PART 1: INTRODUCTION
4. Responsible business
conduct and sustainable
tourism in Vietnam
Vietnam has been taking positive steps to create
an environment that supports the tourism
industry to be sustainable, responsible and
respectful of human rights. The Vietnam Tourism
Development Strategy to 2030 was adopted on
What is responsible
business conduct?
According to the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), responsible
business conduct means businesses
making ‘a positive contribution to
the economic, environmental and
social progress of the countries in
which they operate and avoid[ing]
and address[ing] negative impacts of
their activities, including in the supply
chain’.12
Being a responsible business means
preventing and remedying the
‘adverse’ impacts of your activities
and operations, while contributing to
the sustainable development of the
countries in which you operate. This
expectation applies to all businesses,
regardless of their size, sector,
structure, location, ownership or legal
status.
At the heart of responsible business
conduct and practice is respect for
human rights.
12 |
21 January 2020. The Strategy aims to develop
sustainable and inclusive tourism, on the basis of
green growth, to maximise tourism’s contribution
to Vietnam’s realisation of the United Nations’
Sustainable Development Goals.13
In recent years, Vietnam has also engaged in
numerous reform processes to ensure greater
adherence to international human rights and
labour standards. For example, the Vietnam
Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with the
United
Nations
Development
Programme
(UNDP) and the Government of Sweden, released
The Preliminary Assessment of the Regulatory
Framework on Responsible Business Practice in Viet
Nam (Preliminary Assessment) in October 2020.14
The Preliminary Assessment provides a stocktake
of the alignment of the regulatory framework
in Vietnam with international standards on
responsible
business
conduct.
This
is
an
important step towards developing a National
Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.15