{"id":49082,"date":"2024-05-11T14:04:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T14:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=49082"},"modified":"2024-05-23T09:20:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T09:20:33","slug":"vietnam-fails-to-address-serious-human-rights-concerns-at-its-4th-upr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/vietnam-fails-to-address-serious-human-rights-concerns-at-its-4th-upr\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam fails to address serious human rights concerns at its 4th Universal Periodic Review at the UN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GENEVA, 11 May 2024 (VCHR) – The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights<\/strong> (VCHR<\/strong>) welcomes the 320 recommendations made by 133 UN member states to improve human rights in Vietnam at the 4th Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam at the United Nations\u2019 Human Rights Council in Geneva on 7 May 2024. The working report was adopted on Friday 10 May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

VCHR thanks the many countries that took up VCHR\u2019s concerns in their recommendations. During the UPR pre-session in February, VCHR and its partner, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) met over 20 UN delegations from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas to discuss their deep concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in Vietnam. VCHR\/FIDH shared a briefer with suggested recommendations<\/a> to the delegations, as well as a joint submission to the UPR<\/a> and a joint report entitled \u201cA history of Violence: violations of the right to peaceful assembly in Vietnam\u201d<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VCHR\/FIDH submission to the UPR, posted on the UN website, was cited extensively in the Summary of Stakeholders Information prepared by the Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR). This is one of the three official working documents presented to Vietnam\u2019s UPR, alongside the National Report of Vietnam and a Compilation of UN Information, also prepared by the OHCHR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VCHR deeply\nregrets, however, that Vietnam did not use the opportunity of this high-level\ndialogue to heed concerns expressed by UN members from all over the world. On\nthe contrary, the 24-member Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Foreign\nMinister \u0110\u1ed7 H\u00f9ng Vi\u1ec7t, not only failed to address these concerns, but rejected\nany form of criticism and provided misleading information on many issues during\nthe UPR review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, even\nbefore the UPR began on 7 May, Vietnam showed its lack of political will to\nengage earnestly in this process. At a Press Conference in April, Hanoi\u2019s\nForeign Ministry spokesman virulently denounced the UN for publishing \u201cfalse\nand unjustified information and many lies\u201d<\/em> in the Compilation of UN\nInformation, in which the UN Vietnam country office reported that \u201cat least 150\nhuman rights defenders, independent journalists and pro-democracy, land rights\nand religious activists remain in detention for peacefully exercising their\nfundamental rights\u201d<\/em>. The UN country office also criticised restrictive legislation\nin Vietnam, including Decrees criminalizing the expression of \u201cdiverging\npolitical views\u201d<\/em> or \u201creactionary ideologies\u201d<\/em> on the Internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVietnam\nroutinely rejects reports of human rights abuses from NGOs and civil society,\nbut this is the first time Hanoi has blatantly accused the UN of telling lies.\nThese are extremely serious accusations\u201d<\/em><\/strong> said VCHR President Penelope Faulkner. \u201cVietnam\nhas no place on the UN Human Rights Council, and now they even dare to present\ntheir candidacy for a second term in 2026-2028!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 320 recommendations\nat the UPR highlighted a wide range of issues such as arbitrary detention and\nharassment of journalists, human rights defenders and climate-change activists;\ninhuman detention conditions and lack of access to medical treatment; the widespread\nuse of the death penalty, violations of freedom of expression, association,\nassembly and freedom of religion or belief, the rights of women and children, human\ntrafficking, torture, worker rights and due process of law. Many states observed\nthat \u201cthe shrinking space for civil society and the criminalization of\nactivists\u201d<\/em> had intensified since Vietnam\u2019s last UPR in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding\nto what he dismissively called the \u201cso-called shrinking spaces for civil\nsociety\u201d<\/em>, the head of Vietnam\u2019s delegation \u0110\u1ed7 H\u00f9ng Vi\u1ec7t said \u201cI do have\nto differ on this issue. While we always welcome constructive criticism, we\ncannot tolerate the spread of misinformation that may cause instability or\ninfringe upon our national security\u201d<\/em>.  Stating that Vietnam only imprisoned people\nwho had violated the law, he urged the international community to \u201ctake a\nbird\u2019s eye view\u201d<\/em> of the human rights situation in Vietnam and see \u201ca\nbeautiful forest instead of a few broken branches\u201d<\/em> (sic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of\nresponding to specific questions by the UN member states, the representatives\nof Vietnam\u2019s Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Justice,\nInformation and Communications, Planning and Investment, Labour, Invalids and\nSocial Affairs, the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Supreme\nPeople\u2019s Procuracy, Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and the Ho Chi Minh National\nAcademy of Politics delivered prepared statements extolling Vietnam\u2019s promotion\nand respect of human rights in all fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases,\ntheir statements provided misleading information. Commenting on the right to\nfreedom of peaceful assembly, the Ministry of Public Security said that Vietnam\nhad not yet adopted a law on demonstrations, but \u201cthe people\u2019s right to\nparticipate in large meetings and demonstrations is guaranteed under Decree 38\nof 2005\u201d<\/em>. In fact, Decree 38\/2005 prohibits gatherings outside state\nagencies and public buildings, and Circular 9\/2005 on implementation of Decree\n38 prohibits gatherings of more than five people without permission from the\nauthorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the\nshort speaking time (50 seconds per member state), several countries submitted\nquestions to the Vietnamese delegation in advance. Germany<\/strong> asked how\nmany individuals had been prosecuted under vaguely-worded \u201cnational security\u201d\nprovisions in Vietnam\u2019s Criminal Code, such as articles 109, 117 and 331 during\nthis UPR cycle, how many persons had filed appeals, and how many were released\nas innocent? Netherlands<\/strong> and the United States<\/strong> expressed concern\non the recent crack-down on environmental rights defenders, including \u0110\u1eb7ng \u0110\u00ecnh\nB\u00e1ch and H\u00f2ang th\u1ecb Minh H\u1ed3ng, sentenced to prison terms of up to five years for\nalleged \u201ctax evasion\u201d, asking \u201chow does Vietnam explain their disparate\ntreatment and sentencing when nearly 99% of tax evasion cases in Vietnam do not\nresult in pretrial detention and lengthy prison sentences?\u201d<\/em> Following the forced\nexile of several defense lawyers from Vietnam to the USA to avoid harassments\nand prosecution, the United Kingdom<\/strong> asked \u201cwhat steps will Vietnam\ntake to ensure that lawyers are able to practice freely and represent clients\nin court cases without fear of harassment, intimidation or arrest\u201d<\/em>. None of\nthese questions received a reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several\ncountries called on Vietnam to improve worker rights<\/strong>, guarantee the\nright to strike and establish independent trade unions, recommending that\nVietnam ratify ILO Convention on freedom of association and protection of the\nright to organize as it had pledged when ratifying the EU-Vietnam Free Trade\nAgreement in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of\nthe death penalty<\/strong> was one of the major concerns, with many countries calling\non Vietnam to initiate a moratorium on executions and consider fully abolishing\nthe death penalty; eliminate the death penalty for non-violent crimes,\nincluding national security offences; and provide official statistics regarding\ndeath sentences and executions. The 320 recommendations covered many other\nissues, including reforming the legal system to ensure the right to a fair\ntrial<\/strong>, issuing standing invitations to UN Special Rapporteurs<\/strong>; establishing\nan independent National Human Rights Institution in conformity with the Paris\nPrinciples.\n\nVietnam must report back to\nthe UPR Working Group before the 57th<\/sup> Session of the UN Human Rights\nCouncil in September-October 2024 to state which recommendations it rejects or\naccepts to implement over the next four years before its fifth UPR cycle. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GENEVA, 11 May 2024 (VCHR) – The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) welcomes the 320 recommendations made by 133 UN member states to improve human rights in Vietnam at the 4th Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam at the United Nations\u2019 Human Rights Council in Geneva on 7 May 2024. The working report was adopted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":49086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,113,98,64],"tags":[312,634,635,353,1718,1717,1719,251,345],"class_list":["post-49082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-death-penalty","tag-evfta","tag-germany","tag-human-rights-council","tag-netherlands","tag-ohchr","tag-uk","tag-upr","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}