The Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Monday adopted a draft resolution on "international law as it relates to national sovereignty, non-intervention in the internal affairs of states and human rights."

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The committee passed the draft during the ongoing 132^nd IPU Assembly in Hanoi with 38 "yes" votes, three "no’s" and 10 abstentions. This draft resolution was once raised at the 131-IPU Assembly in 2014 but it was not ratified as the assembly failed to reach consensus among participants, said Le Minh Thong, deputy chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly's Law Committee. “The reason was that there existed many different points of view among IPU member countries, some of which gave prominence to international law, while some others prioritized national sovereignty or human rights,” Le Minh Thong, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Law Committee explained. In addition, a number of countries did not consider this resolution on the basis of combining three factors: international law, national sovereignty and human rights, Thong added.

However, at this 132nd IPU Assembly, the committee was able to pass the resolution and will submit it to the IPU General Assembly for ratification, he said. The draft resolution underlines that all countries must comply with international law and use it as a means of settling disputes. It also requires all countries to respect national sovereignty and not to intervene in each other’s internal affairs. The draft document requests that international and national laws put their focuses on human rights, considering the protection of human rights a fundamental factor of life today.     The ongoing 132nd IPU Assembly, which opened in Hanoi on March 28 with the theme of “Sustainable Development Goals: Turning Words Into Actions,” will run until Wednesday, April 1. More than 1,300 delegates from 160 countries and territories are attending the event, whose agenda covers issues of global concern, including international law, threats to peace and security, cyber security, and water resources.  

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