Rights Violations Intensify in Vietnam: HRW
Human Rights Watch | 2021-01-13
The tightening of restrictions on free expression appears to be linked to the
National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, scheduled for January 25 to
February 2, 2021. In 2020, the Vietnamese government frequently punished people
for criticizing the government or for joining groups to promote democracy or
human rights. The authorities arbitrarily arrested or prosecuted at least 28
people for violations of overbroad and vague national security crimes, such as
“conducting propaganda” against the state, or “abusing rights to freedom and
democracy to infringe upon the interests of the state.”
“It was another abysmal year for human rights in Vietnam,” said John
Sifton, Asia advocacy director at
Human Rights Watch. “Through 2020, the police arrested several vocal dissidents
and detained numerous others for speaking their minds and exercising their basic
free expression rights.” In the 761-page World Report 2021, its 31st edition,
Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In
his introductory
essay, Executive Director Kenneth
Roth argues that the incoming United States administration should embed respect
for human rights in its domestic and foreign policy in a way that is more likely
to survive future US administrations that might be less committed to human
rights. Roth emphasizes that even as the Trump administration mostly abandoned
the protection of human rights, other governments stepped forward to champion
rights. The Biden administration should seek to join, not supplant, this new
collective effort.
The Vietnamese authorities also blocked access to politically independent
websites, and pressured social media companies to take down accounts, posts, or
video clips critical of the government.
In April, the government throttled access to Facebook’s local cache servers,
demanding that the company remove pages controlled by dissidents. Facebook, bowing
to pressure, agreed to restrict
access to the pages within Vietnam, setting a worrying precedent. In early
September, the Ministry of Information and Communications praised Facebook and
YouTube for their “positive change in collaborating with MIC to block
information that violates Vietnam’s law.”
Also in April, the police arrested a former political prisoner, Tran
Duc Thach, for being affiliated with
a pro-democracy group called Brotherhood for Democracy. He was charged for
subversion under article 109 of the penal code. In December, a court convicted
and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
In May and June, the police arrested two members of the Independent Journalists
Association of Vietnam, Nguyen
Tuong Thuy and Le
Huu Minh Tuan. In January 2021, a
court in Ho Chi Minh City convicted and sentenced them each to 11 years in
prison. In the same trial, the founder of the association, blogger Pham Chi
Dung, received a 15-year prison sentence.
In June, the police arrested three contributors of the Liberal
Publishing House, Can
Thi Theu, also
a former political prisoner, and her sons Trinh
Ba Phuong and Trinh
Ba Tu. In October, police arrested
the co-founder of the Liberal Publishing House, prominent independent blogger Pham
Doan Trang. All of them were charged
with conducting propaganda against the state under article 117 of the penal
code.
“The Vietnamese government fears democracy, an independent media, and freedom,”
Sifton said. “Donors and trade partners need to publicly raise concerns about
the government’s abysmal rights record and to press Vietnam to meet its
international human rights obligations.”
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