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Vietnamese military doctors hold up two flags of the United Nations and Viêt Nam at Juba International Airport, South Sudan as they begin to carry out UN peacekeeping missions in the African country. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – As President of the United Nations Security Council in April 2021, Việt Nam will organise a high-level open debate on the role of regional organisations in promoting confidence-building and dialogue in conflict prevention and resolution on April 19 via both in-person and online forms.

The event will be presided over by State President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, marking the first time a high-ranking leader of Việt Nam has chaired an event within the framework of the UN Security Council. This is also the first important multilateral diplomatic event of the Vietnamese President since the 13th National Party Congress.

Building trust and dialogue

Deputy Foreign Minister Đặng Hoàng Giang said that Việt Nam has presided over the making of, and actively consulted to pass the Statement of the UN Security Council President.

The Statement will affirm the importance of cooperation between the United Nations, its Security Council and regional organisations in conflict prevention and settlement through peaceful measures, on the basis of respecting basic principles of international law and the UN Charter, and underlined confidence-building and dialogue measures as essential elements to contribute to conflict prevention and settlement.

The Statement will call for efforts to strengthen cooperation between the UN, its Security Council and regional organisations as well as between regional organisations in conflict prevention and settlement towards the building of sustainable peace, while encouraging the UN and the international community to support the improvement of capacity of regional organisations in conflict prevention and settlement, post-conflict reconstruction, and peace maintenance.

“The role of regional organisations in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention” is the most important and inclusive theme of the UN Security Council which is the UN’s main body in the prevention of wars and conflicts and maintenance of international peace and security, Giang said, adding that as a member of many important regional mechanisms, especially ASEAN, Vietnam wants regional organisations to further promote their roles, improve their images and share responsibility with the UN in preventing and solving conflicts in the region, for the stability and prosperity of the region and the world.

Đỗ Hùng Việt, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organisations, emphasised that when building priorities for the working term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, Vietnam determined to promote the role of regional organisations in cooperation with the UN Security Council in particular and the UN in general.

The upcoming high-level open debate will elevate Việt Nam’s initiatives to contribute to maintaining international peace and security. Through this event, Vietnam wants to affirm its commitment and efforts to address global challenges facing the international community, Việt added.

In particular, President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s presiding over the event is the affirmation at the highest level about Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralism, and proactive and active international integration during its new stage of development.

Intensifying ASEAN’s role

According to Việt, as a member of ASEAN, Việt Nam wants ASEAN to have an increasing voice, position and role in matters directly related to the region as well as enhancing the bloc’s presence as a regional organisation at the UN.

Through this event, Việt Nam will contribute to drawing the attention of the international community and the United Nations to cooperation with ASEAN, and strengthening the bloc’s role at international forums and institutions in the coming time.

The open debate will be also an opportunity for leaders of the UN and regional organisations such as ASEAN, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), as well as the UN Security Council member states to assert the important role of regional organisations, share experience of each regional organisation in dealing with difficulties and challenges in their respective regions.

Việt Nam expects this to be the start of a longer process at the UN Security Council on issues related to regional organisations and their role in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention, thus contributing to the UN’s joint efforts to maintain peace, security and development in the world. VNS

It was a weekend morning when anime fan Minh Trang traveled to Ho Chi Chi Minh City from neighboring Binh Duong Province to attend the seventh Japan Vietnam Festival.

“I learned about the festival from a friend,” Trang told Tuoi Tre News .

“I love Japanese culture so I decided to come here.”

Trang was accompanied by her friend, Khang, who freestyled his anime-inspired outfit.

The duo has drawn the attention of the event goers, with several jumping to ask for photos with them.

Besides Trang and Khang, a number of cosplay fans also showed up with their favorite characters’ outfits at the fest jointly held by Japan and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

The festival taking place at 23/9 Park in District 1 on April 17 and 18 gathered around 100 booths, aming to introduce the two countries’ tourism, local specialties, cuisine, culture, education, and technology.

One of the crowded booths was the baseball area where visitors could try playing the sport which is popular in Japan with the instruction from Japanese coaches, as well as buying baseball-inspired souvenirs.

Another highlight of the event was the main stage which showcased performances of Vietnamese and Japanese artists, from traditional folk music to modern pop songs.

The seventh Japan Vietnam Festival in Ho Chi MinH City had been postponed for several times before being able to take place in April due to COVID-19.

Speaking through a livestreamed video, Takebe Tsutomu, representative for the festival’s organizing board from the Japanese side, expressed his gratitude to see the event happen thanks to the constant effort of the Vietnamese and Japanese governments as well as relevant agencies.

He also expressed his hope that the fest would create a better future for the two countries of Vietnam and Japan.

Meanwhile, Vo Van Hoan, vice-chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, took the stage to affirm the strong bond between Japan and Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, referring to Japan as “one of the close and sustainable partners” of the southern metropolis.

“People in Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular have always cherished Japan,” he stated.

“Following the success of previous festivals, this year’s event will continue to promote Japanese cultural specialties so that Vietnamese and foreigners living in Ho Chi Minh City could experience them as if they were in Japan.”

The first Japan Vietnam festival was organized in Ho Chi Minh City in 2013.

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As some YouTube content creators in Vietnam leech off a disabled man’s private life for views, the video platform has failed to protect him and his loved ones against such cyberbullying.

Pham Huu Tho, 36, was born with limb defects and later acquired hearing loss that caused his career options to dwindle.

In 2017, he took his first shot at selling goods online – a job that Tho soon knew was most suited to him because it did not discriminate against his disabilities.

By 2018, Tho had already made enough to pay his bills thanks to the explosion of online shopping in Vietnam.

It was also through the Internet that Tho met his future girlfriend Pham Thanh Hoa in 2019, when she was a factory worker who ran a small online business as a side job.

Hoa would source her goods from Tho, and frequent chatting between them eventually led the couple to fall in love.

After introducing Hoa to his family in the southern beach city of Vung Tau, Tho decided to relocate to Hanoi with the girlfriend so they could move in together.

Their relationship was not one without hindrances: Tho’s family members vocally opposed them getting married out of fear Hoa was only using him for money.

They could not wrap their heads around how an able-bodied woman would want to spend the rest of her life with a disabled man.

Tho disagreed, maintaining that he was not any richer than Hoa for such an argument to make sense.

Things would have stayed an internal family feud had it not been for some dozen YouTube channels who saw the forbidden love as perfect material for click-baiting videos.

At first, Tho agreed to answer questions from some visitors who said they wanted to put his love story online.

Then, droves of other so-called content creators jumped on the bandwagon and digged deeper into Tho and Hoa’s private struggles to win approval from his family.

Each had their own take on the matter, including those attacking Tho for ‘disobeying’ his parents.

Slanders and insults were common among the thousands of comments posted under each video.

Whenever Tho spoke up about his desire for love, respect, and the ability to travel, he would be met with a barrage of online attacks for turning his back on his own family to pursue a lover.

Some YouTubers even came to his parents for interviews and published all of their ‘reveals’ on the online platform, without any regard for Tho and Hoa’s privacy.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Tho mentioned the ‘respect’ he has received from his girlfirend.

“She talks a lot and shares with me many of her happy stories, and about everywhere she goes and anything she does,” Tho spoke of his girlfriend.

“I’m more than 35 years old, and I have every right to love and my own choice.”

Recently, some YouTube personalities even published videos in which they threatened to hire thugs to abduct Tho and bring him back to his parents’ house.

Tho and Hoa said they are now afraid to even step out of their house, fearing for their lives.

Tho said heartwarming support they receive from some netizens have been inconsequential compared to the amount of hate being unleashed upon the couple, which often reduces Hoa to tears.

“I only wish for a peaceful and normal life like others,” Tho said.

“What can YouTube and relevant authorities do for those like us?”

Would YouTube step in?

YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content “promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups” based on their intrinsic attributes, including a disability.

However, to what extent YouTube goes to curb content that violates this policy remains a question.

“YouTube does remind people that behind the target of every video or comment is a real person,” Xuan Minh writes for Tuoi Tre.

“Then why does it allow a multitude of channels to monetize by spreading hatred, and even ‘recommend’ similar videos with thousands of views?

“YouTube and its content creators make money off of views and advertisements, so the tolerance or even encouragement of content promoting hate speech targetting disabled members of society, Tho’s case being an example, goes to show that many parties are violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines and degrading others for profit.”

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