EU-Vietnam trade agreement has failed to promote rights
When European Union Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič visits Vietnam this week, he should use his meetings with officials to address Vietnam’s violations of the 2020 EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and its broken pledges to the EU on human rights, including labor rights.
Human Rights Watch and other groups repeatedly warned EU officials about Vietnam’s rights record before the EVFTA was ratified. But officials in Brussels claimed the agreement would encourage Vietnam to follow through on reforms.
Since then, as we noted in a letter to Šefčovič, Vietnam has not only failed to undertake any significant reforms but intensified its systematic repression of basic freedoms.
Vietnam has failed to ratify a key labor rights convention obligating it to allow independent trade unions to register and operate freely, despite pledging to do so by the end of 2023, and has not taken steps to uphold other treaties it has already joined. It has also failed to implement modest changes to its labor laws to allow the formation of independent “worker representative organizations.” Even if authorities allowed such groups, they would be unable to engage in basic union activities like electing representatives or bargaining, and likely be forced to affiliate with the government-controlled Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.
The Vietnamese government has been clear it has no intention of allowing independent unions, with state media calling them “hostile forces.” A Communist Party of Vietnam directive in 2023 ordered enhanced scrutiny of labor groups, civil society, and foreign organizations, specifically in the context of Vietnam’s implementation of new trade agreements.
In 2021, a Vietnamese court sentenced journalist Pham Chi Dung to 15 years in prison, in part for his public plea to the European Parliament not to ratify the EVFTA. A few months later, labor rights activists Mai Phan Loi and Dang Dinh Bach were arrested after they tried to join the EVFTA’s Domestic Advisory Group, tasked with monitoring implementation of the agreement. In April 2024 police arrested Nguyen Van Binh and Vu Minh Tien, senior officials who had advocated for more meaningful reforms.
In April 2025, several human rights and labor groups filed complaints with the EU that Vietnam had breached labor and human rights provisions in the EVFTA. The EU should act on those complaints and seek punitive measures to compel Hanoi to cease its abuses and steer toward long-needed reforms.
By John Sifton – Human Rights Watch – September 24, 2025