German State Secretary Meets Vietnamese Activists During His Visit in Hanoi

human rights

The Vietnamese representatives presented the real situation of the legal implementation in the country and democratic activists, difficulties in dissemination and implementation of civil rights and human rights, assesments on amendments of the Constitution and laws.
Vietnamese activists said local civil societies are still young and meet many difficulties in their operations. However, they said local citizens have to fight for their rights.

By Vu Quoc Ngu | Apr 19, 2015

State Secretary  Christian Lange of the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection met with representatives of some Vietnamese civil organizations in Hanoi on April 15 on the sidelines of his official visit to the communist nation, according to social network.

Accompanied him at the meeting were the head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the ministry who is responsible for policies and cooperation programs with Vietnam, the state secretary’s assistant, representatives of the German Embassy and organizations in Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dai from the Brotherhood of Democracy and independent blogger Anh Chi represented the Vietnamese side.

During the meeting, Mr. Lange shared the German government policies and point of view regarding relationship with the communist government in Vietnam. The German officials asked about law enforcement in Vietnam, the establishment and development of Vietnam’s civil organizations, points of view of local social activists regarding the amendments of the country’s Constitution 2013 and laws.

In turn, the Vietnamese representatives presented the real situation of the legal implementation in the country and democratic activists, difficulties in dissemination and implementation of civil rights and human rights, assesments on amendments of the Constitution and laws.

Vietnamese activists said local civil societies are still young and meet many difficulties in their operations. However, they said local citizens have to fight for their rights.

After the frank talks, blogger Anh Chi, on behalf of Vietnam’s civil organizations, thanked Mr. Lange and the German Embassy for their concerns while the German guests expressed their wishes for strong development of Vietnamese civil organizations.

Earlier on April 14, Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection signed a cooperation program named “Dialogue on Rule of Law States” for the 2015-2018 period.

The cooperation program includes building and perfecting the trade law, the penal code law and the law on criminal procedure with focus on juvenile crime, and economic crimes.

Along assisting Vietnam in training judicial officials, Germany has pledged to help Vietnam disseminate laws and other legal documents among local residents.