VNHRN – Report on Human Rights in Viet Nam

report on human rights

Vietnam pointed to the above developments as signs of its commitment to human rights as it had pledged to do on becoming a UN member and party to various international human rights conventions. In reality, however, the human rights situation in Vietnam took a turn for the worse in 2013. The number of people detained for political views contrary to those of the ruling party increased, unabated police violence was reflected in the still high number of deaths and injuries caused by such violence, and the number of farmers whose land was expropriated without adequate compensation was on the rise.

VNHRN | April 30, 2014

Excutive Summary

The human rights situation in Vietnam in 2013 was marked with a number of notable events. First, Vietnam was elected to the UN Human Rights Council on November 12th. This selection was not a surprise because there were only four Asian countries vying for four empty seats. However, this was an opportunity Vietnam made use of, through the words of Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, “to let the world know the reality of respecting and guaranteeing human rights in political, economic, social, cultural, and civil issues in Viet Nam.”1 Second, on November 7th, Vietnam joined the UN Convention against Torture. Nevertheless, the event that attracted most attention was the introduction of human rights concepts into the Constitution, which was amended in November of the same year.

Vietnam pointed to the above developments as signs of its commitment to human rights as it had pledged to do on becoming a UN member and party to various international human rights conventions. In reality, however, the human rights situation in Vietnam took a turn for the worse in 2013. The number of people detained for political views contrary to those of the ruling party increased, unabated police violence was reflected in the still high number of deaths and injuries caused by such violence, and the number of farmers whose land was expropriated without adequate compensation was on the rise.

This report was made possible through the collaboration of many domestic and overseas Vietnamese to present to the world the human rights violations in Vietnam in 2013 in the following areas: Disregard of the rights to life, liberty, and security of persons,

Use of the courts as the ruling party’s tools, Suppression of political rights, Trampling on the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, Restrictions on religious activities and suppression of religious believers, Perpetuation of social inequalities and discrimination, Deprivation of workers’ basic labor rights, Welfare and social justice for the people remained unfulfilled promises.

With this report, the Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN) not only alerts world opinion to the deplorable human rights situation in Vietnam today, but also calls on the Hanoi government to end its violations that have gone on for too many years. At the same time, we demand Vietnam to deliver just compensations for the damages inflicted on the population and various communities. The VNHRN also expects freedom-loving and democratic governments and international human rights organizations to confront Vietnam with its bad-to-worse record on human rights; and especially to prevent the Vietnamese government from tarnishing the reputation of the United Nations Human Rights Council when it abuses its Council membership.

See full tex here: VNHRN_Report_2013