Human rights in Vietnam
Encyclopedia
Human rights in Vietnam have long been a matter of much controversy between the Government of Vietnam and some international human rights organizations and Western governments, particularly that of the United States. Under the current constitution the Communist Party of Vietnam
is the only one allowed to rule, the operation of all other political parties being outlawed: this is the main problem in terms of political freedom. Other human rights issues concern freedom of association
, freedom of speech
and freedom of the press
.
The report argued that freedoms of expression, press and information of the Vietnamese people were clearly illustrated through the rapid and diverse development of the mass media. As of 2008, there were over 700 press agencies with 850 publications, nearly 15,000 licensed journalists, 68 radio and television stations at central and provincial levels and land-based digital TV stations, 80 e-newspapers, thousands of news websites and 55 publishers. The people of Viet Nam were provided with greater access to advanced information technology, especially the internet, with about 20 million internet users, accounting for 23.5% of the population, higher than Asia’s average rate of 18%. Apart from the domestic media, the people of Viet Nam had access to dozens of foreign press agencies and television channels, including Reuters, BBC, VOA, AP, AFP, CNN and many other major international papers and magazines. The growing econonmy had enabled the Government to concentrate resources on such priorities as education, health, infrastructure development, human resource development, poverty reduction and assistance to underdeveloped areas. The government had promulgated and amended around 13,000 laws and by-law documents, in which civil and political rights are elaborated. The 1992 Constitution recognized fully all human rights (Articles 2 and 50).
The report highlighted the rapid growth, diverse forms of mass media, belief in the lively and diverse society in Vietnam, as well as securing the rights of women, children and the disabled. It argued that thanks to the protection and promotion of human rights, Vietnam's economy, society, and culture have made great strides. But the report also acknowledged that there are still inadequacies in the country, difficulties to be solved, in which the legal system lacks uniformity and spot overlapping conflicts, not keep up with reality, leading to difficulties, misunderstandings and even affect the constitutional guarantee, the feasibility and transparency in the process of ensuring human rights.
According to the Vietnamese embassy, the UN ratified Vietnam's human rights report. The embassy also stated that many of these countries appreciated Vietnam’s renewal, achievements and strong commitment to fostering human rights. Also, there were some opinions against the adoption but these were rejected.
characterized Vietnam’s human rights record as “poor” and cited the continuation of “serious abuses.” According to the report, the government has imposed restrictions on freedom of speech
, freedom of the press
, freedom of assembly
, and freedom of association
.
Recent US reports maintain the same observations and international human rights organizations that share these views include Human Rights Watch
and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
. The United Nations has highlighted religious persecution.
In 2009, the European Parliament expressed concern about "the growing climate of intolerance in Vietnam towards human rights defenders and members of officially unrecognised religious communities." It called on the government to end repression against freedom of expression, belief, and assembly, and to release its "political prisoners".
The government officially provides for freedom of religion
and recognizes Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hoa Hao
, Cao Dai
, and Muslim
denominations. However, the government supervises the clergies of the sanctioned groups (by approving appointments, for example) in the interest of “national unity”.
, Vietnam has made a number of changes to its constitution, laws, and practical policies in the area of human rights since the Doi Moi, or the economic reform in 1986. For instance, the Constitution was amended in 1991 to enshrine the protection of "political, civil, economic, cultural and cultural rights" for the first time, and the penal code explicitly banned torture
. Internationally, Vietnam was the second signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
. Though Vietnam retains capital punishment
, the Constitution of 1992 reduced the number of eligible crimes from 44 to 29, and over 90% of the population has access to health care
. In women's rights
, Vietnam ranks 2nd among Asia-Pacific
countries and 9th among 135 countries in percentage of Female Parliamentarians. Some countries support for Vietnam in the human rights improvement including China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Laos.
, a lawyer who several years previously had acted for the government in a successful case against American catfish
farmers, was arrested and charged with the capital crime of subversion
; several of his associates were also arrested. Many Western governments condemned the move, and human rights groups alleged that the arrest was due to Le Cong Dinh's support for freedom of speech. Amnesty International
named him and his arrested associates to be prisoners of conscience.
Vietnam currently holds several other individuals in detention that Amnesty International
considers to be prisoners of conscience: Cù Huy Hà Vũ
, convicted of "conducting propaganda against the state" for giving interviews to foreign press; Nguyen Dan Que
, convicted of "red-handed keeping and distributing documents" calling for the overthrow of the government; and Roman Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly (also known as Father Thaddeus) detained for "spreading propaganda against the state." Amnesty International
has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all three men.
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the...
is the only one allowed to rule, the operation of all other political parties being outlawed: this is the main problem in terms of political freedom. Other human rights issues concern freedom of association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
.
Vietnam's report about human rights in UN human rights council
A report drafted by the Vietnamese government for on 18 June 2007 for the United Nations Human Rights Council to review the implementation of human rights in the territory of Viet Nam stated: For Viet Nam, the people are both the ultimate objective and driving force of any social and economic development policy, and protecting and promoting human rights are always the Government’s consistent policy. The 1992 Constitution, the supreme law of the country, guarantees that all citizens enjoy equal political, economic, cultural and social rights, and are equal before the law. Every citizen has the right to participate in the management of the State and the society, the freedoms of religion and belief, the right to free movement and residence in the territory of Viet Nam, the right to complaints and petitions, the right to employment, education and healthcare etc. regardless of gender, race and religion. On that basis, Vietnamese laws enumerate the specific rights in accordance with international human rights standards.The report argued that freedoms of expression, press and information of the Vietnamese people were clearly illustrated through the rapid and diverse development of the mass media. As of 2008, there were over 700 press agencies with 850 publications, nearly 15,000 licensed journalists, 68 radio and television stations at central and provincial levels and land-based digital TV stations, 80 e-newspapers, thousands of news websites and 55 publishers. The people of Viet Nam were provided with greater access to advanced information technology, especially the internet, with about 20 million internet users, accounting for 23.5% of the population, higher than Asia’s average rate of 18%. Apart from the domestic media, the people of Viet Nam had access to dozens of foreign press agencies and television channels, including Reuters, BBC, VOA, AP, AFP, CNN and many other major international papers and magazines. The growing econonmy had enabled the Government to concentrate resources on such priorities as education, health, infrastructure development, human resource development, poverty reduction and assistance to underdeveloped areas. The government had promulgated and amended around 13,000 laws and by-law documents, in which civil and political rights are elaborated. The 1992 Constitution recognized fully all human rights (Articles 2 and 50).
The report highlighted the rapid growth, diverse forms of mass media, belief in the lively and diverse society in Vietnam, as well as securing the rights of women, children and the disabled. It argued that thanks to the protection and promotion of human rights, Vietnam's economy, society, and culture have made great strides. But the report also acknowledged that there are still inadequacies in the country, difficulties to be solved, in which the legal system lacks uniformity and spot overlapping conflicts, not keep up with reality, leading to difficulties, misunderstandings and even affect the constitutional guarantee, the feasibility and transparency in the process of ensuring human rights.
According to the Vietnamese embassy, the UN ratified Vietnam's human rights report. The embassy also stated that many of these countries appreciated Vietnam’s renewal, achievements and strong commitment to fostering human rights. Also, there were some opinions against the adoption but these were rejected.
Views of the West and international human rights organizations
In its 2004 report on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. State DepartmentUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
characterized Vietnam’s human rights record as “poor” and cited the continuation of “serious abuses.” According to the report, the government has imposed restrictions on freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
, and freedom of association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
.
Recent US reports maintain the same observations and international human rights organizations that share these views include Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization , formed in 11 February 1991, in The Hague, is an international organization of political organisations and governments representing self-proclaimed "indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories". The organization...
. The United Nations has highlighted religious persecution.
In 2009, the European Parliament expressed concern about "the growing climate of intolerance in Vietnam towards human rights defenders and members of officially unrecognised religious communities." It called on the government to end repression against freedom of expression, belief, and assembly, and to release its "political prisoners".
The government officially provides for freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
and recognizes Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
, Cao Dai
Cao Dai
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...
, and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
denominations. However, the government supervises the clergies of the sanctioned groups (by approving appointments, for example) in the interest of “national unity”.
Effect of Doi Moi
According to a 1997 report by the China Internet Information CenterChina Internet Information Center
China Internet Information Center is a web portal authorized by the People's Republic of China.Its current president is Huang Youyi.- Localization :...
, Vietnam has made a number of changes to its constitution, laws, and practical policies in the area of human rights since the Doi Moi, or the economic reform in 1986. For instance, the Constitution was amended in 1991 to enshrine the protection of "political, civil, economic, cultural and cultural rights" for the first time, and the penal code explicitly banned torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. Internationally, Vietnam was the second signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
. Though Vietnam retains capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, the Constitution of 1992 reduced the number of eligible crimes from 44 to 29, and over 90% of the population has access to health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
. In women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, Vietnam ranks 2nd among Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
countries and 9th among 135 countries in percentage of Female Parliamentarians. Some countries support for Vietnam in the human rights improvement including China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Laos.
Current human-rights related dissidents
In 2009, Le Cong DinhLe Cong Dinh
Le Cong Dinh is a prominent Vietnamese lawyer who sat on the defence of many high profile human rights cases in Vietnam...
, a lawyer who several years previously had acted for the government in a successful case against American catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
farmers, was arrested and charged with the capital crime of subversion
Subversion
Apache Subversion is a software versioning and a revision control system distributed under a free license. Developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation...
; several of his associates were also arrested. Many Western governments condemned the move, and human rights groups alleged that the arrest was due to Le Cong Dinh's support for freedom of speech. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
named him and his arrested associates to be prisoners of conscience.
Vietnam currently holds several other individuals in detention that Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
considers to be prisoners of conscience: Cù Huy Hà Vũ
Cù Huy Hà Vũ
Cù Huy Hà Vũ is a Vietnamese PhD-holding legal scholar. As a prominent government critic and a dissident in Vietnam, he has been taken into custody for, according to the communist-controlled media state, "propaganda against the state" and "plotting to overthrow the communist government of...
, convicted of "conducting propaganda against the state" for giving interviews to foreign press; Nguyen Dan Que
Nguyen Dan Que
Nguyen Dan Que, M.D. , also known as Nguyen Chau , is a Vietnamese endocrinologist and pro-democracy campaigner. He is one of the leading dissidents against the communist government in Vietnam....
, convicted of "red-handed keeping and distributing documents" calling for the overthrow of the government; and Roman Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly (also known as Father Thaddeus) detained for "spreading propaganda against the state." Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all three men.
See also
- LGBT rights in VietnamLGBT rights in VietnamLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender persons in Vietnam may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Vietnam, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections...
- Freedom of religion in VietnamFreedom of religion in VietnamThe Constitution of Vietnam provides for freedom of worship but government restrictions still remain on the organized activities of religious groups.-Religious demography:...
External links
- Vietnamese Human Rights Newspaper
- US Department of State Human Rights Report 2009 Vietnam
- Censorship in Vietnam - IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- Human rights in Vietnam on websites of international NGOs: Human Rights Watch and FIDH
- Vietnam Human Rights Journal (blogspot)
- www.rafto.no
- Vietnam Human Rights Network
- report
- Vietnam: from "Vision" to Facts. Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship in ASEAN FIDH, 2010
- UNPO - Vietnam Human Rights Report 2009
- National report of Vietnam under the universal periodic review of UN human rights council