Project launched to make sure Vietnam’s trade deal with EU endorses workers’ rights

Lange was speaking at the BHRTR project’s official launch held in Hanoi on 25 July 2018. Later in the week, he met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on the ratification process of EVFTA.

“While the US is attacking rule-base trading system, we try to work out better and fairer rules,” he commented on Twitter after the meeting. “In Vietnam, I gave the introductory lecture on a new EU-funded FES project to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the field of trade”

Lange was speaking at the BHRTR project’s official launch held in Hanoi on 25 July 2018. Later in the week, he met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on the ratification process of EVFTA.

“While the US is attacking rule-base trading system, we try to work out better and fairer rules,” he commented on Twitter after the meeting. “In Vietnam, I gave the introductory lecture on a new EU-funded FES project to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the field of trade”.

These principles, known as the UNGP, provide a comprehensive framework on human rights in business by operationalizing the UN’s “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework. They complement the EVFTA’s chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development, and underpins the second component of the BHRTR project.

“The UNGP also make clear that governments must not enter into trade and investment agreements that constrain their ability to meet human rights duties.” 

Despite its significance and widespread acknowledgement by many European as well as Asian countries in recent years, the UNGP has not enjoyed an adequate awareness and application in either policy or operational level in Vietnam. The BHRTR project therefore aims to raise awareness on UNGP, to push forward the business and human rights agenda in the context of the increasing trade and global market integration of the country.

At the opening conference, Catherine Phuong, Assistant to Country Director of UNDP in Vietnam, introduced participants to the three main pillars of UNGP, namely the state’s duty to protect human rights, the cooperate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedy.

“The UNGP also make clear that governments must not enter into trade and investment agreements that constrain their ability to meet human rights duties,” she said.

“The EU, in particular, is required to respect its Charter of Fundamental Rights. Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union obliges the EU to define and pursue policies and actions that consolidate and support the rule of law and human rights in its external relations.”

The Conference attracted over 80 participants representing Vietnamese government, business, trade unions and civil society, as well as researchers in the fields of labour and human rights. With such a large and diverse participation, the conference was not simply a launch of the project for its target groups and the public, but also one of its first awareness-raising actions.

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Mai Ha Thu is project manager at the FES Vietnam office. For more information on the work by FES in Vietnam contact the office staff and follow the official facebook fan page for daily updates.