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The Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an official ceremony to announce Decision No. 101 made by the Prime Minister on promulgating the first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP WPS) on August 8, VoV reported.

As part of this occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-ordinated efforts with the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to organize a workshop on methods for implementing the National Action Plan on August 8-9. This has been done in an effort to disseminate, thoroughly comprehend, and raise greater awareness about women, peace, and security.

This event brought together many representatives from centrally-run ministries, sectors, delegates from almost all 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam, along with experts from the UN and other international partners.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet at the event. Photo: UN Women

In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet recalled countless stories about the sacrifices and great contributions made by Vietnamese women to the cause of national construction and peace protection.

He affirmed the strong imprints made by Vietnamese women in history from the period of the resistance war to protect the country to the great contributions made to the process of national construction and development.

Continuing that historical tradition, the Vietnamese diplomat emphasized that the nation always values ​​the protection and promotion of the role of women in building and consolidating peace and national security.

At an international level, the country has always expressed an active voice in promoting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, including chairing the adoption of Resolution 1889 of the UN Security Council and accelerating the adoption of the “Hanoi Commitment to Action” with 75 co-sponsors.

As part of efforts to further promote the achieved results, the Deputy FM underlined the need to continue to develop an implementation plan with specific lines of action, whilst effectively monitoring and evaluating measures, sustainable resources, as well as the involvement of the entire political system and the whole society with a vision towards 2030 to realize the goals set out in the Action Plan.

Nguyen Thi Anh Thi, vice chairwoman of the People's Committee of Da Nang, stated that the workshop is of great significance for exchanging and sharing experience to devise a plan to implement the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. Indeed, it contributes to connecting, orienting, and co-ordinating efforts at a national level to promote the role of women and girls in peace processes.

The launch of Vietnam’s NAP WPS comes at a critical juncture with global challenges impacting all, and women and girls all around the world’s continued facing of disproportionate vulnerabilities and discrimination makes this plan more crucial than ever, Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director, said in her video message on the occasion of the country’s announcement of the plan, according VNA.

“UN Women stands ready to support the government of Vietnam to extend partnership, leverage resources to ensure that no woman or girl is left behind,” Sima Bahous affirmed.

This first action plan is built based on the four pillars of the WPS agenda, namely participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. It also has a section on international cooperation, emphasizing Vietnam's dedication to collaborate with the global community to advance the WPS agenda.

Specifying the goals on women's full, equal, and meaningful participation in politics, diplomacy, national defence, security, and addressing gender-based violence, the NAP incorporates gender in its response to conflict, crisis, disaster, and emerging security challenges such as climate change and cyber security.

Delegates at the event. Photo: UN Women

In conjunction with the launching, a workshop was conducted to develop the delivery plan of the NAP WPS led by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UN Women for effective implementation of the plan. Clear coordination, strong partnership and investment were identified as key drivers for the plan to transform the lives of women and girls and the broader efforts to sustain peace in the Southeast Asian country.

“The WPS agenda is wide ranging and cross-cutting. It requires effective coordination among multi-stakeholders, including leaders and managers at all levels: provinces, ministries, national women’s mechinary, academia, civil society, community-based and women’s organisations," she said.

“A clear and measurable plan for implementation provides a strong basis for financing and calling for increased investment in the WPS agenda with results that can be measured. In turn, this will keep the momentum and continued to garner political support from key relevant ministries and agencies in Vietnam,” said Ryce Chanchai, ASEAN Governance and ASEAN WPS Regional Programme Lead of UN Women.

The country has made significant progress in gender equality, demonstrating the political will and drive towards gender equality, including global ranking on gender equality improving from 83rd to 72nd out of 146 countries since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the enactment of Gender Equality Law (2006) and the National Strategy on Gender Equality (2021-2030) and the Domestic Violence and Protection Law (2022)

At the international level, it has been a vocal advocate for the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. Vietnam led the proposal of the UN Security Council Resolution 1889 in 2009, focusing on women’s role in post-conflict peacebuilding. During its tenure as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (2020-2021), the nation hosted an international conference themed "Enhancing Women’s Role in Peace Building and Consolidation: From Commitments to Results," adopting the Hanoi Commitment to Action with the co-sponsorship of 75 UN member states. Most recently, its commitment to promoting gender equality was further highlighted by its recent acceptance to be part of the Executive Board of UN Women for the term 2025-2027.

UN Women provided technical support to the Vietnamese government for the development of the NAP WPS since 2021, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the support from the Governments of Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Republic of Korea.

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