{"id":53742,"date":"2025-05-22T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T05:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=53742"},"modified":"2025-05-21T21:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T21:22:19","slug":"emmanuel-macron-visit-to-vietnam-to-take-action-on-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/emmanuel-macron-visit-to-vietnam-to-take-action-on-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmanuel Macron\u2019s official visit to Vietnam: Civil society organisations call on the President to take action on human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Four NGOs are calling on the French\nPresident to press for the release of human rights defenders during his visit\nto Vietnam from 25 to 27 May. The organisations denounce the ongoing crackdown\non Vietnamese civil society and the adoption of restrictive laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARIS, BRUSSELS,\n22 May 2025 (VCHR) – <\/strong>With less than a week to go\nbefore Emmanuel Macron visits Vietnam, four international human rights\norganisations \u2013 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the\nVietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)\nand Global Witness \u2013 are calling on the French President to place human rights\nat the heart of his diplomatic agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter<\/a> addressed to the President, the NGOs expressed their deep concern about the growing crackdown on Vietnamese civil society. Vietnam currently has more than 200 prisoners of conscience, including journalists, lawyers, researchers, and environmental and labour rights defenders. Among them are the emblematic cases of <\/a>Pham Doan Trang<\/a>, <\/a>Dang Dinh Bach<\/a>, and <\/a>Pham Chi Dung<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisations urge Emmanuel Macron to\ndemand the immediate and unconditional release of arbitrarily detained human\nrights defenders and to call for the withdrawal of repressive legislation,\nstarting with the restrictive laws adopted in 2024. For instance, Decree 126\nsubjects associations to total control by the Communist Party of Vietnam, in\nviolation of the right to freedom of association. Decree 147 imposes censorship\nand systematic surveillance of online content, threatening freedom of\nexpression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a complaint filed in February 2025<\/a> with the European Commission on Vietnam\u2019s violations of the\u00a0 EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the NGOs listed 40 cases<\/a> of defenders and civil society representatives imprisoned for documenting the negative impacts of investment projects or working on issues of sustainable development, civil society participation, energy transition or labour conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very concerned. The purpose of this\nvisit is mainly economic. But the President must not forget France’s founding\nvalues, which include human rights,\u201d<\/em> said Penelope Faulkner, President of VCHR<\/strong>. \u201cRaising\nthe issue of fundamental freedoms and calling for the release of prisoners of\nconscience is not \u2018just for show\u2019. It is a matter of respect for the laws and\ninternational commitments of Vietnam, the European Union, and France.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisations call on Emmanuel Macron to\nurge the Vietnamese authorities to repeal the articles of the Penal Code used\nto criminalise defenders; to create a legal framework that respects freedom of\nassociation and expression; and to take into account civil society’s demands on\nsocial, environmental and climate justice issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four NGOs are calling on the French President to press for the release of human rights defenders during his visit to Vietnam from 25 to 27 May. The organisations denounce the ongoing crackdown on Vietnamese civil society and the adoption of restrictive laws. PARIS, BRUSSELS, 22 May 2025 (VCHR) – With less than a week …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":53770,"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":[385,1441,634,1783,296,960],"class_list":["post-53742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-csw","tag-dang-dinh-bach","tag-evfta","tag-global-witness","tag-hrd","tag-pham-chi-dung"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53742","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=53742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}