Each year on May 11, the United States observes Vietnam Human Rights Day - a day to remember the importance of advancing fundamental freedoms including freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion.
Vietnam remains an authoritarian state ruled by a single party, the Communist Party of Vietnam. According to the State Department’s most recent human rights report on Vietnam, “There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Vietnam in the past year.”
Based on reports by media, NGOs, and other observers, Vietnamese authorities as of October 31 held at least 187 persons for political or human rights activism, including 162 convicts and 25 in pretrial detention. According to media and human rights groups, from January 1 to October 31, authorities detained 25 individuals and convicted 23 who were exercising internationally recognized human rights such as the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Most of these arrests and convictions were linked to online blogging.
Vietnam’s constitution and law provide for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media; however, according to the human rights report, the government does not respect these rights. The government continues to use broad national security and antidefamation provisions in the law to restrict freedom of expression.
Vietnam’s government restricts speech that criticizes individual government leaders or the party, promotes political pluralism or multiparty democracy, or questions policies on sensitive matters, such as human rights, religious freedom, sovereignty disputes with the People’s Republic of China, or coercive land seizure.
Independent journalists continue to face restrictions on freedom of movement, other forms of harassment, and physical attacks if they report on sensitive topics, notes the human rights report. The government also monitors journalists’ meetings and communications. The government punishes journalists for failing to self-censor, including by revoking journalists’ press credentials.
The Vietnamese government continues to exercise “significant government control over religious practices,” according to the latest International Religious Freedom Report. Indeed, the United States expressed its deep concern recently about the ongoing convictions of Vietnamese ethnic minority and religious freedom advocates. Five such convictions have occurred since January.
As State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said, “We call upon Vietnam to respect the rights of individuals to exercise freedoms of expression, association, and religion or belief. He added, “We reiterate our call on Vietnam to release all those unjustly detained.”
