The Raoul Wallenberg Institute cooperation in Vietnam began in 1996 when the Institute was invited to attend a human rights seminar held in Hanoi, which led to a formal agreement between the Vietnamese Institute for Human Rights (VIHR) and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in November 1997. Between 1997 and 2000, VIHR and the Institute organised a number of seminars and training courses for, inter alia, Provincial Chief Procuratorates, Provincial Chiefs of Police, Members of the National Assembly, officials from various ministries, scholars from the universities and research centres.
The cooperation also involved literature support to VIHR and Hanoi Law University enabling the establishment of reference libraries in international law with special emphasis on human rights at these institutions.
The cooperation between the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and VIHR was subject to a Sida-commissioned evaluation in 2001 which was positive and concluded that a more comprehensive programme should be developed.
Currently, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute is implementing a human rights capacity development program in Vietnam, involving two components: one academic component, and one relating to National Human Rights Institutions.
The specific objectives of the Programme aim at:
- Strengthening the institutional capacity of academic institutions to carry out human rights education, research and outreach activities;
- Promote the establishment of a National Human Rights Institution in Vietnam
Activities are being carried out with RWI’s local partner, the Vietnamese Institute for Human Rights for both components of the project. Firstly, we are targeting academic institutions from various parts of the country to enhance their capacity in teaching and research methods as well as developing human rights curricula, as well as to establish an academic network for sharing experiences and best practices.
Secondly, we are targeting government officials, ministry representatives and the Vietnamese Institute for Human Rights itself to increase awareness on the roles and functions of National Human Rights Institutions, and analysis of various models of such institutions in a comparative context.
For more information on the Institute’s cooperation in Vietnam, please contact:
