Minister affirms effective protection of overseas Vietnamese

Vietnamese citizens repatriated from Myanmar arrive at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi in the early morning of December 5, 2023. (Photo: VNA)

The protection of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad has been carried out effectively and obtained many important results, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.

In a report submitted to National Assembly (NA) deputies ahead of the NA Standing Committee’s 31st session, he said that since 2022, international travel and Vietnamese citizens’ movement to other countries have fully recovered. People’s working, studying, and travel demand has been growing fast.

Statistics show that Vietnamese citizens made more than 3.82 million departures for other countries in 2022, and the figure approximated 10.1 million in 2023.

The increase in the number of Vietnamese citizens going abroad for different purposes reflects the country’s high level of integration, Son said, noting that it has created numerous opportunities but also led to complicated issues, posing many challenges to consular affairs and citizen protection abroad.

Meanwhile, the world situation remains complicated, especially the Russia - Ukraine, Israel - Hamas, and Myanmar conflicts, requiring authorities keep a close watch on the situation and stay ready to conduct citizen protection.

Following the Party and State’s guidelines, policies, and regulations, the protection of Vietnamese citizens, legal entities, and fishermen abroad has been carried out effectively and obtained many important results. In particular, authorities have properly settled serious and large-scaled cases and those posing risk to the safety of Vietnamese citizens’ lives and assets abroad, thus receiving high evaluation from the public and the international community and also showing the Party and State’s sense of responsibility and humane policy towards Vietnamese citizens, according to the minister.

As soon as the conflict in Ukraine broke out, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has taken comprehensive and strong political - diplomatic measures regarding relevant countries; ordered Vietnam’s representative bodies in Ukraine, Russia, and neighbouring countries to carry out measures to protect citizens and ensure security and safety for them; and also coordinated with associations and representative agencies of Vietnam to evacuate the citizens away from conflict zones and to neighbouring countries.

So far, he said, more than 6,000 Vietnamese people affected by the conflict have been evacuated, including about 1,700 repatriated by air. Notably, authorities have assisted not only Vietnamese nationals but also Vietnamese-origin people and their family members and relatives of foreign nationalities. This demonstrates the Party and State’s humane and consistent policy towards the overseas Vietnamese community.

Fishing vessels of Vietnam in the waters around Tho Chau archipelago of Phu Quoc city, Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA)

As for the armed clashes in the northern Myanmar state of Shan since late October 2023, the MoFA has coordinated with relevant ministries, sectors and localities, and work with foreign partners to repatriate the Vietnamese stranded there.

As many as 1,398 Vietnamese citizens were brought home in two phases. Vietnam also helped evacuate six foreign citizens at the request of other countries. Authorities have basically completed dealing with the evacuation of Vietnamese citizens in the Laukkai area, north of Shan state. There haven’t been any Vietnamese casualties recorded in the conflict in Myanmar, Son went on.

In 2022, Vietnam’s representative agencies in Cambodia worked with local authorities to rescue Vietnamese citizens from illegal detention sites, and coordinated with domestic agencies to receive nearly 1,400 citizens. The agencies said this figure reflects just part of the number of forced Vietnamese labourers, the minister noted.

The problem expanded to other regional countries in 2023, the official reported, adding that the MoFA worked with authorities of Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar to rescue, protect, and repatriate about 1,500 citizens.

The issue of Vietnamese citizens deceived into forced labour abroad emerged in 2020, and this is an extremely complex problem due to many reasons. The MoFA has proposed many counter-measures to the Prime Minister, who has also demanded ministries, sectors, and localities implement various solutions.

Regarding fishermen working in the vicinity of Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Hoang Sa (Spratly) of Vietnam, the MoFA has repeatedly contacted and sent diplomatic notes objecting to the countries that illegally intervened, detained, or seized property of the Vietnamese fishing vessels operating legally in Vietnam’s waters. It has also affirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty over these archipelagoes, which was established in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), according to Minister Son./.