This statement was made by Vietnam’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bui The Giang, at the UN General Assembly’s plenary meeting on the responsibility to protect, held on July 23, 24 and 28 in New York, the US.

“Cultural and religious tensions must also receive adequate attention and be tactfully dealt with in order to avoid their potential to flare into conflicts and wars,” Ambassador Giang noted, saying that “The UN, being the world’s largest pool of experience and expertise, can and should contribute to this process.”

He emphasized the responsibility for each individual State to protect its population from four crimes - genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity – as stated in the UN Summit’s Outcome Document in 2005.

The Vietnamese diplomat confirmed that the international community has a critical role to play in helping countries in turmoil to exercise this responsibility through political mediation, peacekeeping operations, and the provision of assistance and capacity building, adding that “International assistance can be most effective if it is based on engagement and cooperation with related States.”

Regarding the diverse interpretations of paragraph 139 of the Outcome Document, Ambassador Giang stressed the need to equally emphasize all the five components, i.e. the voluntary engagement of States, the application of timely and decisive collective action, the ‘case by case basis’, the conformity with the Charter, and the cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate.

He noted that “timely and decisive collective action” requires a clear and rational definition to avoid using coercive military force as the only alternative.

Similarly, he said, measures like economic sanctions and reference to the International Criminal Court should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis, free from politicization, selectivity and double standards, before a decision is made on their enforcement. Mr Giang stressed that the impact of such actions on populations should be a top priority consideration.

VNA