Vietnam : Oral statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council
On 27 September 2024, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) delivered a statement at the 57th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council for the Interactive Dialogue for the adoption of Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The statement expressed criticism of the Vietnamese government’s behavior during the current UPR and urged UN member states to press the Vietnamese government to release all political prisoners and initiate legal, institutional, and democratic reforms. Read the statement below.
FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
UN Human Rights Council – 57th Session
Item 6: Oral Statement for the adoption of Vietnam’s UPR
27 September 2024
Madam Vice-President,
FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights are extremely disturbed by the Vietnamese government’s behavior during the current UPR. Such behavior is unbecoming of a Council member and shows the government is determined to pursue a path of repression of independent civil society for another UPR cycle.
The government’s full or partial acceptance of 85% of the UPR recommendations is misleading. The devil is in the detail and Hanoi’s dismissal of recommendations related to key civil and political rights is a serious concern.
Recommendations calling for the amendment or repeal of legislation, including Articles 117 and 331 of the Criminal Code, which have been routinely used to punish individuals for the exercise of their human rights, have not been accepted.
These so-called “national security” provisions are the cornerstone of government repression. Since January, at least 26 individuals, including four women, have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 14 years in politically motivated and unfair trials. Nearly all were found guilty under Articles 117 and 331.
Reprisals against human rights defenders, the existence of political prisoners, and the repression of members of civil society and unregistered religious groups are real. They are not “inaccurate and groundless assessments,” as Hanoi claims.
Harassment of human rights defenders and their families continues unabated. Vietnam holds around 200 political prisoners, who may soon be joined by Montagnard human rights defender and asylum seeker Y Quynh Bdap, if Hanoi’s bid to extradite him from Thailand is successful.
Political prisoners such as environmental lawyer Dang Dinh Bach remain subjected to harsh conditions. These include prolonged solitary confinement and the denial of adequate medical care.
We are troubled by the government’s refusal to accept all the recommendations for the release of individuals, including human rights defenders, who have been deprived of their liberty for exercising their rights.
The government also rejected nearly all recommendations on the death penalty. Hanoi’s commitment to limit the application of the death penalty to “the most serious crimes” and that its use “always strictly conforms with [the] ICCPR” are contradicted by ongoing cases of the imposition of death sentences for financial crimes, in blatant contravention of Article 6 of the ICCPR.
We urge UN member states to press the Vietnamese government to release all political prisoners, address long-standing human rights violations, end impunity for abuses, and initiate much-needed legal, institutional, and democratic reforms.
Thank you.
FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) – September 27, 2024