A/HRC/12/11* views on religious issues of mutual interest and acknowledges positive developments in the life of catholic community. 15. Members of ethnic minorities participate in an increasingly equal manner in the country’s socio-political life. The twelfth National Assembly (2007–2011) includes 87 deputies of ethnic minorities, accounting for nearly 18 per cent of all deputies. Ethnic minority members are present in the People’s Council at provincial, district and communal levels and assume high positions, including the highest portfolio, in State agencies and varied organizations. 16. Viet Nam has attained significant achievements in promoting women’s rights as measured by CEDAW indicators. It has been rated by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank as the Asian country most rapidly narrowing the gender gap in the past 20 years. Vulnerable groups, such as children and people with disabilities, receive special attention from the State, society and family. Children and people with disabilities have been able to enjoy better care and protection in various fields and to express views on issues of interest to them in line with CRC and CPD. Viet Nam was the second country in the world and the first in Asia to sign CRC and it signed CRPD. 17. Protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights in Viet Nam have made significant progress. Efforts to deal with social problems have brought about tangible, positive changes. People’s cultural life is advanced. After 20 years of renewal, per capita income has increased five-fold and the percentage of households living under the national poverty line decreased from about 60 per cent to 13 per cent. Viet Nam has been recognized by the United Nations and many development partners as one of the countries with the most impressive achievements in poverty reduction. As reported by the United Nations, Viet Nam had attained or surpassed many of the MDGs and was capable of attaining them all by 2015. 18. The percentage of poor ethnic minority households has been reduced by 3 to 5 per cent per year; 90 to 95 per cent of school-age children are enrolled and all districts have secondary schools. Thirty ethnic minority groups have their own languages and scripts and ethnic minority languages are used in primary and secondary-level textbooks and television and radio programmes for ethnic minorities. 19. The UPR report of Viet Nam has described in detail lessons drawn from achievements in protecting and promoting human rights. These include placement of the human being at the centre of development, the close relationship between protection of human rights and national independence and sovereignty, the importance of maintaining political stability, promoting economic development in parallel with expanding social welfare, and enhancing the people’s awareness of and capacity to exercise their rights. 20. These accomplishments also derive from Viet Nam’s foreign policy of openness and increasingly active participation in regional and international human rights mechanisms and activities, including those of the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and the Asia-Europe Meeting. Viet Nam is now working with other countries in the region to establish a human rights body of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Viet Nam also has technical cooperation and human rights dialogues with Australia, Norway, Switzerland, the United States, the European Union and other countries and international organizations. 21. A number of special rapporteurs have visited Viet Nam and the Government has recently extended invitations to five other special procedures to visit. 22. Viet Nam is conscious of the shortcomings and difficulties and challenges to be addressed. The legal system of Viet Nam still lacks coherence while remaining overlapped and even contradictory in some areas. The development of the legal system has not matched GE.09-16382 5