CSW calls on the Vietnamese leadership to take urgent action to protect human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), as an important party congress gets underway in Vietnam.
The 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, scheduled to take place from 25 January to 2 February, will select new leaders for the four top leadership positions in the nation and largely shape the country’s key policies for the next five-year period.
The congress comes amid a significant deterioration in human rights in the country, including a severe crackdown on freedom of expression ahead of the meeting. On 5 January, authorities sentenced journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan to between 11 and 15 years in prison. All three journalists are members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN). They were convicted of “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the state.”
Restrictions on journalists, human rights defenders, environmental activists and others, have been tightening in Vietnam for several years. In April 2018, six Vietnamese defendants were sentenced to between seven and 15 years in prison for activities “against the state.” Among those imprisoned were activist and pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, and legal expert Nguyen Bac Truyen. Truyen was recently awarded the Stefanus Prize in recognition of his work promoting human rights in Vietnam, including the right to FoRB.
On 21 January, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Vietnam, highlighting the cases of the three independent journalists and the state’s strict control over online and offline media, as well as restrictions on the right to FoRB and the harsh treatment of human rights defenders.
The resolution calls on the Vietnamese authorities to stop harassing journalists, activists, and human rights and environmental defenders, to remove all restrictions on FoRB, and to end the harassment of religious communities. The resolution also makes recommendations to the EU institutions to strengthen monitoring of human rights violations in Vietnam, reiterating calls for the EU and Vietnam to “set up an independent monitoring mechanism on human rights and an independent complaints mechanism, providing affected citizens and local stakeholders with effective recourse to remedy.”
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “A change of leadership in Vietnam presents an important opportunity to reverse the deterioration in human rights, and in particular the severe crackdown on freedom of expression, which has been observed in the country over recent years. CSW urges the Communist Party of Vietnam to seize this opportunity. We also welcome the recent European Parliament resolution and call on the authorities to release all those arbitrarily detained in connection with the peaceful defence of human rights and to address the prevalence of torture and ill-treatment in the country, as well as restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief in law and in practice.”