Vietnam : UN rights review should call for urgent reform

Worsening repression of free speech, labor rights, religious freedom

United Nations member countries should use the upcoming review of Vietnam’s record on civil and political rights at the UN Human Rights Committee to press the government to end its crackdown on dissent and other basic rights, Human Rights Watch said in its submission to the committee. The review of Vietnam’s report on its adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it ratified in 1982, will take place on July 7-8, 2025, in Geneva.

Following Vietnam’s previous review in 2019, the Human Rights Committee urged Vietnam to “take all necessary steps, including revising legislation, to end violations of the right to freedom of expression offline and online,” among other rights violations. Since then, repression in the country has worsened, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Vietnamese government claims that its citizens enjoy freedom of expression, but this ‘freedom’ disappears for anyone who calls for democracy or criticizes the Communist Party,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “UN member countries should use Vietnam’s review to call out the government’s systematic repression of civil and political rights and urge genuine reforms.”

The Vietnamese authorities severely restrict all civil and political rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and religion. They prohibit independent rights groups, labor unions, media, many religious groups, and other organizations operating outside government control. Rights activists and bloggers who criticize the government or advocate for reform face police intimidation, harassment, restricted movement, arbitrary arrest and detention, prosecution, and long prison sentences after unfair trials.

The Vietnamese authorities frequently use penal code article 117, which criminalizes “making, storing, [or] disseminating information” critical of the state, to prosecute and imprison activists for posting or publishing statements opposing government policies. In recent years the government has also significantly increased the use of penal code article 331 to target citizens who have complained or filed grievances against even low-level officials. Article 331 criminalizes the act of “abusing the rights to democracy and freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations, individuals,” and punishes violations with up to seven years in prison.

From 2024 and through April 2025, courts in Vietnam convicted and sentenced at least 16 people to long prison terms under article 117, including prominent human rights activists Nguyen Chi Tuyen, who has used social media to criticize the government’s human rights record, Nguyen Vu Binh, a blogger, and Phan Van Bach, a democracy campaigner. Between 2018 and April 2025, Vietnamese courts convicted and sentenced at least 128 people to harsh prison terms under article 331, including prominent lawyer Tran Dinh Trien, influential blogger Truong Huy San, and internet commentator Nguyen Thai Hung.

More than 170 people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for criticizing the government or the Vietnamese Communist Party. All media are under Party control and Vietnam is the world’s third largest jailer of journalists.

In November 2024, the Vietnamese government issued Decree 147 to regulate the use and provision of internet services and online information. The decree expands government control over access to information on the internet for vaguely defined reasons of “national security” and “social order,” and to prevent transgressions of Vietnam’s “morals, beautiful customs, and traditions.” The authorities have extensively misused such legislation to repress political dissent.

As a matter of law and practice, the Vietnamese government does not allow independent unions to represent workers: its Trade Union Law only allows government-controlled “unions.” The government has still not ratified the International Labour Organization Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, despite making a pledge to do so. While the government claims that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is a “labor confederation” of enterprise-level unions, it is not independent, nor does it comprise labor unions: its leaders are appointed by the Vietnamese government or the Party.

The Vietnamese government restricts religious freedom and practice through legislation, registration requirements, harassment, and surveillance. Religious groups are required to gain approval from, and register with, the government, as well as operate under government-controlled management boards. As of April the government had granted permission to “43 religious organizations which belong to 16 religions” to operate in Vietnam. It acknowledged that by 2021, it had not officially recognized about 140 religious groups with approximately one million followers.

“UN members should not be taken in by Vietnam’s baseless assertions but instead denounce the government’s terrible human rights record,” Pearson said. “They should press Vietnam to commit to real change, not empty words.”

Human Rights Watch – July 7, 2025