Citizen protection work – A vital and humanitarian mission
WVR - Building on 80 years of consular tradition (1946-2026), Vietnamese citizen protection work continues to be identified as one of the important and humanitarian missions.
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| Director General of the Consular Department Doan Hoang Minh. (Photo: Quang Hoa) |
Director General of the Consular Department Doan Hoang Minh shared the significant milestones of citizen protection work in 2025 and outlined the tasks set for the Consular Department to implement the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress and towards the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's consular tradition (1946-2026).
In the context of the world situation continuing to evolve with many conflict hotspots, instability, and increasing non-traditional security challenges in 2025, how has the Consular Department – Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to implement citizen protection?
In 2025, the global and regional situation continued to evolve with increasing armed conflicts and political instability, especially new hotspots emerging in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Simultaneously, non-traditional security challenges such as transnational crime, illegal migration, and extreme natural disasters increased in both scale and severity, with serious incidents like wildfires, flash floods, earthquakes, and widespread flooding in many countries worldwide... posing significant challenges to the protection of Vietnamese citizens abroad.
In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has played a pivotal role, closely coordinating with ministries and local authorities to effectively advise and handle complex, inter-sectoral citizen protection cases. Notably, the newly signed inter-sectoral coordination mechanism between three ministries (Foreign Affairs, Public Security, and National Defense) has been effectively utilized, with timely information sharing to plan evacuations and protect citizens in conflict hotspots; the verification and reception of citizens deported by foreign countries have been conducted swiftly, safely, and orderly.
Under the direction and assignment of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Consular Department has proactively and closely coordinated with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to implement a comprehensive and flexible range of citizen protection measures, following the motto "proactive – timely – effective – humanitarian". The focus is on closely monitoring developments in areas with conflicts, crises, political instability, or high potential risks to safety and security.
Vietnamese representative missions abroad continue to be at the forefront of citizen protection, proactively working with local authorities, international organizations, and relevant partners to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese citizens, providing timely consular and humanitarian support to Vietnamese people in difficulty. These agencies have directly met, supported, and encouraged citizens, realizing the care and companionship of the Party and State with citizens during difficult times abroad.
Could you highlight the notable results of the citizen protection work implemented in 2025?
Under the close attention and decisive direction of the leadership, the Steering Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on citizen protection has actively and urgently operated regardless of time, weekends, or holidays, creating a bridge connecting domestic and foreign agencies, promptly advising, reporting, and implementing plans to ensure the safety of citizens, leaving clear marks.
In crisis, unexpected, and sudden situations such as natural disasters, armed conflicts, or political upheavals, protection measures were quickly and timely implemented. During the conflict in the Middle East in June 2025, we promptly protected and evacuated 78 citizens to safety, of which 63 returned home; when clashes occurred in the Thailand-Cambodia border area, we issued warnings and promptly took measures to safely relocate the Vietnamese community.
In response to the scam of "easy jobs, high salaries", decisive and comprehensive protection measures were implemented, supporting the rescue and repatriation of 4,298 citizens working at online scam centers in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines; domestic propaganda, investigation, and punishment measures were also strengthened, creating comprehensive offensives against this type of crime.
Fishermen protection work was timely addressed; this task contributed to the decisive implementation and positive results of efforts against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
In 2025, the Consular Department and representative agencies implemented protection for over 13,000 citizens, actively supporting and advising citizens in cases of arrest, detention, accidents, illness, loss of documents, legal or financial difficulties, or special hardship.
Information, communication, and citizen advisories continued to be strengthened through various channels, helping people raise awareness, proactively prevent risks, comply with local laws, and promptly contact authorities when in need of support.
International cooperation and sharing of professional experience in citizen protection also achieved positive results, with several partners trusting and requesting Vietnam's assistance for their citizens in crisis areas, enhancing national prestige and reputation.
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| Embassy staff guiding Vietnamese citizens in Kayin, Myanmar to complete repatriation procedures, April 2025. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar) |
To further enhance the professionalism and effectiveness of citizen protection work, what are the implementation directions for the future?
In the context of the world situation continuing to harbor many complex and unpredictable factors, enhancing the professionalism and effectiveness of citizen protection work is an urgent requirement. In the future, the Consular Department aims to continue implementing a comprehensive range of strategic and long-term key solutions:
Firstly, citizen protection work needs to be implemented more proactively, shifting from reactive handling to preventive, early risk forecasting. Improving the quality of research and analysis, especially in areas prone to conflict, instability, or natural disasters, will help minimize passivity, surprises, and reduce damage to people.
The Consular Department is striving to promote the application of information technology and digital transformation in citizen protection work, participating in completing specialized databases on consular work and citizen protection, and an interconnected information system between domestic and representative missions. The goal is to clearly understand information, fully compile statistics, thereby shortening processing time and improving effectiveness.
Alongside this, building a proactive, dedicated, and professionally skilled team of consular and citizen protection officers is identified as a key task. Intensive training, practical experience sharing between domestic and foreign units need to be strengthened and regularly implemented to meet the increasingly high demands of citizen protection work in the new situation.
Inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms will continue to be strengthened and effectively utilized; particularly, the effectiveness of the coordination mechanism between the three ministries (Foreign Affairs, Public Security, and National Defense) needs to be promoted, as well as expanding coordination with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to ensure consistency from direction to implementation, especially in complex cases involving multiple factors.
Implementing the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress and towards the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's consular tradition (1946-2026), what are your thoughts on the tasks set for the Consular Department in the coming time?
The year 2026 holds special significance as the entire Foreign Affairs sector begins implementing the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress, while also celebrating the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's consular tradition (1946-2026). This is an opportunity to reflect on the formation and development of Vietnam's consular work, while also posing new requirements and responsibilities for the Consular Department in continuing to innovate organizational methods, improving the quality and effectiveness of activities in the upcoming period.
In this context, the Consular Department will thoroughly grasp and concretize the major viewpoints and orientations of the 14th National Congress into programs and work plans, closely linked with the requirements of serving the people, businesses, and the common interests of the country. Building on 80 years of consular tradition, citizen protection continues to be identified as one of the important and humanitarian missions. Accordingly, enhancing awareness and raising the sense of responsibility among staff is set as a continuous task; simultaneously, continuing to improve mechanisms and processes, promoting the effectiveness of the Steering Committee on citizen protection; focusing on strengthening and expanding inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms in a tight, unified, and effective manner; alongside promoting the application of information technology and digital technology, especially completing the migration database system; while also leveraging mass communication methods to enhance the effectiveness of citizen protection tasks in the new situation.
Heading towards the 80th anniversary, each officer and civil servant of the Consular Department increasingly deeply understands the responsibility to inherit and promote the good values painstakingly cultivated by previous generations, transforming the pride of tradition into motivation to innovate thinking and creativity in methods to successfully complete assigned tasks, thereby making practical contributions to the country's foreign affairs and international integration in the new era.
Thank you!
