance with Security Council resolution 1889 (2009). In the light of the country’s level of exposure to natural hazards, she wondered how the State Party would involve women climate defenders in decision-making in the context of the National Action Plan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment. Given the State Party’s recent development of a draft cybersecurity law and adoption of a personal data protection law, she wondered what measures it would take in that context to protect women human rights activists and their freedom of assembly and right to participate in the administration of the State and the management of society, which was safeguarded by article 28 of the Constitution.

She would like to know whether the State Party intended to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law and a strong definition of discrimination in line with the Convention. She wondered how businesses were held accountable for taking anti-discrimination measures as part of their due diligence obligations under article 2 (e) of the Convention. It would be useful to hear what action the State Party had taken to close the gap between men’s and women’s retirement ages as established in law. She was concerned that some of the country’s overly restrictive laws on occupations that prohibited women from performing work considered hazardous or arduous, such as operating trains or mining, were discriminatory and could reinforce gender stereotypes and gender segregation. She wished to know what progress the Ministry of Justice had made in developing a definition of discrimination under the master plan for the implementation of recommendations received during the fourth cycle of the universal periodic review.

She would welcome details of the resolutions and cases related to the Convention and gender equality issued by the Supreme People’s Court that provided guidance on the application of the law to the lower courts and wondered whether its resolution on discrimination in the workplace was in conformity with the Convention’s provisions regarding substantive equality. It would be useful to know how many gender discrimination cases decided by the Supreme People’s Court had established precedents according to the principle of stare decisis. She wished to know what steps had been taken to encourage the Court to cite the Convention and the Committee’s recommendations in its decisions. She wondered what measures were in place to ensure that women in the criminal justice system received access to justice and free legal aid and benefited from due process guarantees under survivor-centred approaches. She wished to know how the State Party protected women human rights defenders and journalists under article 20 of the Constitution, which prohibited arbitrary arrest and provided that arrest warrants must be issued under a court or prosecutorial order. Given the State Party’s obligations under the Convention and article 6 (6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, she wondered whether it would consider abolishing the death penalty entirely for all crimes.

A representative of Viet Nam said that draft policies and laws were reviewed to ensure their consistency with the country’s international obligations, including those under the Convention. A requirement had now been introduced for policies to be developed in consultation with persons who would be directly affected by them and relevant agencies and organizations. Roles in the implementation of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security for the period 2024–2030 had been assigned not only to governmental bodies but also to organizations such as women’s unions, which played an important role in mobilizing women in the community. Resources for the implementation of the Plan were provided in the form of a budget allocated by the Ministry of Finance, contributions from the People’s Committees for implementation at the local level and funding from international partners. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defence had recently encouraged women to participate in peacekeeping operations; the proportion of women doing so was currently 16.6%. Women were successfully undergoing training in responding to situations caused by climate change and other factors in accordance with the relevant laws.

The efforts that the Government was conducting to combat climate change in the Mekong Delta region by advising local farmers to modify their agricultural practices were being carried out with a focus on ensuring that women and poor households, especially those belonging to ethnic minorities, had access to comprehensive information in languages they could understand, adequate financial support and relevant training.

A representative of Viet Nam said that, in 2025, the Government had established a framework of fundamental principles for the protection of human and citizens’ rights and dignity in cyberspace. The draft cybersecurity law strictly prohibited scams, exploitation and trafficking in persons and established the State’s responsibility for handling such cases and ensuring the online protection of children, including girls from ethnic minorities, using a child-centred, gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate approach that included measures to prevent reprisals against individuals who reported crimes.

Under the amended Penal Code of 2025, the number of offences punishable by death had been reduced to 10. The death sentences of many convicted persons had been commuted to life imprisonment. The Government remained committed to investigating the possibility of further reducing the number of offences that carried the death penalty.

A representative of Viet Nam said that it was the Government’s consistent policy to respect the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of assembly, which were established by law. International human rights treaties provided for the imposition of limitations on the exercise of those rights in certain situations, for example on the grounds of national security or public order. Viet Nam was a State governed by the rule of law, and all persons were equal before the law. All arrests, prosecutions and convictions in the country were carried out in strict accordance with the law. All trials were conducted in a timely manner and in public. No citizens were arrested simply for exercising their freedoms.

Mr. Safarov said that he wished to know what mechanisms were in place to ensure that ministries and provincial authorities complied with gender equality obligations, what budget allocations were provided to such mechanisms and how the stability of the funding was ensured. He wondered how the Government regulated the collection of gender‑disaggregated data, whether it operated an online database for that purpose that covered all ministries and, if so, how that database functioned. It would be useful to know how ministries ensured that Khmers-Krom women and Hmong Christian women were able to obtain access to State services in their own languages. Given that Viet Nam had been involved in several conflicts with neighbouring countries in its recent history, he wondered how it was implementing Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), particularly with regard to the role played by women in diplomacy and peacebuilding efforts. Lastly, he wished to know how the State Party supported the work of civil society organizations, including by providing funding to help ensure the sustainability of their independent activities.

Ms. Jarbussynova said that the Committee was concerned that the State Party did not make systematic use of temporary special measures, particularly to improve women’s representation in political, administrative and economic decision-making positions and to assist disadvantaged and marginalized groups of women. She wished to know how it distinguished between general measures to ensure equality and temporary special measures under article 4 of the Convention, what specific temporary special measures, including quotas or targets, were currently in place to increase women’s representation in political and public decision-making and how such measures benefited disadvantaged groups of women and were monitored through clear indicators and timelines.

A representative of Viet Nam said that programmes to prevent gender-based violence and support women entrepreneurs were given priority in the State budget, which was allocated at the central and local levels. The Ministry of Finance consulted with government agencies on the implementation of approved gender-equality strategies and programmes. Funding at the local level was provided to local government bodies and under shared funding arrangements. The Government had allocated a budget of 827 billion dong for three national programmes, aimed at poverty reduction, rural development and the provision of support to ethnic minorities and the inhabitants of mountainous areas, which integrated a gender perspective and measures to assist girls belonging to ethnic minorities and pregnant teenagers in particular. More than 50 billion dong per year in expenditure approved annually by the National Assembly and the People’s Councils was allocated to efforts to promote gender equality and empower women. The Government had estimated that, in 2025, it would spend 2 billion dong on training and capacity-building for public officials to enhance women’s equal representation in leadership and management positions at the policymaking level. Funding of 5 billion dong had been allocated to efforts to support women’s entrepreneurship in the period 2017–2025, and funding of 1 billion dong had been allocated to support women’s cooperatives in the areas of management and job creation in the period until 2030.

A representative of Viet Nam said that, although time was needed to implement relevant policies and change perceptions in order to increase women’s representation in politics, Viet Nam was making progress in that area. A preliminary assessment of the results of efforts to combat gender inequalities in politics for the period 2021–2025 had been carried out. Currently, three members of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party and one member of the Politburo were women.

A representative of Viet Nam said that the Law on Gender Equality, which covered areas ranging from politics, the economy, education and science to culture, sport and family life, contained clear measures for the promotion of gender equality that were time-limited and were to be applied only until gender equality had been achieved. The Law provided that men and women had equal rights with respect to nomination as candidates for the National Assembly and the People’s Councils. The Government had established the target that at least 35% of members of the National Assembly and the People’s Councils must be women. Tax regulations for businesses employing a large number of female workers were being reviewed to ensure that they were in line with the Constitution and were not discriminatory against women. A gender-equality perspective was incorporated into processes to assess the impact of government policies, and the National Assembly, the People’s Councils and organizations such as the Viet Nam Women’s Union monitored efforts to ensure gender equality. The Government reported to the National Assembly annually on the implementation of the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2021–2030.

A representative of Viet Nam said that the Viet Nam Women’s Union had participated in efforts to address the effects of unexploded remnants of war and Agent Orange, provided support to veterans’ families and contributed to discussions on draft legislation and gender equality, including in areas such as diplomacy and security. The Union had also cooperated extensively with the country’s international partners and participated in the preparation of reports to the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and the universal periodic review. Local women’s unions in border provinces had worked with their counterparts in neighbouring countries to enhance cooperation on border management. Women had also participated in multilateral forums on the Sustainable Development Goals and cybersecurity. There were currently 380 women working in Vietnamese missions abroad, and women also occupied leading positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Safarov said that he wished to receive details of the procedure for the registration of NGOs, including any reforms to such procedures made in the previous 10 years. He would welcome details of how the State Party had implemented Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), including the extent to which women had participated in negotiations related to conflict situations.

Ms. Jarbussynova said that she would appreciate information on the impact of temporary special measures on Indigenous women and women from disadvantaged groups.

A representative of Viet Nam said that, in 2025, the Government had carried out reforms that had reduced the number of administrative divisions in the country, one of the aims of which had been to provide the population, particularly women in rural and disadvantaged areas, with more direct access to public services. All 3,321 communes had centres providing public administrative services, in addition to which the Government had established the Vietnam Electronic Identification database and linked it to the national electronic portal for public services, thereby enabling all women to obtain access to such services online.

A number of policies were being implemented to support women in employment and financially, including the provision of recruitment services on a priority basis, measures to ensure that women received the same pay as men for working in the same position, loan packages for women heads of families and poverty reduction measures for women belonging to ethnic minorities. Although, thus far, the results of the temporary special measures that had been implemented were modest, it was envisaged that their significance, and that of the measures taken, would increase over time.

A representative of Viet Nam said that the Government was implementing reproductive health programmes aimed at reducing the maternal and infant mortality rates.

Mr. Safarov said that he wished to know what steps the State Party intended to take to combat gender stereotypes, in particular those that influenced the occupational choices made by women and girls. He would appreciate hearing about the cases in which violence against women was dealt with as a criminal offence, marital rape in particular, and the State Party’s efforts to prevent digital violence against women and girls. In addition, it would be helpful to learn how many cases involving cyberviolence had been heard in the State Party’s courts in the period under review, how many criminal or administrative proceedings had involved the issuance of orders for the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence and what efforts were being made to collect data on such violence, in particular in its digital, economic and psychological forms.

Ms. Dettmeijer-Vermeulen said that she wondered what practical steps were being taken to enforce the law on human trafficking that had been adopted in 2024, what budgetary resources had been set aside to that end and whether the national database on victims of human trafficking was operational. She also wished to know what measures were being taken to ensure that the reported large number of inspections of establishments where there was a high risk of trafficking in persons translated into the prosecution of traffickers and measures to identify and support their victims, what was being done to standardize victim identification processes and what efforts were being made to ensure that victim support services were adequately funded and equitably distributed nationwide.

In view of persistent shortcomings in the identification of victims of labour exploitation, she would welcome a description of the mechanisms that had been put in place to regulate employment and recruitment agencies and to ensure that allegations of official complicity in cases of trafficking in persons were thoroughly investigated. A description of the steps that had been taken to raise awareness of cross-border trafficking in persons, including in Indigenous communities, and cooperate more closely with law enforcement officials in neighbouring countries with a view to combating trafficking would likewise be welcome.

The situation of women in prostitution in the State Party was a source of a number of concerns. In that connection, she wished to know whether the State Party had plans to reduce or eliminate administrative penalties for women in prostitution and ensure that such women had access to justice, support and reintegration services and what it was doing to prevent victims of trafficking in persons from being punished for acts they had committed as a consequence of having been trafficked.

A representative of Viet Nam said that a number of measures, many of them focusing on the media and on all aspects of family life, were being taken to give effect to the Law on Gender Equality, which, together with the National Strategy on Gender Equality (2021–2030) and the Communication Programme for Gender Equality (2021–2030), was the major component of the framework for public efforts to eliminate gender stereotypes. The Ministry of Information and Communications had issued guidelines on gender-sensitive communication and produced a relevant code of conduct. Training in gender-sensitivity had been organized for journalists, and a number of creative competitions had been held to promote gender-sensitive communication, including songwriting and poetry contests. Instructional materials, including textbooks, had been reviewed to ensure that they promoted gender equality. Efforts had also been made to ensure that extracurricular activities helped promote gender equality. Another step forward had been the inclusion of gender-equality matters in post-secondary training programmes for early education teachers.

For years, in addition, communication campaigns had been organized to promote gender equality. The range of activities promoted as part of those and other relevant campaigns had grown increasingly wide and diverse, and men and boys were becoming more and more involved in them.

An initial national survey on violence against women and girls had been conducted in 2010 and a second one in 2019. The responses to the 2019 survey had informed the development of the National Strategy on Gender Equality (2021–2030).

Shelters in Viet Nam operated under a number of different models and were administered by institutions such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Shelters could be found countrywide. Centres at which women and girls who were victims of violence could obtain access to all the support services they needed were also being set up.

Women in prostitution or who were victims of other forms of exploitation had access to community reintegration programmes. They could also join associations of sex workers, and every first-level administrative division in the country had put in place programmes for the prevention of the exploitation of prostitution. Support services, including the provision of legal advice, exit programmes and vocational training were made available to tens of thousands of women in prostitution.

A representative of Viet Nam said that the strategy for the implementation of the law on human trafficking was defined by the Government, which also determined the budget for activities under the law. The Ministry of Public Security was responsible for the inspections conducted to combat trafficking in persons, coordinating with local authorities and organizing other relevant activities under the law, whereas provincial health facilities administered by the Ministry of Health provided victim support services. The Viet Nam Fatherland Front and its member organizations oversaw efforts to raise awareness of the law and mobilize grass-roots networks. Other institutions involved in efforts to implement the law included provincial police forces, the Border Guard and the Coast Guard. Victims of trafficking in persons, or suspected victims, were initially referred to commune-level People’s Committees, which were responsible for notifying the health authorities and facilitating community reintegration.

A budget for activities to combat trafficking in persons was drawn up every year. Priority was given to areas with large ethnic minority communities, disadvantaged areas and other areas where the situation was complex. The People’s Committees allocated the funds for work at the local level. Efforts were also made to mobilize resources made available by foreign and domestic organizations and individuals.

In recent years, the authorities had identified 358 cases of trafficking in persons, many of them involving children under the age of 16. The authorities had also worked with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to have four traffickers who had fled to Laos returned to Viet Nam to face prosecution. In view of the considerable number of people convicted on charges of trafficking in persons, traffickers could not be said to enjoy impunity.

A front-line system that relied heavily on inter-agency coordination had been developed with a view to identifying victims of trafficking in persons and making the necessary referrals. As part of the victim-centred approach they had adopted, law enforcement officials assessed indicators of vulnerability before taking enforcement measures. A national hotline for victims, which was staffed around the clock, provided victims with initial counselling and facilitated effective referrals, in particular for women and girls in areas with limited access to public services.

Victims of trafficking in persons were not prosecuted or subjected to immigration detention for violations of criminal or immigration laws if they committed those violations as a direct result of having been trafficked or otherwise exploited. They were instead referred to social welfare or health services. The initial provision of such services took place before official confirmation of the beneficiary’s victim status. The longer-term support provided to victims, ethnic minority women, migrant women and girls in particular, included accommodation assistance, healthcare, counselling, legal aid, vocational training, job placement and community reintegration. A database of victims of trafficking in persons was searchable by the victim’s gender, age, ethnic background and migration status. Viet Nam had developed a comprehensive framework for the protection of women and girls who were victims of violence and trafficking in persons.

Regional cooperation mechanisms in which Viet Nam was an active participant included the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking, an initiative that facilitated joint discussions by the authorities from a number of countries in South-East Asia. Viet Nam also promoted bilateral and multilateral cooperation in respect of information-sharing, online monitoring and combating cross-border criminal networks that were involved in online fraud.

The Border Guard and other forces had received support from the International Organization for Migration to help build their capacity to address trafficking on the country’s land and sea borders. In addition, relevant training programmes had been put in place, law enforcement officials were provided with periodic updates on the tactics of criminal groups and inter-agency coordination had been made more robust.

Mr. Safarov said that he wished to know what was being done to eliminate child marriage, early marriage and forced marriage and to ensure that the needs of women with disabilities were not overlooked in the plans and policies adopted to combat gender-based violence.

Ms. Dettmeijer-Vermeulen said that she wondered whether the principle of non‑punishment – the principle according to which trafficked persons were not to be detained, charged or prosecuted for the illegality of their entry into or residence in countries of transit and destination – had been made law in the State Party. She also wondered what steps were taken to ensure that cases of trafficking in persons in which public officials were implicated, about which the Committee had received a number of reports, were investigated.

Ms. de Silva de Alwis asked whether the State Party had provisions on deepfakes and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images in its cybersecurity or other laws.

A representative of Viet Nam said that a number of measures had been taken in recent years with a view to the gradual elimination of the disproportionately large burden of responsibility for unpaid care and housework borne by women. For example, men had been given the right to take up to 14 days of paternity leave. What was more, large employers of female workers, including many of those in the garment industry, were required to set up childcare facilities.

Survey data showed that couples from younger generations were much more willing than couples from older generations to share the burden of unpaid care and housework more equally. Outreach campaigns had been organized in part to help ensure that men did indeed take on a greater share of that burden.

There had been a recent increase in the number of reports of trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced labour in scam centres in countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. As a result, the authorities had made efforts to raise awareness among the young people vulnerable to such exploitation. Regional cooperation had been enhanced with a view to combating that form of trafficking, and measures to help repatriated victims reintegrate had been taken.

A representative of Viet Nam said that there had been no shortage of initiatives, including enhanced international cooperation, to help ensure that Vietnamese women and girls, especially those from marginalized or ethnic minority communities, had healthy and creative digital experiences.

A representative of Viet Nam said that more than 2,000 people had been convicted on charges of domestic violence in 2024. Hundreds of no-contact orders had also been issued in recent years.

Articles 7–9

Ms. Mikko said that she wished to know what measures the State Party had adopted or intended to adopt to reverse the decline in the representation of women in senior provincial political and executive leadership resulting from administrative restructuring and how that decline affected women’s opportunities to represent the Government at the international level, participate in the work of international organizations and be appointed to decision-making positions. She also wished to know whether the gender quotas of the Communist Party of Viet Nam were legally binding or were simply policy targets, why women who wished to serve in the armed forces faced so many obstacles and, in view of those obstacles, what the State Party did to ensure that women participated in the formulation of defence policy and the related decision-making processes.

A representative of Viet Nam said that, despite restructuring that had done away with a number of jurisdictions or entities that had happened to have been led by women, a large percentage of leadership posts in ministerial-level agencies, in some cases even a majority, were still filled by women. The previous Deputy Prime Minister was a woman, as was the serving Vice-President of the National Assembly. Furthermore, a large minority of the members of the staff and the contract workers of the Ministry of Science and Technology were women.

The percentage of military officers, including generals and lieutenant generals, who were women had increased significantly since 2004, and women occupied more than 40% of leadership posts at the Ministry of Defence. At the Supreme People’s Procuracy, a significant percentage of leadership or management posts was filled by women.

Female candidates for public office had benefited from special training, and the requirement that at least 35% of all candidates for the National Assembly should be women had increased women’s participation in the country’s public life. As a result, Viet Nam had moved up 11 places in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index. In the subindex in which countries were ranked by the political empowerment of women, it had risen from 106th place in 2022 to 89th in 2023. Currently, more than 30% of the country’s national lawmakers were female, a percentage that was larger than the global and regional averages.

A representative of Viet Nam said that the Ministry of Public Security had, at the direction of the Government and the Communist Party, made it a priority to increase the representation of women. To that end, training programmes on gender equality in the security forces had been organized, there had been outreach campaigns intended to combat gender stereotyping and a national action plan on women and peace and security had been formulated.

A representative of Viet Nam said that one step that had been taken to promote the participation of women in politics had been the adoption of a programme, for the period 2021–2030, to increase women’s participation in official decision-making and policymaking. The legislative elections to be held in the coming weeks were an opportunity to ensure that at least 35% of the candidates for office were women. First-time candidates for public office, women in particular, had access to capacity-building, training and other support services, including childcare. The aim was to enable them to participate more fully in public life.

Ms. Mikko said that she wished to know what percentage of the State Party’s judges was female.

Ms. Toledo Vásquez said that it would be helpful to learn what was being done to put an end to the de facto statelessness of many Hmong, Khmers-Krom, Montagnard and internally displaced women and their children. It would also be helpful to learn whether women from ethnic or religious minority communities who lacked birth certificates or any other proof of identity or nationality could benefit from a recent law under which persons of Vietnamese ancestry could obtain a certificate of identity after having resided in the State Party for a period of six months and, if so, what steps they had to take to obtain the certificate.

She would welcome a description of the efforts made by the State Party to ensure that women who returned to Viet Nam after a divorce abroad and their children could legalize their nationality and residence situation, had access to basic public services and could live free from stigma. Lastly, she wondered whether the State Party had plans to ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The meeting rose at 1 p.m.