EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell should call for the immediate release of environmental rights defenders in his visit to Vietnam

Joint open letter from Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) and FIDH, ahead of the visit of Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (EU) to Vietnam.

PARIS, 24 July 2024 (VCHR & FIDH) – From 29-31 July, Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (EU) will visit Vietnam to discuss reinforcing EU-Vietnam cooperation on issues of security, sustainable development and climate policy.

The visit takes place as Vietnam is set to receive $15.5 billion in funding from the EU and G7 nations under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a mechanism aimed at supporting energy transitions to boost renewables and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Vietnam, which is heavily reliant on coal, has pledged to reduce carbon emissions to net zero and engage to mitigate climate change.

At the same time as it makes these commitments, however, Vietnam is launching an unprecedented crack-down on environmental rights defenders and civil society organizations all over the country. Since mid-2021, at least six prominent climate leaders have been arrested and imprisoned under false charges, and their organizations forcibly closed down. They were all working on Vietnam’s shift away from coal at the time of their arrest.

They include lawyer Đặng Đình Bách, sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 and detained under extremely harsh conditions in the notorious Prison No. 6 in the province of Nghe An; Hoang Thị Minh Hồng, Obama Foundation scholar and founder of non-profit CHANGE Vietnam, sentenced to three years in prison in 2023; environmental expert and consultant Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, Executive Director of the think tank Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise (VIETSE), arrested in 2023 and reportedly sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison at a closed trial in Hanoi on 27 June 2024 . She was working on the implementation plan for Vietnam’s JETP at the time of her arrest.

We believe there can be no sustainable development in Vietnam without the participation of civil society, and no just energy transition whilst climate leaders are behind bars. During his talks with the Vietnamese authorities, we call upon Mr. Borrell to:

• Secure the immediate release of Đặng Đình Bách, Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng, Ngô Thị Tố Liên and all environmental rights and climate defenders arbitrarily detained in Vietnam;
• Call on Vietnam to respect its commitment to uphold human rights as an essential element of its relations with the EU, including the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and release all persons detained in Vietnam for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental human rights.

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* VCHR is a member of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, a group of over 30 international and regional environmental, climate justice, and human rights organizations.

For more information see Stand with Bach https://www.standwithbach.org/; International Rivers Report – The Missing “JUST” in Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership, https://www.internationalrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/86/2024/06/Vietnam-JETP-Report-English.pdf; VCHR-FIDH Joint Submission to the Fourth Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam  https://queme.org/app/uploads/2023/10/VCHR_FIDH_Joint-Submission_UPR_october_2023.pdf