Quê Me Quê Me: Action for democracy in Vietnam & Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
GENEVA, 27 September 2024 (VCHR) – Speaking today at the UN Human Rights Council’s 57th session in Geneva on behalf of FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), VCHR President Penelope Faulkner informed the UNthat“reprisals against human rights defenders, the existence of political prisoners, and the repression of members of civil society and unregistered religious groups [in Vietnam] are real. They are not “inaccurate and groundless assessments,” as Hanoi claims”, she said (see full text below).
FIDH and VCHR were commenting on the report of the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Vietnam which was adopted today by the UN Human Rights Council. Out of 320 recommendations made by 133 member states at Vietnam’s UPR in May 2024, Vietnam announced it accepted 271 recommendations (85%), in whole or in part. However, 49 key recommendations for prompt and concrete action to improve human rights were categorically rejected by the communist state.
“The government’s full or partial acceptance of 85% of the UPR recommendations is misleading. The devil is in the details, and Hanoi’s dismissal of numerous recommendations related to key civil and political rights is a matter of serious concern” Faulkner told the UN Human Rights Council. Vietnam’s behaviour during the 4th UPR was “unbecoming of a UN Human Rights Council member and shows the government is determined to pursue a path of repression of independent civil society for another UPR cycle”.
The 49 recommendations rejected by Vietnam included calls by UN member states to:
- end practices of arbitrary arrests and detention of human rights defenders, political dissidents and journalists (Norway)
- release those imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, association or assembly (Switzerland)
- investigate threats and reprisals against human rights defenders (Argentina)
- create a national mechanism to monitor prisons and detention centres in order to prevent torture, ill-treatment and cruel or degrading punishment (Peru)
- guarantee fair trials (Netherlands)
- lift all legal restrictions on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and access to the Internet (Estonia)
- end forced renunciation of faith against members of unregistered religious groups (USA)
- enhance the environment for the activities of civil society (Slovakia), and
- officially recognize indigenous peoples (Costa Rica, Mexico).
Vietnam also rejected recommendations to amend the Cyber Security Law, the Law on Belief and Religion, the Criminal Code and other restrictive laws to bring them into line with international human rights standards; to extend a standing invitation to all Special Procedures mandate holders to visit Vietnam; to revise legal restrictions on right to strike; to reduce the number of crimes punishable by death, provide greater transparency on the use of the death penalty and initiate a public debate on the eventual abolition of capital punishment.
The organizations expressed particular concern at Vietnam’s rejection of recommendations made by 10 member states to revise or abrogate broadly-defined “national security” provisions in the 2015 Criminal Code, specifically articles 109, 116, 117 and 331 which are routinely used to arrest and prosecute human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, members of independent religious groups, worker and land rights activists and political dissidents. Vietnam said these recommendations were “unsuitable” and that it had “no plan to review” the national security provisions before the next UPR cycle in 2028.
In reality, observed Faulkner, “these so-called national security provisions are the cornerstone of government repression” in Vietnam.
Since January 2024, 44 human rights defenders, journalists, religious followers and civil society activists have been arrested and/or sentenced for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, religion, association or assembly. 26 persons, including four women, were sentenced to a total of over 153 years in prison. Nearly all were found guilty under Articles 331, 117, 116 and 109.The two exceptions were Christian Montagnard Y Quynh Bdap, sentenced to 10 years prison in absentia for alleged “terrorism”, andenergy expert Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, condemned to 3 ½ years in prison at a secret trial in June 2024 on charges of “appropriation of information or documents” (Article 342 of the Criminal Code). Ms. Nhiên’s conviction is the latest in a disturbing crackdown on environmental rights defenders and climate change activists.
Ms. Faulkner voiced deep concern about the plight of environmental lawyer Đặng Đình Bách, sentenced to 5 years in prison at an unfair trial on politically-motivated charges of “tax evasion”. He is detained under extremely harsh conditions in the notorious Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province, deprived of basic rights and subjected to discriminatory treatment by the prison authorities.
Other prominent activists detained in the 2024 crackdown include Nguyễn Chí Tuyên (Anh Chí), Nguyễn Vũ Bình (5 and 7 years in prison respectively) and Trương Huy San (Osin Huy Đức) currently awaiting trial. On 21 September 2024, over 90 renowned international academics and journalists signed an Open Letter calling for Huy Đức’s immediate release.
The 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which opened on 9 September and runs until 9 October, was marked from the very beginning by a series of high-profile statements highlighting increasing human rights violations in Vietnam.
In the opening session, UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Turk deplored Vietnam’s “crackdown on activists.”EU Ambassador Lotte Knudsen expressed the EU’s “deep concern over the shrinking space for civil society in Vietnam and the continued arrests of human rights defenders and labour rights and environmental experts”.She urged Vietnam to “ensure that civil society can participate freely in all aspects of development” and to “release all those imprisoned for having peacefully expressed their views and to guarantee the right to a fair trial for all”.
On 10 September, in its report on reprisals against persons engaging with UN mechanisms, the Office of the UN High Commission on Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern that “civil society organizations [in Vietnam] refrained from publicly engaging with UN human rights bodies… due to fear of reprisals”. As a result,civil society contributions to the fourth cycle of the UPR had been significantlyreduced. Indeed, VCHR representatives attending Vietnam’s UPR session in May 2024 observed that no civil society organizations had come from Vietnam, contrary to previous UPR cycles. Activists in Vietnam told VCHR privately that they had boycotted the session due to threats and pressure from the Vietnamese authorities.
On 18 September, reporting to the Human Rights Council on his visit to Vietnam in November 2023, the Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Surya Deva, expressed “great concern” on the “arrests and convictions of several environmental human rights defenders on charges such as tax evasion.” He also regretted the “selective use” of articles 117 and 331 of the Criminal Code “to target voices critical of government decisions and policies”.
FIDH Oral Statement
to the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Item 6, Adoption of the UPR Report on Vietnam
read by VCHR President Penelope Faulkner
Madam Vice-President,
FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights are extremely disturbed by the Vietnamese government’s behavior during the current UPR. Such behavior is unbecoming of a UN Human Rights Council member and shows the government is determined to pursue a path of repression of independent civil society for another UPR cycle.
The government’s full or partial acceptance of 85% of the UPR recommendations is misleading. The devil is in the details and Hanoi’s dismissal of numerous recommendations related to key civil and political rights is a serious concern.
Recommendations calling for the amendment or repeal of legislation, including Articles 117 and 331 of the Criminal Code, which have been routinely used to punish individuals for the exercise of their human rights, have not been accepted.
These so-called “national security” provisions are the cornerstone of government repression. Since January, at least 26 individuals, including four women, have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 14 years in politically motivated and unfair trials. Nearly all were found guilty under Articles 117 and 331.
Reprisals against human rights defenders, the existence of political prisoners, and the repression of members of civil society and unregistered religious groups are real. They are not “inaccurate and groundless assessments,” as Hanoi claims.
Harassment of human rights defenders and their families continues unabated and Vietnam holds around 200 political prisoners, who may soon be joined by Montagnard human rights defender and asylum seeker Y Quynh Bdap, if Hanoi’s bid to extradite him from Thailand is successful.
Political prisoners such as environmental lawyer Dang Dinh Bach remain subjected to harsh conditions. These include prolonged solitary confinement and the denial of adequate medical care.
We are troubled by the government’s refusal to accept all the recommendations for the release of individuals, who have been deprived of their liberty for exercising their rights.
The government also rejected nearly all recommendations on the death penalty. Hanoi’s commitment to limit the application of the death penalty to “the most serious crimes” and that its use “always strictly conforms with [the] ICCPR” are contradicted by ongoing cases of the imposition of death sentences for financial crimes, in blatant contravention of Article 6 of the ICCPR.
We urge UN member states to press the Vietnamese government to release all political prisoners, address long-standing human rights violations, end impunity for abuses, and initiate much-needed legal, institutional, and democratic reforms.
Thank you.
This post is also available in: French Vietnamese
