EU: Press Vietnam to End Rights Abuses
Set Benchmarks for Progress at Bilateral
Rights Dialogue
Human Rights Watch | June 8, 2023
(Bangkok) – The European Union should make use of a bilateral dialogue on June
9, 2023 in Hanoi to press the Vietnamese government to
end its systemic violations of human rights, Human Rights Watch said today.
Vietnam has disregarded the human rights commitments made when signing the
EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and intensified its repression by
wrongfully sentencing activists to long prison terms, restricting civil and
political liberties, and violating the freedom of religion and belief.
“The EU claimed its 2020 Free Trade Agreement would encourage Vietnam to improve
its human rights record, but just the opposite has happened,” said Phil
Robertson,
deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Hanoi’s disregard for rights has
already made it clear that the EU needs to consider actions that go beyond
simply issuing statements and hoping for the best.”
Through the creation of a Domestic Advisory Group, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade
Agreement was also supposed to promote the participation of independent civil
society groups to help oversee the implementation of the trade and sustainable
development chapter of the agreement. However, on July 2, 2021, Vietnamese
police arrested Mai
Phan Loiand Dang
Dinh Bach,
two active leaders of the nongovernmental organization trade agreement network
that civil society groups created to promote their participation in the Domestic
Advisory Group. On July 14, the EU group published a
letter protesting the arrests of Loi and Bach. In January 2022, they were
convicted on baseless charges of tax evasion and sentenced to three years and
nine months, and five years in prison, respectively.
Of the Domestic Advisory Group’s seven members approved by the Vietnamese
government, at least four organizations are closely linked to the ruling
Communist Party of Vietnam and chaired by senior party members.
On May 31, Vietnamese authorities arrested
Hoang Thi Minh Hong,
another prominent environmentalist and climate change campaigner, also on
wrongful tax evasion charges.
Human Rights Watch in May made a submission to
the EU on the human rights situation in Vietnam, and urged the bloc to press the
Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all political
prisoners and
detainees. Specifically, Human Rights Watch raised the cases of Le
Manh Ha, Dinh
Van Hai, Bui
Van Thuan, Pham
Doan Trang, Trinh
Ba Phuong, Nguyen
Thi Tam, Truong
Van Dung, Nguyen
Lan Thang, Tran
Van Bang, Bui
Tuan Lam, Mai
Phan Loi,
and Dang
Dinh Bach.
Currently, Vietnam holds more than 150
political prisoners.
On June 6, three days before the human rights dialogue, Vietnam sentenced yet
another human rights campaigner, the music
teacher Dang Dang Phuoc,
to eight years in prison and four years’ probation for expressing his critical
views on social, environmental, and political issues.
Human Rights Watch also urged the EU to press the Vietnamese government to amend
or repeal the penal
code articles
109, 116, 117, 118, and 331, which the authorities frequently use to repress
civil and political rights. The government should also repeal or amend articles
14(2) and 15(4) of the constitution,
which allow for restrictions on human rights for reasons of national security
that go beyond what is permissible under international human rights law.
Vietnam should also end its abusive restrictions on the right to freedom
of movement.
Human rights and pro-democracy activists frequently face restrictions on leaving
their homes or neighborhood, are confronted with intimidation and violence by
officials or government-connected thugs, and are prevented from leaving the
country. In May, police at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi prohibited the prominent
rights defender Nguyen Quang A from
leaving for a trip to Europe.
“The EU should get serious about pressing the Vietnamese government to convert
rights pledges into genuine reform,” Robertson said. “It’s not much of a rights
dialogue if Vietnam officials are just going through the motions, expressing
platitudes, and waiting for the meeting to end.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Vietnam, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/asia/vietnam
For more information, please contact:
In Bangkok, Phil Robertson (English, Thai): +66-85-060-8406 (mobile); or robertp@hrw.org.
Twitter: @Reaproy
In Washington, DC, John Sifton (English): +1-646-479-2499 (mobile); or siftonj@hrw.org
In Brussels, Claudio Francavilla, (English, Italian): +1-347-931-3644 (WhatsApp,
Signal); or francac@hrw.org.
Twitter: @ClaFrancavilla