An international workshop was held on July 13, 2026 in Hanoi on data serving the compilation of the 6^th National Report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The event was co-organized by the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Y Thông and Ms. Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam.

The workshop drew substantial interest from central ministries and sectors, the municipal government of Hanoi, as well as senior diplomats including Ms. Hilde Solbakken, Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam, and Mr. Colin Shonk, Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam.

In modern national governance, data has become the lifeblood of policy-making, the most objective lens to measure social progress, and a tool to make international commitments transparent. This was underscored by Deputy Minister Y Thông in his opening remarks: "Data represents more than mere statistics; it objectively reflects achievements, existing challenges, and serves as a foundation for formulating more appropriate and effective policies in the period ahead." The mission of compiling Vietnam’s 6^th CERD National Report sets forth new, strategic requirements for a comprehensive, up-to-date, and reliable data system. Data serves as the pivotal lever to materialize commitments toward gender equality, ethnic equality, and the protection of human rights that Vietnam has consistently pursued.

Over four decades of partnership with CERD and Vietnam’s policy roadmap

Adopted in 1965, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) stands as one of the nine core and foundational United Nations human rights treaties. Strongly condemning racial discrimination, the Convention imposes binding legal obligations on States parties to adopt all necessary measures without delay to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin.

Vietnam officially acceded to the CERD Convention in 1982. Throughout the journey of more than 44 years, Vietnam has demonstrated its stature as a responsible member state, respecting international law and earnestly fulfilling its treaty obligations. Vietnam has successfully submitted and defended its National Reports before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination five times, in 1983, 1993, 2000, 2012, and most recently in 2023. Each reporting cycle provides an opportunity for Vietnam to review its legal system, provide information on the implementation of specific provisions of the Convention, and address candidly the issues raised in the Committee's Concluding Observations.

Following the successful defense of its report in 2023, the Government of Vietnam took robust legal actions to realize the Committee’s recommendations by issuing Prime Minister's Decision No. 1567/QD-TTg. This decision outlines four strategic pillars encompassing 15 tasks and 38 specific assignments regarding: Perfecting the policy and legal framework to implement the CERD Convention; Continuing to enhance the effectiveness of legal enforcement concerning the rights of ethnic minorities and foreigners in Vietnam; Promoting rights through communication, dissemination, education, and training activities; Monitoring, international cooperation, research on international treaties, and fulfilling periodic reporting obligations under CERD.

Looking toward the compilation of the 6^th National Report, Vietnam is not merely carrying out a regular reporting duty, but also translating the foreign policy guidelines of the 14^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam into concrete action. This report will be formulated upon a new legal foundation, deeply integrating the Documents of the 14th National Congress, the 2013 Constitution, amended legal normative documents, and the synchronized operation of the State apparatus from the central to local levels. The reporting process is designed in five stringent steps: establishing the Drafting Team; conducting a two-year review of Decision No. 1567/QD-TTg; preparing the draft National Report; holding broad-based consultations; and submitting the final National Report to the competent authority.

UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Ramla Khalidi speaks at the event

Data system: "hidden infrastructure" shaping quality of 6^th national report

To meet the increasingly high standards of international diplomacy, the 6^th National Report requires a data system that is highly reliable, scientifically grounded, and continuously updated. This aligns fully with current directives and close instructions from the General Secretary and President on establishing a synchronized, modern national data system.

At the workshop, Ms. Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, observed: "Data is often invisible and rarely makes the front page of newspapers. Yet data is the hidden infrastructure upon which good policy is built."

For a nation rich in cultural diversity like Vietnam, home to 54 ethnic groups united in building the country, maintaining an accurate data system is an imperative condition to ensure no one is left behind. Ms. Ramla Khalidi offered a cautionary analysis for policymakers: "Vietnam's development story has been extraordinary, rising from a poor country to upper-middle-income status and lifting millions out of poverty in a single generation. Yet that very success makes data work today more important than ever. The households furthest behind are disproportionately from ethnic minority communities. Reaching and supporting them cannot be accomplished merely by raising national averages."

When policies only consider national aggregate averages, the specific circumstances and hardships of vulnerable groups in remote, isolated, and ethnic minority areas can easily be obscured. High-quality, reliable, and disaggregated data enables development programs to hit their targets, reaching every village and household rather than stopping at provincial or central-level reports.

Recognizing this importance, the data collection methodology for Vietnam's 6^th CERD National Report is built upon the close combination of three strategic data sources: published findings from official surveys; data from the national population database; and reporting figures from central ministries, sectors, and local authorities. This integration ensures that the 6th Report possesses both national breadth and sectoral depth, creating an indisputable evidence base before the international community.

Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam Colin Shonk speaks at the event

Multi-dimensional lessons from international diplomatic perspectives: experiences of Canada and Norway

A key takeaway from the workshop on July 13 was the open and candid sharing of international best practices and real-world challenges in data governance from developed nations such as Canada and Norway. Based on their distinct historical contexts, geographical features, and political systems, each nation has developed data models under CERD that provide valuable references for Vietnam.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Colin Shonk, Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam, presented Canada’s systematic and legally grounded data collection model. At the federal level, Canada conducts a mandatory decennial census for all citizens, combined with periodic household, labor force, and health surveys. Statistics Canada serves as the core agency, collaborating closely with federal departments such as Canadian Heritage, Global Affairs Canada, and provincial governments to ensure all surveys share a harmonized questionnaire, common methodology, and high consistency.

In particular, Canada’s experience underlines the critical value of disaggregated data by race and ethnicity. According to Mr. Colin Shonk: "Disaggregated data can uncover deep divides and inequalities that aggregate statistics often conceal." When data is disaggregated, policymakers can tailor development programs to tackle real bottlenecks such as education, employment, or housing for specific communities. Canada has also integrated race-disaggregated data into national equality and inclusion strategies to secure stable and sustainable funding.

Nonetheless, the most profound lesson from Canada lies in the sociological dimension of data: addressing historical mistrust. Mr. Colin Shonk noted that historically, Indigenous communities in Canada endured profound cultural traumas related to identity, land, and the residential school system-facts officially acknowledged by the Government of Canada. This trauma created psychological barriers, making people hesitant and mistrustful when providing information to state agencies. Canada’s lesson illustrates that while a robust legal framework safeguarding data privacy is essential, it remains insufficient without public trust. To overcome this barrier, Canada applies the principle of voluntary self-identification based on informed consent, alongside meaningful participation of communities in data design and collection. Furthermore, Canada employs narrative analysis coupled with visualizations to transform complex statistical tables into accessible, human-centered policy narratives.

Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Hilde Solbakken speaks at the event

While Canada focuses on official race-disaggregated data, the Kingdom of Norway brought a distinct approach shaped by historical reflection. Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Hilde Solbakken stated that Norway is a small country (around 5.5 million people), comprising the Sami Indigenous people (approximately 30,000, operating under self-identification with their own Sami Parliament), long-standing national minorities (Jews, Kvens, Roma, etc.), and recent immigrant waves (with Polish immigrants being the largest group, alongside immigrants from Pakistan, Somalia, Vietnam, Syria, etc.).

A distinctive feature of Norway’s governance system is that the State does not collect official statistics disaggregated by ethnicity and religion. Ambassador Hilde Solbakken explained that this practice stems from trauma during World War II. When Nazi Germany occupied Norway, it utilized official registration records on religion and ethnicity to track down, arrest, and deport the Jewish community to concentration camps, leading to the Holocaust. Since then, the fear of ethnic and religious data being misused has remained deeply ingrained in Norwegian society. Even the Sami Parliament agrees that the risks of misusing official data outweigh potential policy benefits.

How does Norway obtain sufficient evidence to implement CERD and protect human rights? The answer lies in proxy data. Rather than questioning citizens directly about race or ethnicity, Statistics Norway draws on objective proxy variables such as immigration background, country of origin of individuals and parents, or language spoken at home. These variables are intersected with Norway's robust socio-economic datasets covering age, gender, education, employment, and income. To supplement the absence of official quantitative ethnic data, Norway places great reliance on qualitative data from independent civil society reports, the Sami Parliament, and the National Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud.

Legislatively, Norway proactively removed the term "race" from its Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act, as lawmakers concluded that maintaining the term inadvertently reinforces the outdated, erroneous notion that humankind can be divided biologically into distinct races. Instead, Norwegian law prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, and belief, while focusing resources on penalizing concrete discriminatory conduct (such as hate speech and hate crimes) rather than imposing administrative bans on organizations - an approach that respects freedom of association while achieving tangible efficacy.

Expert Phạm Thái Hưng identifies 15 major categories of issues related to data-related work following comprehensive review of all 52 recommendations issued to Vietnam by CERD in 2023

Strategic recommendations for Vietnam in era of digital governance

To realize the goals of Decision No. 1567/QD-TTg and prepare for the 6^th CERD National Report, workshop experts proposed several strategic, actionable solutions.

Summarizing the findings of the data system review, expert Phạm Thái Hưng stated that after reviewing all 52 recommendations issued to Vietnam by the CERD Committee in 2023, the research team identified 15 broad issue clusters directly or indirectly linked to data work (including statistics, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation).

From these findings, experts recommended dividing tasks under Decision No. 1567 into two categories: core tasks assigned directly to the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs (MERA) as lead agency; and tasks assigned to line ministries based on their mandates (such as the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Education and Training), coordinated by MERA. Mechanisms for cross-agency data sharing and inter-agency working groups should be established to foster collaboration between policy experts and statisticians.

According to Mr. Phạm Thái Hưng, data work under CERD is an ongoing process rather than a short-term campaign. The data system should follow an open model that continuously updates, self-corrects, and adapts to socio-economic changes. Data preparation must be undertaken early and proactively well in advance of international reporting deadlines to avoid reactive stances. A country's international standing does not stem from a report depicting only unblemished successes.

Drawing on lessons from Canada and Norway, Vietnam should strengthen broad-based consultation mechanisms with socio-political organizations, associations, academia, and particularly ethnic minority communities - the primary beneficiaries of policies. Such qualitative data will enrich and complement quantitative indicators.

The core orientation for the upcoming period is to intensify data disaggregation by ethnic group while interconnecting administrative data across national databases. Essential fields to be integrated include healthcare, education, labor market access, employment, income levels, and housing conditions of ethnic minority groups and foreigners residing in Vietnam.

Experts concluded that human rights issues and anti-discrimination efforts intersect significantly. Vietnam should integrate, inherit, and utilize data sources and evaluation results from other international reporting mechanisms that the country conducts successfully - notably the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) - to optimize resources and ensure coherence in diplomatic reporting.