According to a new report released by the Vietnam Network for Human Rights (VNHRN), there are currently nearly 300 prisoners of conscience being held in prisons in Vietnam and nearly 80 people have been detained by the authorities in the past year.
“Vietnam continues to violate basic human rights, from discrimination, arbitrary arrest, and detention, to violations of guarantees of a fair trial, to restrictions on freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association, etc.” The Human Rights Report in Vietnam 2020-2021, released on June 20 by the California-based organization.
VNHRN statistics show that there are 288 prisoners of conscience still being held in many prisons across Vietnam, including many journalists, Facebookers, religious figures, democracy activists, and land rights advocates. The report also said that Communist Party authorities arrested an additional 79 people as of May 31.
In a press release issued on June 20, VNHRN said that the report, with the participation of a number of Vietnamese human rights activists, includes eight chapters corresponding to the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which addresses violations of freedom of speech and religion, police brutality, human trafficking, violations of fundamental principles of criminal procedure law, the inhumane prison system, and violent repression, among many other violations.
The Hanoi government has not publicly commented on this report of the Vietnam Human Rights Network. A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi has always said that there are no so-called “prisoners of conscience” in Vietnam and that no one is detained for expressing their views.
Vietnam earlier this year announced its candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council. When announcing this candidacy in February, then-Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh talked about Vietnam’s efforts and achievements in “protecting and promoting human rights.” During its last candidacy in 2013, Vietnam pledged in a note to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, that it “respects and guarantees” the rights and fundamental freedoms of the Vietnamese people.
However, the Vietnamese government’s violations of freedom of expression in the past year have been repeatedly criticized by international human rights organizations.
Reporters Without Borders ranked Vietnam near the bottom of the table, 175/180 countries, in the list of World Press Freedom Index 2021. Freedom House, in its latest report on freedom in the world, commented Vietnam is a country without freedom. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Vietnam in the group of countries with the most stringent press censorship in the world. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch assessed the state of freedom of expression and freedom of information in Vietnam as very poor in its latest annual report, which said that “online dissidents often regularly face harassment and intimidation” by the government in 2020.
According to a newly released VNHR report, at least 46 people have been arrested and prosecuted as of May 31 for violating the 2015 Criminal Code after “expressing their political views through social networks,” allegation authorities called “anti-state.” The California human rights group said that others arrested over the past year included political activists, independent journalists, and land rights petitioners.
Pham Doan Trang, winner of Reporters Without Borders, was among the journalists detained by the Vietnamese government in 2020. Earlier in the year, two members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan were also arrested. Truong Chau Huu Danh, a member of the Clean Newspaper group, was arrested late last year, and the other three members of the group were arrested earlier this year.
Among those convicted, last year was writer Tran Duc Thach, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the People’s Court of Nghe An province for “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.” Earlier this year, Chairman of the Independent Journalists Association Pham Chi Dung and two other members of the group were sentenced to a total of 37 years in prison for “making and possessing” documents aimed at “undermining the state.”
The VNHRN report also provides specific and actionable recommendations for the Vietnamese government, other governments and organizations with ties to the Vietnamese government, international human rights agencies, and overseas Vietnamese to promote respect for human rights for the Vietnamese people.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
