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Tag: Human Rights

  • Pham Doan Trang in BBC News Tiếng Việt: Phán quyết từ LHQ nói VN ‘bắt giữ tùy tiện’ nhà hoạt động Phạm Đoan Trang

    The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) has just released its verdict on the case of journalist Pham Doan Trang and says that Vietnam ‘arbitrarily detained’ activist Pham Doan Trang.

    Excerpt:

    International human rights lawyer Kurtuluş Baştima, who filed Pham Doan Trang’s case with the UN, told BBC News Vietnamese that he received the UN’s ruling on October 25.

    Accordingly, the judgment said that Pham Doan Trang was arrested and detained without an arrest warrant, nor was she informed of the reason for her arrest. Since being arrested until now, Ms. Trang has not been able to see her relatives, and her meeting with a lawyer has been delayed for a long time. As a result, Ms. Trang’s rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) have been violated.

    The working group concluded that the Vietnamese government had “arbitrarily detained journalist Pham Doan Trang for the past 11 months”, and that she should be released immediately.

    “The current case is one of many submitted to UNWGAD in recent years related to arbitrary arrests in Vietnam. These cases follow a similar pattern of arrests that do not comply with the regulations. international norms; prolonged detention pending trial without access to indictment files, access to lawyers, prosecution under dubious criminal offenses…; no access to the outside world.”

    “This pattern points to a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Vietnam that, if continued, could seriously violate international law,” the UNWGAD report reads.

    In the 17-page ruling, UNWGAD also laid out further measures to monitor Vietnam’s compliance, asking the Vietnamese government, within six months, to provide information including:

    Has Pham Doan Trang been released yet? If so, what time?

    Have the terms of compensation been fulfilled?

    Has an investigation been conducted for the violation of Pham Doan Trang’s rights? How’s the result?

    Have there been any legal amendments, namely Article 117 of the old Penal Code and Article 88 of the new Penal Code to be consistent with international obligations?

    Has any other action been taken under this judgment?

    Perspectives from international human rights lawyers

    “This is a very important ruling,” Mr Kurtuluş Baştima told the BBC. He analyzed:

    “Pham Doan Trang could not object to her detention, so her right to apply remedial measures under Article 2(3) ICCPR was violated.”

    “In addition, UNWGAD ruled that Article 117 of the old Penal Code or Article 88 (Amendment of the Penal Code) were too vague and broad to be used as a legal basis to invoke arrest and detention. Pham Doan Trang.”

    In addition, the right to freedom of speech, the right to association and the right to express opinions are also violated by the Vietnamese state, because all activities of Ms. Trang as an author, blogger and journalist are prevented. .”

    “Ultimately, the delay in allowing Ms. Trang to see a lawyer caused her right to a fair trial to be violated under Article 14 of the ICCPR. Ms. Trang’s detention was due to her participation in anti-corruption and civil rights reporting. owner is a violation of his right to engage in public affairs, in particular Article 25(a) of the ICCPR.”

    “This is a decision made by UNWGAD based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This convention places an obligation on the state to respect those decisions. Ms. Trang’s lawyer in Vietnam Nam should use this decision of the UN in the upcoming trial,” said Mr. Kurtuluş Baştima.

    However, Mr. Kurtuluş Baştima said that the UN’s ruling is not legally binding, so UNWGAD cannot impose penalties if the Vietnamese government does not implement the proposals made by the UN.

    However, this does not mean that the Vietnamese government will be ignored this decision. Because if not, the Vietnamese government will be held responsible for violating international law and UNWGAD will refer the situation to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

    Immediately following the UN ruling, a joint statement on Tuesday from 28 national and international civil society organizations called on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Pham Doan Trang.

    The suppression of Doan Trang and other human rights defenders, including independent writers and journalists, is part of an increasingly worse attack on freedom of expression and information in Vietnam. South,” the joint statement read.

    The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – UNWGAD – was established on the basis of Resolution 1991/42 of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and has the task of investigating arrests, detentions and imprisonments made by member states, whether it is in accordance with the UN Charter of Human Rights.

    They have the right to request that governments and states submit periodic reports or on specific cases related to acts, decisions or trials that deprive citizens of their freedoms in the Member State.

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    Phan quyet tu LHQ noi VN bat giu tuy tien nha hoat ong Pham oan Trang BBC News Tieng Viet
    Phán quyết từ LHQ nói VN ‘bắt giữ tùy tiện’ nhà hoạt động Phạm Đoan Trang – BBC News Tiếng Việt.pdf
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    Judgment from UN says Vietnam arbitrarily detained activist Pham Doan Trang BBC News Vietnamese
    Judgment from UN says Vietnam ‘arbitrarily detained’ activist Pham Doan Trang – BBC News Vietnamese.pdf
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  • Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Releases Political Dissident Ahead Of Prime Minister’s Visit To The United States

    Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Releases Political Dissident Ahead Of Prime Minister’s Visit To The United States

    The Vietnam Briefing, which is released every Monday morning Vietnam time, looks at Vietnam’s social and political developments of the past week.

    Source:  The Vietnamese Magazine

    Family of Vietnamese land rights activists petitions the international community for the release of their detained members

    • In a petition released on social media on April 30, family members of the detained land activists Can Thi Theu, Trinh Ba Phuong, and Trinh Ba Tu called on international human rights advocates and foreign embassies in Vietnam to pay attention to the detention of these activists and urge Hanoi to drop all charges against them.
    • Theu and her two sons, Tu and Phuong, are land rights activists in Duong Noi Commune, Hanoi City. In 2021, Theu and Tu were each sentenced to eight years in prison while Phuong was sentenced to 10 years for their alleged activities involving “making, storing, and distributing propaganda and documents against the State.” They became land and human rights activists after the local authorities seized their farmland in 2008 without paying just compensation.
    • Do Thi Thu, wife of Trinh Ba Phuong, who wrote the petition, said that although the Duong Noi farmers had peacefully and lawfully advocated for their legitimate rights to land usage over the years, the Vietnamese authorities had “repeatedly threatened, assaulted, detained, and imprisoned” them. Thu added that the arrests and detention of her family members violate international conventions on freedom of expression, which Vietnam has signed.
    • The petition also highlighted the abuses and mistreatment by correctional officers against the detained activists. According to the petition, Trinh Ba Phuong was reportedly beaten while in custody while Trinh Ba Tu suffered kidney failure due to being tortured in prison; Can Thi Theu was kept in pretrial detention with  HIV-infected prisoners.
    • Meanwhile, Trinh Ba Khiem, Theu’s husband, received a police summons on May 11 and May 12 because of his live-streaming on Facebook criticizing the Vietnamese government for the imprisonment of his wife and two sons. In an interview with RFA, Khiem said that the police threatened to arrest and prosecute him if he did not stop live-streaming his criticisms.
    • Khiem also visited Trinh Ba Tu on May 9 and Can Thi Theu on May 12 in prison. Tu said that his health remains in good condition despite being previously tortured while in custody; he added that the police illegally cracked his phone’s password and accessed his personal accounts without the lawyer’s presence.
    • Meanwhile, Can Thi Theu’s current imprisonment condition is much more preferable to her previous pretrial detention, according to Trinh Ba Khiem. Theu also said that she sent her gratitude to those who stood by her family’s activism over the past years.

    The 88 Project’s latest report: Vietnam stepped up arrests in 2021

    • In the latest report released on May 9, The 88 Project, a nonprofit organization advocating for the freedom of expression in Vietnam, highlighted the Vietnamese government’s increasing persecution and crackdown of media professionals and civil society leaders in Vietnam.
    • According to The 88 Project’s database, Hanoi arrested 12 media professionals in 2021, a significant increase from just three arrests in 2019. The organization noted that this trend represented the government’s “desperate attempt to stamp out fledgling efforts to promote press freedom in [Vietnam.]”
    • Another worrying issue is the Vietnamese government’s suppression of civil society with the detention and imprisonment of leaders of registered civil organizations. Civil society leaders such as Mai Phan Loi, Dang Dinh Bach, and Bach Hung Duong have been arrested and imprisoned on “tax evasion” charges. Earlier this year, environmental leader Nguy Thi Khanh was arrested under the same allegation.

    Vietnamese Prime Minister arrives in Washington D.C. for the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit

    • On May 11, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh arrived in Washington D.C. to attend the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit, an event hosted to mark the 45th anniversary of the bilateral relationship between the United States and other ASEAN countries, state media reported. The event took place from May 12 to 13.
    • Chinh’s agenda during his official visit to Washington includes the promotion of U.S.-Vietnam cooperation in economic development, trade, national defense, healthcare, and energy. According to State media, the two countries are also expected to reaffirm their bilateral commitments to support “a strong, independent and prosperous Vietnam,” according to State media.
    • During his speech at the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Pham Minh Chinh emphasized crucial elements such as sincerity, trust, and responsibility and their essential role in fostering healthy international relations. Chinh also promoted the need to strengthen international cooperation by “respecting each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, political institutions, and international law.”
    • However, Vietnam’s public commitment to uphold international law and the UN Charter stood in contrast to its failure to publicly condemn Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Since the war broke out in Ukraine, Hanoi twice abstained from the United Nations’ resolution condemning the act of aggression and voted against the U.S.-led attempt to suspend Moscow’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council.
    • Meanwhile, Vietnam’s social media exploded last week after a diplomatic scandal happened before Prime Minister Chinh met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington D.C. on May 13.
    • In a video live-streamed on the State Department’s Youtube channel, Chinh and other members of the Vietnamese delegation to the summit were heard making imprudent comments regarding the two countries’ relationship and diplomatic affairs. The video is no longer accessible on Youtube.
    • Many netizens have criticized the country’s leaders for their lack of courtesy while on diplomatic trips abroad. In November 2021, a video recording of Minister of Public Security To Lam’s luxurious meal in London at the restaurant of Nurset Gokce, popularly known as Salt Bae,  also attracted enormous public attention and widespread criticism.
    • The video was later deleted from Salt Bae’s personal account, but netizens in Vietnam downloaded it and republished it on social media.

    Human Rights Watch sends a letter to President Joe Biden to address human rights issues in the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit

    • On May 6, Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW)  in an open letter called on U.S. President Joe Biden to “feature robust discussion” on human rights, democracy, and rule of law both among Southeast Asian countries and the United States in the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit on May 12.
    • The letter also urged the Biden administration not to ignore problematic human rights violations in many ASEAN countries as it seeks to shore up alliances with members amid China’s growing influence in the region. The worsening situation and severe human rights abuses in Southeast Asia “threaten to corrode US efforts to strengthen ties” with the region’s nations.
    • HRW wrote that “Vietnam’s one-party authoritarian state has imprisoned more than 150 people for exercising their right to free speech and peaceful assembly.” The country’s penal code also “criminalizes criticism of the government,” the rights advocate added.
    • Hanoi on May 11 released Ho Duc Hoa, a Vietnamese journalist, and rights activist, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison, ahead of the special summit between the United States and ASEAN countries. Hoa was released after serving 11 years in jail, and he later boarded a plane to the United States with Tran Thi Thuy, another land rights activist who was sentenced to eight years in prison.
    • According to RFA, Vietnam has previously released high-profile political prisoners ahead of diplomatic meetings with U.S. leaders. During Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Vietnam in August 2021, Hanoi also released detained Vietnamese-Americans Angel Phan and James Han Nguyen. Phan and Nguyen were convicted of allegedly attempting to overthrow the State in 2018 and were both sentenced to 14 years in prison.

    Vietnam responds to the UN Commission on Human Rights’ mandate on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association

    • On April 27, the permanent mission of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the United Nations responded to the UN Special Rapporteurs’ mandates concerning the Vietnamese government’s restrictions on the freedom of expression, assembly, and association.
    • Previously, the Special Rapporteurs in an open letter expressed their “serious concerns” over a number of the Vietnamese government’s amended decrees and decisions. According to the rapporteurs, these updated legislations are allegedly used to restrict the activities and funding of national and international nonprofit organizations (NGOs) and further control public meetings and seminars in Vietnam.
    • In its response, Vietnam said that these regulations are used to “ensure transparent and effective operations” and do not “contain any provisions relating to restrictions on freedom of association and assembly.” “Vietnam always respects, protects, and ensures citizens’ rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and access to information according to the 2013 Constitution and laws,” the letter stated.
    • However, the Vietnamese government’s latest suppression of registered NGOs and civil society leaders shows that Hanoi has zero-tolerance for anyone challenging its one-Party rule. According to The 88 Project, there are currently 206 activists in prison and another 334 at risk in Vietnam.

    Imagery shows China still building on Subi Reef in the South China Sea

    RFA:

    • “Recent satellite imagery shows that China continues to actively develop its facilities on the disputed Subi Reef in the South China Sea, two months after a top U.S. commander said Beijing had “fully militarized” the reef.
    • Simularity Inc., a U.S. geospatial intelligence company, said that an analysis of satellite imagery from May 5 revealed new structures and seven active construction sites on Subi, the coral reef occupied by China since 1988 but also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

    Vietnam Insight: Learn more about Vietnam

    Parsing the News About the Vietnam-Russia Joint Military Drills

    The Diplomat/ Hai Hong Nguyen/ May 12

    “However, Vietnam is also aware that any public sign of taking sides with Russia while the latter’s troops and tanks are still occupying Ukraine could expose it to consequences and cost it much-needed U.S. support in the South China Sea. Surely, Vietnamese diplomats would not be so naïve as to take this risk to Vietnam’s national interests at a time when the West is [closely] watching those countries who are continuing to do business with Russia at a time of increasing international tension.”

    US will have to work hard to win over Vietnam’s conservatives

    Nikkei Asia/ Dien Luong/ May 11

    “As public sentiments in Vietnam on the Ukraine crisis suggest, America’s much-touted role as a global security guarantor has yet again been thrown into question. At least, that is how the conservatives are portraying it. Still, suspicions of the U.S. agenda by Vietnamese hard-liners are not utterly groundless.

    Against this backdrop, the million-dollar question for champions of U.S.-Vietnam rapprochement is how to advance bilateral ties forward without ruffling conservative feathers, a treacherous line to straddle.”

    Why Vietnam Might Want to Reconsider its Russia Policy

    ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute/ Derek Grossman/ May 11

    “Economic ties between Russia and Vietnam, however, are minimal. In 2020, for example, their two-way trade turnover was less than US$5 billion. For comparison, Vietnam’s combined trade with China and the United States during the same year reached US$153.4 billion and US$87.2 billion, respectively.[5] Russia’s accumulative investment in Vietnam also remains modest, at only US$944 million across 144 projects by the end of 2020.[6] A significant component of economic cooperation is joint energy extraction operations. For example, Vietsovpetro, a joint venture established in the 1980s between Russia’s Zarubezhneft and PetroVietnam, had by the late 2010s produced approximately 242.7 million tonnes of crude oil and 37.3 billion cubic meters of gas from the South China Sea.[7]”

    Vietnam Relations Are a Quiet U.S. Victory Already

    Foreign Policy/ Brian Eyler/ May 9

    “Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is making his first visit to the United States later this week for the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit. Since the mid-1990s, when U.S. President Bill Clinton and a cohort of bipartisan allies reestablished relations with Vietnam, the two countries have achieved remarkable things. Hanoi is now one of Washington’s top trading partners in the region, and the United States has invested billions of dollars in Agent Orange remediation and other remaining war legacy issues, showing how, with persistence and trust, former adversaries can turn into partners.”

    Viet Premier’s Delicate Pilgrimage to Washington

    Asia Sentinel/ David Brown/ May 6

    “Chinh and his colleagues must tread very carefully in Washington. Attention there is riveted on the Ukraine crisis. Many who are directing the proxy confrontation with Russia lack a nuanced appreciation of America’s Asia-Pacific interests. In support of Ukraine, Vietnam (though for its own good reasons) has been out of step with the rest of America’s friends, and that does not sit well with the Eurocentrists in the US foreign policy establishment.

    The Vietnamese prime minister’s very presence in Washington may prompt negative comment. Aggressive interlocutors may ask why the US shouldn’t sanction Hanoi’s purchases of Russian weapons systems and decry Hanoi’s failure to join UN votes condemning Putin’s war.”

    Vietnam’s Peacekeeping Contributions: Drivers and Prospects

    ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute/ Phan Xuan Dung, Nguyen Cao Viet Hung/ April 29

    “In the coming years, boosting peacekeeping contributions will remain a major diplomatic and defense task for Vietnam. The Political Report of the 13th CPV National Congress in 2021 reaffirms the Party’s vision for national defense and foreign policy priorities, which emphasizes a peaceful external environment, protection of the Homeland from afar, enhanced defense diplomacy, and effective and proactive participation in multilateral organizations, including the UN.[30] It specifically notes that Vietnam should step up international cooperation and integration on defense and security, and contribute positively and effectively to UN PKO. President Phuc, who is also Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council, has asked the VPA to study and participate in more peacekeeping fields, enlarge the number of peacekeepers, and explore more operating geographical areas.[31]”

    💡
    More from The Vietnamese Magazine. 

  • Pham Doan Trang in US Congress Press Release: Lofgren, Chris Smith, and Colleagues Urge President Biden to Highlight Vietnam Human Rights Concerns During US-ASEAN Summit

    Six US Representatives signed a letter to President Biden urging him to elevate the human right abuses by the Vietnamese Government in the upcoming U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the White House with Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

    Title: Lofgren, Chris Smith, and Colleagues Urge President Biden to Highlight Vietnam Human Rights Concerns During US-ASEAN Summit
    Publish Date: May 13, 2022
    Publisher: US Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren website

    Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, DC – Ahead of the U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the White House, U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), and House colleagues sent a letter to President Biden, urging him to raise the issue of the Vietnamese government’s human rights abuses in his meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

    “U.S. policy should press for expanding freedom for the Vietnamese people, and not support the privileged Communist Party elites who oppress them,” wrote the lawmakers.

    The letter highlights the ongoing harassment of religious and indigenous communities. It also asks President Biden to specifically raise the release of numerous prisoners of conscience and journalists who have been persecuted by the Vietnamese government, including Nguyen Bac Truyen, who Lofgren has been advocating for since 2020.

    The lawmakers continued, “Given the egregious nature of Vietnam’s violations of religious freedom, we also believe that you should instruct the State Department to place Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern.”

    The full letter from the Members follows.

    Dear President Biden:

    In advance of the upcoming US-ASEAN Summit (May 12-13), we ask that in your meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam you explicitly raise concern about his government’s antagonistic policies towards religious minorities, indigenous communities, and political dissidents, and instruct State Department officials to do the same in meetings with their counterparts.

    While we welcome the opportunity for expanded robust, regional diplomacy and the strengthening ties with partners in the region, we need to emphasize the need for shared goals and common principles. To that end, the upcoming US-ASEAN Summit will be an opportune forum to highlight the importance of human rights and freedom of expression.

    More to the point, we believe that a freer Vietnam – which has the potential to be a strategic partner of the United States against the People’s Republic of China’s hegemonistic ambitions – would advance critical national interests of the United States. While the Vietnamese people as a whole are very patriotic, we are concerned by reports that members of the Vietnamese Communist Party are becoming increasingly compromised economically and politically by Communist China. Further evidence of increasing ties between these two communist parties is evidence, recently cited by the Uyghur Tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice, that Vietnam has repatriated Uyghurs to China at the request of the PRC government, and, per the Department of Homeland Security, is importing cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for reexport, thus helping the PRC bypass sanctions prescribed in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act which you signed into law earlier this year. Accordingly, U.S. policy should press for expanding freedom for the Vietnamese people, and not support the privileged Communist Party elites who oppress them.

    We specifically ask that the United States raise concerns over harassment, intimidation, and persecution of the religious and indigenous communities including Cao Dai followers who refuse to join the government-created “1997 Sect,” the independent Hoa Hao Buddhists, the members of the Unified Buddhist Church, the members of Montagnard and Hmong house churches, and Catholic priests who are leaders in fighting for environmental justice.

    Of particular concern are government-supported – and government-supporting – Red Flag groups that routinely attack Catholic priests and members of the Unified Buddhist Church, a phenomenon reported on by Radio Free Asia, among others.

    We also request that you resolutely raise the release of prisoners of conscience with your Vietnamese counterpart, including Hoa Hao Buddhists Nguyen Bac Truyen, Bui Van Trung, and Bui Van Tham; Catholic environmental justice advocate Nguyen Van Hoá; Montagnard Pastors Y Pum Bya and Y Yich; and Buddhist Phan Van Thu.

    Given the egregious nature of Vietnam’s violations of religious freedom, we also believe that you should instruct the State Department to place Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), aligning with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s longstanding – and we believe correct – listing of Vietnam as a CPC.

    Additionally, please advocate for press and internet freedom, and raise the conviction and nine-year sentence imposed upon the prominent Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang, who has published extensively on human rights and alleged police brutality in Vietnam.

    In conclusion, we request that you highlight these ongoing serious concerns, which remain an obstacle to greater engagement with the Government of Vietnam, and that you remind Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a State Party.

    Thank you, and we wish you a successful Summit.

    ###

    Download the full press release:

    20220512 ASEAN letter
    20220512 ASEAN letter.pdf
    194 KB

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  • Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam’s Press Freedom Restrictions Highlighted In RSF’s Latest Report

    Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam’s Press Freedom Restrictions Highlighted In RSF’s Latest Report

    The Vietnam Briefing, which is released every Monday morning Vietnam time, looks at Vietnam’s social and political developments of the past week.

    Source:  The Vietnamese Magazine

    Vietnam ranks 174th in Reporters Without Borders’ 2022 press freedom index

    • On May 3, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual ranking and evaluation of press freedom in 180 countries and territories around the world. Vietnam ranks 174th in RSF’s report this year, moving up one place from last year’s 175th position.
    • According to RSF’s evaluation, the press freedom ranking is based on the assessment of each country’s performance in five different indicators, including political, economic, legislative, social, and security. Vietnam ranks 173rd, 176th, 172nd, 170th, and 170th in each category, respectively.
    • In a press release following the publication of the World Press Freedom Index, RSF underscored how the increasing polarization of the media had fuelled divisions and created tensions within and between many countries at the international level. The press freedom advocate added that fake news, propaganda, and unregulated disinformation had created “disastrous effects” as well as “weakened” democracies around the world.
    • There are currently 41 journalists imprisoned in Vietnam, according to RSF’s index. They include the prominent journalist Pham Doan Trang, five members of the journalistic initiative Bao Sach (Clean Newspaper,) and three journalists of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN.)

    Vietnamese activist transferred to hospital for treatment of depression  as her mental health deteriorates

    • Nguyen Thuy Hanh, an activist popularly known for her founding of the 50K Fund, the monetary fund to assist the families of political prisoners in Vietnam, has been transferred to Central Mental Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi for depression treatment amid her worsening mental health condition, according to her husband Huynh Ngoc Chenh. Hanh was previously held in pretrial detention under investigation for “anti-State activities.”
    • According to Chenh, Hanh was reportedly transferred to the mental hospital at the end of April but he only learned about her situation after he was notified by the investigation authorities on May 6. The investigation police added that her pretrial detention term was temporarily suspended and the investigation process would resume as soon as she recovers from her illness.
    • Chenh also expressed concern on his Facebook that the Vietnamese authorities could use Hanh’s mental health conditions to forcibly make her stay in de facto police custody without having to bring her case to trial.
    • Previously, the Vietnamese activist and blogger Le Anh Hung was also forced to receive treatment in the Central Mental Hospital despite his family saying that he had no problems with his mental health. Hung has been held in the mental hospital since 2019 and his case has never been brought to trial. There were also reports that he was subjected to abuse and mistreatment during his treatment.
    • In the latest update on social media, Chenh said he was finally allowed to meet Nguyen Thuy Hanh on May 7 in the mental health facility after she was held incommunicado for 13 months. He wrote that Hanh got skinnier but still looked healthy and youthful.
    • Also according to Chenh, Hanh complained about the poor conditions of her place of detention; meanwhile, the depression medications prescribed for her personally, that Chenh sent to her every four months, were replaced by the detention center’s own medicines without notifying her or her family.

    Vietnamese Facebook user sentenced to eight years in prison for “distributing anti-State materials”

    • Vietnam’s State media on May 5 reported that a Vietnamese court in Tien Giang Province has sentenced Tran Hoang Huan, a local Facebook user, to eight years imprisonment and three years probation on charges of “making, storing, or distributing anti-State information and materials” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
    • Huan’s indictment states that in the period between September 2020 and April 2021, he regularly accessed webpages having “poisonous and reactionary” content as well as foreign news channels that had a “hostile and defiant” attitude towards the Vietnamese government.
    • Consequently, Huan used the information obtained from these channels to write and publish a total of 186 posts on his personal Facebook account in order to “distort, slander and defame the Party and State  leaders” as well as “attack and insult the regime and deny the revolutionary achievements.”
    • In 2020, Huan was fined 12,5 million dong by the Tien Giang provincial authorities for “providing false information which distorts and defames the dignity of individuals and organizations.” He had previously received police summonses in 2016 and 2017 under the same charges.

    Vietnam arrests high profile business leaders amid the government’s intensifying crackdowns on corruption

    • Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security on April 29 issued an arrest warrant and conducted a house search for Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, a businesswoman and the director of Advanced International Joint Stock Company (AIC), for her alleged involvement in corruption related to the construction of a hospital in  Dong Nai Province.
    • It was reported that she had traveled to Japan on a business trip since February last year and still has not returned to Vietnam.
    • However, according to an exclusive report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on May 1, Nhan is also known for her role as a key middlewoman in promoting and facilitating Vietnam-Israel arms deals over the past decade. Haaretz wrote that the primary reason behind Nhan’s prosecution was to crack down on rampant corruption in arms purchases between Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense and Israel’s security exporters.
    • Russia has traditionally been one of Vietnam’s main arms suppliers. But Hanoi in recent years has sought to diversify and modernize its military weaponry amid Beijing’s intensifying aggression in the South China Sea, and most recently due to Western sanctions against Moscow as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
    • Hanoi’s latest crackdown on the country’s top business leaders, including the arrests of billionaire Trinh Van Quyet and property developer, Do Anh Dung, earlier this year, signaled the expansion of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption campaign against government bureaucrats, including high profile corporate leaders.
    • According to several analysts and entrepreneurs, the turmoil in Vietnam’s economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing the government to tackle corruption in an effort to speed up economic recovery. The World Bank said in a report that problems such as declining incomes, job losses, and inequalities, among other things, are cautionary signs for the Vietnamese government as the country faces a much more challenging phase of COVID-19 ahead.

    Vietnam protests as China declares annual South China Sea fishing ban

    RFA:

    • Hanoi has recently spoken up against China’s announcement of a unilateral fishing moratorium in the South China Sea, which began on May 1, and covers the waters north of 12 degrees north latitude in the South China Sea. Both  Vietnam and the Philippines claim this area as their “traditional fishing grounds.”
    • According to the spokesperson for Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, Le Thi Thu Hang, Beijing’s imposed three-and-a-half-month fishing ban is “a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction.” The moratorium applies to part of the Gulf of Tonkin and the Paracel Islands, both claimed by  China and Vietnam.
    • “Vietnam requests China to respect Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its maritime zones when taking measures to conserve biological resources in the East Sea (South China Sea), without complicating peace, stability, and order in the East Sea,” Hang added.

    Vietnam and Japan agree to boost trade and security ties

    Reuters:

    • Japan and Vietnam agreed on Sunday to boost economic and security ties while calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a Southeast Asia tour.
    • Chinh said the two “agreed to boost cooperation in post-pandemic trade, strengthen supply chains and energy transition, in accordance with mutual interests.” Japan is Vietnam’s largest provider of official development aid and third-largest source of foreign direct investment. Bilateral trade rose 8.4 percent last year to $42.9 billion, according to Vietnam’s customs data.
    • Kishida and Chinh said they discussed regional responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and disputes in the South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei have competing territorial claims. Chinh also announced Vietnam’s donation of $500,000 in humanitarian aid to Ukraine via international organizations.

    Vietnam Insight: Learn more about Vietnam

    Vietnam and the new Pacific Trade Triangle

    East Asia Forum/ Tran Van Tho/ May 6

    “This trade pattern resembles a new Pacific Trade Triangle comprised of China, South Korea, and the United States, with Vietnam as the focal point. The trade triangle of the 1980s featured industrializing Asian economies such as South Korea and Taiwan, who imported intermediate and capital goods from Japan and exported final consumer goods to the United States.

    This led to large trade deficits with the former and surpluses with the latter, resulting in a trade conflict with the United States. Newly industrializing economies in Asia solved this problem by substituting imports from Japan for upgrades in their own industrial structures.

    The current Pacific Trade Triangle in which Vietnam is enmeshed is riskier. On the one hand, the United States may impose protectionist measures on trading partners with which it has large deficits. On the other hand, over-reliance on imports from China may bring about instability when changes in Chinese domestic policy affect trade with neighboring countries.”

    The Russia-Ukraine War: Unpacking Online Pro-Russia Narratives in Vietnam

    ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute/ Hoang Thi Ha, Dien Nguyen An Luong/ April 27

    “The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war following Moscow’s invasion on 24 February has sparked intense public debates on Vietnam’s social media. For Vietnam, the ramifications of the war are felt beyond the economic and diplomatic realms. It has become an online hotbed of conflicting and confounding narratives that demonstrate different worldviews and political leanings among Vietnamese netizens. Of note, those who support Russia and Putin have been as energized and engaged as those who are against the war and sympathetic towards Ukraine.”

    Vietnam unleashes the taxman on dissent

    Asia Times/ David Hutt/ May 4

    “Now ‘tax evasion’ is being added to the repressive mix. There is an ‘emerging and disturbing pattern in the use of Vietnam’s tax laws to criminalize environmental leaders, and follows the broader targeting of civil society leaders, as well as shrinking civil society space,’ said the International Federation for Human Rights and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights in a recent report.”

    Vietnam’s cable car craze is driving environmental decline

    Southeast Asia Globe/ Govi Snell/ May 2

    “But the cable-car craze represents something bigger than the sum of the concrete pillars, steel, cables, and glass. The rapid development showcases how giant conglomerates are carving out space on Vietnam’s coasts and mountains for resorts and tourism complexes that some argue negatively impact the environment and have little benefit for local communities.

    Cable cars are often key features of these projects and enable thousands of people daily to visit some of the country’s most environmentally tenuous locales. Land is often cleared for construction and the high volume of tourists shuttled to now easily accessible destinations leads to waste buildup, putting pressure on the ecosystem.”

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  • Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Seeks EU’s Support In Strengthening National Cybersecurity Apparatus

    Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Seeks EU’s Support In Strengthening National Cybersecurity Apparatus

    The Vietnam Briefing, which is released every Monday morning Vietnam time, looks at Vietnam’s social and political developments of the past week.

    Source: The Vietnamese Magazine

    Day to remember: On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese government surrendered unconditionally as North Vietnam Army’s tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon and effortlessly occupied the city. The fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War and the 30-year struggle for control over Vietnam. It was followed by the new Communist authorities’ punishment and discrimination of the southern population, which later led to a mass exodus of nearly one million refugees fleeing Vietnam in the following decades.

    Vietnamese social media activist sentenced to 5 years in jail for “anti-State activities”

    • A Vietnamese court in Lam Dong Province on April 26 sentenced Dinh Van Hai, a social media and civil rights activist, to five years in prison and three years probation for allegedly “making, storing, and distributing propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” in accordance with Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.
    • Hai, who is disabled, was first temporarily detained in 2017 after he participated in a peaceful rally in Ho Chi Minh City, protesting against the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwan-based Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp. on Vietnam’s central coast. Since 2019, he has received a few police summons because of his online activism.
    • Dinh Van Hai was arrested by plainclothes police at the Phuoc Buu Pagoda on October 7, 2021, where he had taken refuge for the previous several months. The activist was later transferred to Lam Dong Provincial Police for pretrial detention while awaiting investigation.
    • According to the indictment, the evidence used to prosecute Hai was mostly collected on his personal Facebook account, including a total of 13 videos and 79 posts that contain “false and fabricated information” which aims to “distort history, the economic, social and political situation, as well as the socialism building agenda [in Vietnam.]”
    • It was reported that Hai did not have a defense lawyer for his trial, but only a legal representative sponsored by Vietnam’s Disabled People’s Organization. An unnamed relative of Dinh Van Hai told RFA in an interview that Hai claimed to be responsible for all the materials he published online, but that his intention was to make Vietnam a better and more developed country.
    • The United Nations Special Rapporteurs last November sent a mandate to the Vietnamese government to raise concerns over the arrest, detention, and denial of family visits of social media activists and human rights defenders in the country, including Dinh Van Hai. The UN rapporteurs also demanded Vietnam provide a legal basis as well as the explanations for their alleged activities of suppressing the fundamental civil rights of citizens.

    Jailed citizen journalist allowed family visitation after an opaque appellate hearing

    • Vietnamese citizen journalist Le Trong Hung, who had his sentence of five years in prison and five years probation upheld in a secret trial, was allowed to see his wife for the first time since his arrest more than a year ago, RFA reports.
    • Hung was arrested in March 2021 on charges of “distributing anti-State materials” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code shortly after his self-nomination for Vietnam’s National Assembly elections. Hung was able to see his family on April 22, three days after an appeals court in Hanoi upheld his sentence in a hearing that neither his lawyers nor his family was informed about in advance, said Hung’s wife, Do Le Na.
    • “My husband said that on April 19, the trial day, he was kidnapped and sent to the court. He did not agree to stand the trial as he hadn’t had a chance to see his lawyers,” Na told RFA, adding that her 40-minute meeting was closely monitored.
    • “They repeatedly reminded me and my husband not to mention the appeal trial,” she said. “They warned that our talk over the phone would be stopped and we would be kicked out if we talked about the trial.”
    • “I myself will keep speaking up and reaching out to human rights organizations and civilized countries which pay attention to the human rights situation in Vietnam. I want to point out how my husband has been treated and expose all of the Vietnamese government’s wrongdoings,” Na said.

    Human Rights Watch urges the Japanese Prime Minister to raise human rights issues during the Southeast Asia trip

    • Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a press release on April 26 urged Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to Southeast Asia from late April to early May to put pressure on Southeast Asian governments, including Vietnam, to improve their human rights records.
    • Kishida is expected to travel to Vietnam during an extended visit to Southeast Asia, where he aims to coordinate regional responses to the Ukraine crisis as well as counter China’s rising assertiveness in the region, according to Reuters. The Japanese prime minister will pay an official visit to Vietnam from April 30 to May 1 and will meet the country’s prime minister and president, according to state media.
    • The rights advocate noted that Japan is “Vietnam’s most important bilateral donor” and that Kishida should express concerns regarding the Vietnamese Communist Party’s suppression of fundamental civil rights, press Vietnam “to respect freedom of online expression,” and “publicly urge the Vietnamese government to release everyone imprisoned for exercising their rights.”
    • According to HRW, “at least 51 people in Vietnam were put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to many years in prison” between the period December 2020 and April 2022 for simply exercising their basic human rights, including the freedom of expression, association, and religion.
    • “Japan proudly claims its commitment to protecting human rights on the global stage, but in practice, it does little to press rights-abusing governments in Asia to improve their records,” said Kanae Doi, Japan’s director of HRW. “Prime Minister Kishida’s Southeast Asia trip is an important opportunity to break with Tokyo’s longstanding public silence on abuses abroad and instead assert global leadership on rights issues.”
    • Meanwhile, the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the UN Environment Programme on April 22 expressed “grave concern” over Hanoi’s arrest and conviction of environmental human rights defenders on “tax evasion” charges.
    • “The use of income tax evasion charges to stifle critical voices is not a new practice in Vietnam. However, this time the charge of income tax evasion is being used against registered non-profit organizations whose work focuses on environmental protection,” said Cynthia Veliko, Southeast Asia Representative for the UN Human Rights Office in Bangkok.
    • On April 20, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the International Federation for Human Rights also issued a joint urgent appeal for international intervention over the Vietnamese authorities’ alleged torture and ill-treatment of rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong. According to the appeal, Phuong was subjected to acts of torture throughout the investigation of his case. He was also reportedly hit by four security guards in sensitive areas of his body.

    Vietnam seeks EU’s assistance in building national cybersecurity protection

    • On April 28, Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security General To Lam met with Gunnar Wiegand, managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS), in Hanoi as he was asking for further support from the EU in cyber security protection, state media reports.
    • According to the minister, Vietnam has received significant assistance and shared experience from the EU in the building of the country’s Cybersecurity Law and related decrees.
    • To Lam also suggested the EU continue to support and share its experience regarding cyber security with Hanoi, as well as introduce and transfer technologies and equipment for cyber security protection and high-tech criminal prevention.
    • Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law, which became effective in January 2019, has worried the country’s dissidents, human rights activists, and the blogger community as they were afraid these laws have been utilized by the government to stifle critics.

    Vietnam’s National Assembly to hold its third session for the 2021-2026 term

    • According to General Secretary of Vietnam’s National Assembly Bui Cuong, the country’s legislative body will hold its third session for the 2021-2026 term from May 23 to June 17. According to state media, five bills and four resolutions will be discussed for approval in this session, while six other draft bills will be open for further discussions.
    • More specifically, the National Assembly will pass legislation and amendments related to the mobile police forces, insurance business, telecommunications and information industry, and intellectual property.
    • Vietnamese lawmakers are also expected to give their opinions and approve an additional four resolutions regarding vocational training programs for prison inmates, the legislative agenda for the next year, regulations of or National Assembly sessions, and specific development mechanisms for Khanh Hoa Province.
    • They will also examine reports on Vietnam’s socio-economic development and budget spending plans drafted in 2021, as well as monitor the implementation of those plans in the beginning months of 2022.

    Vietnam Insight: Learn more about Vietnam

    How the Russia-Ukraine War Is Impacting Vietnam’s Economy

    The Diplomat/ Thoi Nguyen/ April 28

    “Vietnam’s agriculture is one of the sectors that has suffered most from the Ukraine conflict and has been forced to find new ways to survive. Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, stated that Vietnamese business owners trading with Russia are worried about collecting payments after Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT system. For example, the Phuc Sinh Group, a Vietnamese export business that engages in around $10 million in trade with Russia each year, has said that it is losing considerable revenue due to the Western sanctions.”

    Is Vietnam Going to Hold a Military Exercise With Russia?

    The Diplomat/ Carl Thayer/ April 27

    “Vietnam has yet to confirm or deny officially that the planning meeting took place. On April 21, for example, at a press conference, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang responded to a direct question from Channel News Asia about the reported Russia-Vietnam military exercises, in these words, “Viet Nam’s consistent policy is that all of its defense cooperation with other countries – including delegation exchange, joint training, and military exercises, games and contests – are meant to bolster friendship, solidarity, mutual trust, and understanding, for the sake of peace, cooperation, and development in the region and in the world.”

    Asia’s democrats testing their term limits

    Asia Times/ David Hutt/ April 27

    “Between 1986, after the death of the political boss Le Duan, and 2021, no Vietnamese senior leader had ever held office for more than two terms, and not one ever seriously attempted to do so.

    But last year all that was overridden by Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, who secured himself an unprecedented third term as party boss. He also parlayed an exception for his age, 11 years over the limit, which should have seen him step down at last year’s National Congress.”

    💡
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  • Pham Doan Trang in Amnesty International – Viet Nam: Move beyond repression

    10 International human rights organizations and individuals strongly urge the Vietnamese authorities to cease their crackdown on independent media and those who express dissent and to protect and promote the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, and information, in line with Viet Nam’s obligations under international law.

    Excerpt:

    These arrests represent a further grave escalation in the Vietnamese government’s longstanding intolerance for dissent and its harassment of human rights defenders, activists, and journalists. Independent media and civil society groups — including the Liberal Publishing House and the Independent Journalists Association — have been under sustained crackdown since the end of 2019, further imperiling the environment for free expression in Viet Nam.

    We are also alarmed at the threats faced by individuals such as Pham Doan Trang, an internationally recognized author who is being targeted solely on the basis of peacefully and legitimately exercising her right to freedom of expression. On 24 June, Viet Nam’s Ministry of Public Security explicitly referred to Pham Doan Trang’s written works as “anti-state propaganda,” and on 10 July, she was forced to dissociate from Liberal Publishing House in order to preserve the safety of its members. She is currently in hiding, and her risk of arrest remains extremely high.

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  • Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam’s Human Rights Abuses Highlighted In U.S. Department Of State Report

    Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam’s Human Rights Abuses Highlighted In U.S. Department Of State Report

    The Vietnam Briefing, which is released every Monday morning Vietnam time, looks at Vietnam’s social and political developments of the past week.

    Source:  The Vietnamese Magazine

    State Department released 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights, detailing Vietnam’s human rights abuses

    • The U.S. Department of State released the 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights practice on April 12, which aimed at covering the international implementation of “individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements.”
    • In the Vietnam section, the State Department report described the country as “an authoritarian state ruled by a single party” where there were no fair elections, limited competition among Communist Party-vetted candidates in the National Assembly, as well as notable abuses committed by members of the public security forces.
    • Other issues, include the questionable independence of Vietnam’s judiciary, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, serious interference with citizens’ freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, government corruption, and hindrances to workers’ freedom of association, among other things, are all mentioned in the report.
    • The State Department’s evaluation of Vietnam’s performance also highlighted allegedly unlawful killings by the government, harassment, intimidation, and torture of political activists and their families in police custody, in addition to arbitrary arrests and detention and the denial of a fair public trial, especially in cases regarded as endangering “national security.”
    • Meanwhile, anyone who criticizes Vietnam’s human rights performance usually becomes a target of online harassment from supporters of the government and its funded cyber trolls, commonly known as the 47 Force.
    • Enes Kanter Freedom, a professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics and who is famously known for his pro-democracy activism, has been targeted by pro-government trolls and internet users from Vietnam after he shared on social media photos of hand-painted shoes with messages advocating human rights in Vietnam.
    • In his media post, Freedom underscored the country’s incarceration of human rights defenders and journalists, as well as its lack of freedom of expression, speech, and the press.
    • The athlete also asked his fan base to “stand up for human rights” in Vietnam while condemning the Vietnamese Communist Party and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, for their suppression of the fundamental freedoms of Vietnamese citizens.

    Vietnamese poet accuses her former colleague of sexual assault, igniting a potential #MeToo movement in Vietnam

    • Vietnam’s social media has been stirred up the past few weeks after Phan Thi Thanh Thuy, a renowned Vietnamese poet, also known by her pen name Da Thao Phuong, accused her former colleague at Vietnam’s Literature and Arts Magazine, of sexually harassing her when she was working at the publishing house 22 years ago. Thuy made the accusation on April 6 in a Facebook posting.
    • Phuong’s social media post has attracted massive public attention in Vietnam, gathering more than 64,000 interactions as of April 17.
    • According to the poet’s accusation, her colleague, Luong Ngoc An, who is currently the magazine’s deputy editor, allegedly sexually assaulted her when she was working alone at the publisher’s bureau on April 14, 2000.
    • Phuong added that the now deputy editor had previously attempted to “manipulate, control, abuse and rape” her during the period between July 1999 and April 2000.
    • The female poet disclosed that she suffered serious mental breakdowns following the incident and she said the reason she chose to speak up now was to “change the current situation” and to assure that no one would have to go through what she has experienced. She also said that the victims of sexual harassment in Vietnam are still being stigmatized for the crimes they did not commit and that this shocked her.
    • Speaking from a legal perspective, Vietnamese attorney Ngo Anh Tuan argued that it was “almost impossible” to sue the alleged perpetrator as the duration for filing a lawsuit for rape cases in Vietnam is 20 years.
    • Da Thao Phuong’s allegations may have sparked a #MeToo movement in Vietnam, although it remains small. On April 13, 2022, Bui Mai Hanh, a Vietnamese writer living in Australia, also publicly accused Luong Ngoc An of attempting to rape her 25 years ago.
    • In an interview with the local newspaper Vietnamnet, An said he had filed a report to the police for libel because he was “defamed” by Da Thao Phuong. An said that this was a “necessary” response to the ongoing scandal. He later reportedly resigned as deputy editor at Vietnam’s Literature and Arts Magazine to take up a new position starting May 1, according to a statement by the magazine.

    Former police officer receives another charge of “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy”

    • Le Chi Thanh, a former policeman, and correctional officer received another charge on April 12 for allegedly “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the state’s interests, legitimate rights, and interests of organizations and individuals,” which is a violation of Article 331 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.
    • According to his indictment, Thanh used his Facebook account to “publish videos and posts that distort and infringe on the rights of the State and individuals” when he accused several correctional supervisors at the detention centers where he worked of corruption.
    • Previously, Thanh was convicted of “resisting officers on official duty” on January 14 and sentenced to two years in jail for opposing the confiscation of his car by the Ho Chi Minh City Police on March 2, 2021. The police said that he was pulled over for driving in the wrong lane but Thanh argued that their actions were politically motivated.
    • The Ho Chi Minh City High Court on April 13 upheld the two-year sentence after Thanh appealed the court’s verdict in January.
    • Meanwhile, citizen journalist Le Van Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova, had filed an appeal against the court’s decision after he was sentenced to five years in prison and five years probation on March 23 for “distributing anti-state materials,” according to his family.
    • Le Dung Vova’s family told RFA Vietnamese in an interview that they still had not been allowed to call or visit Dung in prison since his first instance trial. Bui Thi Hue, Dung’s wife, previously said that she was also not allowed to attend her husband’s trial last month.

    Thai authorities release Vietnamese refugees after detaining them for “not having a passport”

    • Thai authorities on April 8 detained Vietnamese political dissident Chu Manh Son, along with four other Vietnamese refugees, when he went to the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok to request a police report for an immigration application to relocate to Canada with his family members, RFA reports.
    • Son was arrested in 2011 and later sentenced to 30 months in prison for “conducting propaganda against the state” after he campaigned and participated in several anti-China rallies in Vietnam.
    • Son and his family members, who were later granted U.N. refugee status, were forced to flee to Thailand in 2017 after he was arrested again in 2016 for protesting the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh, Ltd.’s environmental pollution scandal in central Vietnam. These Vietnamese refugees faced possible deportation after they were charged with illegally residing in Thailand a day after being arrested.
    • On April 13, Chu Manh Son told RFA that he and another political refugee, Nguyen Van Them, were released on bail with the help of their lawyers and UN representatives. But Them’s wife, Nguyen Thi Luyen, and their two children were still being held in a Thai immigration detention facility because they had tested positive for COVID-19.

    Vietnam arrests deputy foreign minister in bribery case

    Reuters:

    • Vietnamese police on April 14 arrested To Anh Dung, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, on allegations of bribery, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
    • Dung, 58, is accused of taking bribes; police have searched his house, the ministry said in a statement.
    • Dung’s arrest is part of a wider investigation into foreign ministry officials who have been accused of taking bribes from Vietnamese citizens abroad who wanted to return to the country on “rescue flights” during the COVID-19 pandemic when commercial flights were not available, according to state media.
    • The police on Thursday also arrested an official of the Health Ministry and an official of the Ministry of Public Security for involvement in the same case. Four foreign ministry officials were arrested earlier in January.

    Vietnamese girl’s 1940 birth certificate could support Paracels sovereignty claim

    RFA:

    • New evidence has emerged that may help support Vietnam’s claims over the Paracel islands in the South China Sea, currently occupied by China.
    • A copy of a birth certificate issued in June 1940 claims that Mai Kim Quy, a girl, was born at 3 p.m. on Dec. 9, 1939, on Pattle Island to Mai Xuan Tap, a Vietnamese meteorologist, and his wife, Nguyen Thi Thang.
    • The birth certificate was witnessed by Nguyen Tang Chuan, a medical doctor, and Do Duc Mui, head of the local radio communication station.
    • This indicates that French Indochina, of which Vietnam was a part at the time, had administrative control of the island and that Vietnamese people worked there. That could be significant evidence of Vietnam’s claim to disputed features in the South China Sea and may show that Vietnam was the first to have an official presence there.

    Vietnam Insight: Learn more about Vietnam

    Agent Orange in Vietnam: Legality and US Insensitivity

    The Diplomat/ Phan Xuan Dung/ April 14

    “Negative reactions to the U.S. Embassy’s Facebook post show that the U.S. insensitivity to the Agent Orange issue could undercut the Vietnamese people’s generally favorable opinion of the country, in the context of rising concerns about China. Regardless of the legality of Agent Orange, given the controversies surrounding the herbicide, the United States would be best placed to avoid insinuating that it is not guilty of chemical weapons use.”

    Cambodia-Vietnam Relations: Key Issues and the Way Forward

    ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute/ Kimkong Heng/ April 12

    “Bilateral relations between Cambodia and Vietnam can be considered a love-hate relationship. As immediate neighbours with a long history of engagement, collaboration, and hostility, the two countries have been both friends and enemies. Following the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century, weakened Cambodia was constantly threatened by its two more powerful neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. To counter the threat from Thailand, Cambodia would establish an alliance with Vietnam and vice versa. Cambodia’s formal relationship with Vietnam began in the early 1600s when Cambodian King Chey Chetha II married a daughter of Vietnamese Lord Nguyen Hy Tong.[1] Through the alliance, Vietnamese migrants were permitted to settle in Khmer territory. The complex relationship between the two countries and between Cambodia and Thailand have also led to Cambodia’s diminishing independence over the past centuries.”

    Regional Partners Seek Clarity on Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

    The Diplomat/ Matthew P. Goodman, Aidan Arasasingham/ April 15

    “After years on the sidelines in Asia, the Biden administration hopes its new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will get the United States back in the economic game. But while partners in the region welcome a U.S. return to the economic field, they remain skeptical of the benefits of joining Team IPEF. For the Biden administration to win over regional partners, it must address questions and concerns.”

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  • Pham Doan Trang in Clooney Foundation For Justice: Award-Winning Vietnamese Journalist’s Trial Was Designed to Silence Her, TrialWatch Report Finds

    The trial of multi-award-winning journalist and human rights activist Pham Thi Doan Trang for “anti-state propaganda” violated her rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression, a TrialWatch report has found.

    Excerpt:

    Ms. Trang was arrested just a few hours after the 2020 US-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue concluded, held incommunicado for over a year, then convicted following a one-day trial. This was despite a UN decision that the charges against Ms. Trang were unlawfully vague. She was given a nine-year prison sentence which was a harsher penalty than even the prosecution had requested.

    CFJ calls on the court of appeals to reverse Ms. Trang’s conviction or for Vietnam to release her.

    Over the last decade, Ms. Trang has been repeatedly arrested, detained, and beaten by the authorities in connection with her writing and activism. She is one of 207 journalists or human rights advocates in prison in Vietnam. The charges brought against Ms. Trang were based on her interviews with international press and articles about Vietnam’s human rights record that she wrote or that were allegedly found on her devices. The authorities said her work spread “psychological warfare” and included “untrue, fabricated information to cause dismay among the people.”

    “Ms. Trang was prosecuted for doing what journalists do: collecting data, reporting, and sharing information with the public. None of that is ‘psychological warfare,’” said David McCraw, the TrialWatch Expert who co-authored the report with the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, and assigned the trial a grade of ‘F.’

    The report found that the trial was marred throughout by egregious violations of Ms. Trang’s rights.  In particular, the court relied on an assessment by the Department of Information and Communications of Hanoi City, which concluded that the documents at issue in the case “have violated the law” before the trial even began. But when the defense requested to examine these ‘assessors,’ the court found that their presence was not necessary because they “had provided their assessment conclusion based on their expertise.”

    Many of the journalists and human rights advocates in prison have faced charges under Vietnam’s array of ‘national security’ offenses, which provide for extended pre-trial detention despite the international law presumption in favor of bail.  In Ms. Trang’s case, she was charged with violating Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code, which makes it illegal to make, store, or share information deemed “anti-State,” and which the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described as “effectively mak[ing] it a crime for any Vietnamese citizen to enjoy the fundamental freedom to express an opinion, to discuss or to question the Government and its policies.”

    “The law used to prosecute Ms. Trang is by design intended to silence those who try to report critically on government actions and policies. By declaring certain information ‘anti-State,’ the government gives itself broad authority to punish free expression,” explained Mr. McCraw.

    The TrialWatch report also found that the proceedings were an abuse of process. Taken against the backdrop of her repeated harassment by the authorities, and given the timing of her arrest, the inescapable conclusion is that her prosecution was “designed to silence her and warn others against criticizing the government of Vietnam.”

    Download TrialWatch report:

    ENG Pham Doan Trang Fairness Report April 2022
    ENG-Pham-Doan-Trang-Fairness-Report-April-2022.pdf
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    Award Winning Vietnamese Journalists Trial Was Designed to Silence Her TrialWatch Report Finds Clooney Foundation For Justice
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  • Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Votes Against The Suspension Of Russia’s Membership In The UN Human Rights Council

    Vietnam Briefing: Vietnam Votes Against The Suspension Of Russia’s Membership In The UN Human Rights Council

    The Vietnam Briefing, which is released every Monday morning Vietnam time, looks at Vietnam’s social and political developments of the past week.

    Source:  The Vietnamese Magazine

    Jailed rights activist marks one year in pretrial detention

    RFA:

    • Nguyen Thuy Hanh, a Vietnamese human rights activist well known for founding the 50K Fund, a private finance initiative to help raise money for families of jailed prisoners of conscience, marked her first year in pretrial detention on April 7.
    • Hanh was arrested on April 7, 2021, by police in Hanoi for investigation for allegedly “distributing propaganda against the State.”
    • In 2020, Vietnamese authorities blocked her bank account after she raised about 500 million dong (US$21,600) to support the family of Le Dinh Kinh, the elderly leader of Dong Tam Village, who was shot dead by security forces during a police raid in January 2020.
    • Hanh had self-nominated herself to run for a seat in Vietnam’s National Assembly elections in 2016 but was disqualified by the authorities.
    • Hanh’s husband, Huynh Ngoc Chenh, said his wife was very depressed before her arrest and that the family is concerned that her psychological condition could worsen.
    • “My wife Hanh was suffering from serious depression and was being treated by a doctor in Saigon [Ho Chi Minh City] when she was arrested,” Chenh told RFA. “After a while, the detention center allowed us to send her some medicine.”
    • But authorities have not informed Hanh’s family about her current mental state while in detention. The family later coincidentally learned from other patients there that she was submitted to a month-long stay in a mental hospital.“We don’t know anything about her health conditions now,” Chenh said.

    Families of Dong Tam death-row inmates allowed family visits in prison

    • The families of Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc on April 2 were allowed personal visitations at the Temporary Detention Center Number 2 in Thuong Tin District, Hanoi, after months of restricted visitations due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to an update from Le Dinh Cong’s daughter Nguyen Thi Duyen.
    • In her Facebook’s status, Duyen wrote that her father and uncle’s mental state remained in “very good” condition; however, she added that Le Dinh Cong had been infected with a severe skin fungus while in prison and asked her to send him some medications. Cong also told his daughter that he had never “personally viewed himself as a death row inmate.”
    • Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc are the two sons of Dong Tam Village leader Le Dinh Kinh. They were sentenced to death by the Hanoi People Court during a trial on September 14, 2020, following the police raid of Dong Tam Village that resulted in the deaths of Kinh and three police officers. The Hanoi High Court upheld the sentencing in an appeal hearing on March 8, 2021.

    Australian government urges Vietnam to release political prisoner Chau Van Kham

    • The Australian government is urging Vietnam to free Chau Van Kham, a 72-year-old Vietnamese-born Australian serving a 12-year prison sentence for his involvement in a pro-democracy group, due to concerns about his old age and deteriorating health, Associated Press reports.
    • Kham was convicted of terrorism charges in 2019 by a court in Ho Chi Minh City for his support of the pro-democracy, political party Viet Tan. Hanoi accused Viet Tan of being a “terrorist group” but the organization called the charges “baseless” and said Kham’s legal proceedings were a sham.
    • Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had argued for Kham’s release in a conversation with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi last year and in a phone call with Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son last week.
    • “In relation to Mr. Chau Van Kham, respecting the Vietnamese legal system and we do, our concern though is his age. He is in his 70s, he is unwell,” Payne told reporters. “We have sought an appropriate consideration of his circumstances given those facts and to have him allowed to return to Australia,” Payne said.

    Human Rights Watch urges European Union to pressure Vietnam over its human rights record

    • Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a press statement on April 4 has called on the European Union to pressure Hanoi to “comply with its human rights obligations, end its crackdown on activists, and release all political prisoners.”
    • The statement was made before a bilateral human rights dialogue between the EU and Vietnam is to be held in Brussels on April 6, 2022, according to HRW.
    • The rights advocate has underscored numerous arrests and the imprisonment of social and environmental activists in Vietnam over alleged tax evasion charges.
    • The Vietnamese authorities arrested and imprisoned Mai Phan Loi, a journalist, and Dang Dinh Bach, a lawyer, as they were trying to join the Domestic Advisory Group, an independent body set up under the agreement between the EU and Vietnam to monitor the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
    • “The EU-Vietnam human rights dialogue shouldn’t be just another box-ticking exercise,” said Claudio Francavilla, EU advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The Vietnamese government has undertaken binding obligations to respect human rights, and the EU should be adamant that Vietnam’s increased repression will carry consequences for Vietnam’s leadership.”

    Journalists in Vietnam are still prosecuted for practicing their profession

    • A court in Ho Chi Minh City on April 5 sentenced Nguyen Hoai Nam, a former state journalist, to three years and six months in jail for criticizing local authorities for their handling of a corruption case he uncovered as a reporter, RFA reports.
    • Nam used to work for the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper. In 2018, the journalist investigated and submitted evidence of wrongdoing among employees of the Vietnam Internal Waterways Agency to the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security.
    • Among the employees at the state-owned agency who were identified in Nam’s reporting, 14 were unpunished despite having been allegedly proven guilty in a bribery case. Nam later wrote on Facebook that the court’s handling of the case was insufficient and that investigators were trying to “cover it up and allow the defendants to slip away.”
    • On April 2, 2021, the journalist was arrested and found guilty on charges of “abusing freedom and democracy to infringe on the legal interests of the state, organizations, and individuals,” a violation under Article 331 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. The court concluded that Nam’s posts also violated anti-defamation laws.
    • In a press statement on April 8, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the Vietnamese authorities to “release journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam immediately and unconditionally, and stop imprisoning members of the press.”
    • “Vietnamese authorities must free journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam, who was wrongfully sentenced to prison for doing his job as an independent journalist,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must stop treating journalists who report in the public interest as criminals, and should ensure that members of the press do not face prison for their work.”
    • Meanwhile, the provincial court of Quang Tri on April 7 announced its conviction of Phan Bui Bao Thy, another state journalist who was previously accused of slandering the province’s leaders.
    • According to the court’s decision, Thy was subjected to 12 months of correctional supervision; Le Anh Dung and Nguyen Huy, two of Thy’s accomplices, were each subjected to 18 months of correctional training.

    Vingroup seeks financing from the U.S. government for its expansion

    Vietnamese automaker Vinfast announced that it will seek financing from the United States government to help with its expansion of a planned manufacturing facility in North Carolina, Reuters reported with information from Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, who spoke to a group including reporters on April 9.

    • “It is also one of our financing options, but we need to prove to them that we are qualified,” Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong said.
    • The automaker said on April 7 that its Singapore-based holding company had filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. securities regulators, Reuters reported.
    • Vingroup, which is popularly known for its role as a contractor of key development projects in Vietnam, has recently placed its bet on the electric vehicle manufacturing venture amid the Vietnamese government’s wide crackdown on real estate developers over the alleged market and economic manipulation.
    • The latest example of this crackdown is the arrest of Do Anh Dung, chairman of the real estate developer Tan Hoang Minh, who is being investigated over allegations of “committing fraud.” Tan Hoang Minh was also involved in the manipulation of land prices in the auctions of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area project in Ho Chi Minh City.
    • In 2021, the company offered a hefty 2.4 billion dong (US$106,242) for a square meter of Thu Thiem land but then withdrew from the auction. The price suggested by Tan Hoang Minh was 130 times higher than the compensation rate for the seized lands of Thu Thiem citizens (about $797.)

    Vietnam votes against the resolution to suspend Russia’s membership in theUnited Nations Human Rights Council

    • On April 7, the UN General Assembly voted to approve the U.S. -led effort to suspend Russia from the 47-member Human Rights Council over its invasion and alleged killing of civilians in Ukraine. Vietnam joined 23 UN members, including China, Cuba, North Korea, and Laos, in voting against the resolution.
    • Hanoi’s objection to the UN resolution was in stark contrast to the speech made by Vietnamese Representative to the UN Dang Hoang Giang at the 11th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, where he called on involved parties to “reduce tension, apply ceasefire and resume dialogue in order to seek long-term solutions to differences.”
    • “Vietnam opposes all actions of attacking civilians and violations of humanitarian and human rights laws,” Giang added as he emphasized the need to “verify recent information in a transparent, open and objective manner with the cooperation of all relevant sides.”
    • In an interview with RFA Vietnamese, Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales, said that Vietnam “has shot itself in the foot” for its decision and that there would be “a drop off of support” from the United States and other Western countries since they were disappointed with Hanoi’s support for Moscow.
    • According to The Vietnamese Magazine’s observations, state-run media in the country has reported on the suspension of Russia’s membership in the Human Rights Council but avoided mentioning Vietnam’s opposition to the move.

    Vietnam Insight: Learn more about Vietnam

    Russia’s Ties to Southeast Asia and How They Affect the Ukraine War: Part 3, Singapore and Vietnam

    Council on Foreign Relations/ Joshua Kurlantzick/ April 7

    “Yet Russia remains the cornerstone of Vietnam’s military platforms, and, interestingly, there seem to be some divisions within the Vietnamese public about the Ukraine war as well. As To Minh So notes, “a Gallup International Poll in 2017 on perceptions of Global Leaders found that Vietnamese [were] more favorable of Putin than Russians, with 89 percent approving his leadership.” However, To Minh So also notes that, during the Ukraine war, public opinion in Vietnam appears less supportive of Putin, as much as can be judged via the state media (which has not called the war “an invasion”) and other outlets in an authoritarian country. Still, given the extensive level of public support for Putin just five years ago (and after Putin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea), it is easy to imagine that the Vietnamese public is heavily divided on how to view the Ukraine conflict.”

    Why Vietnam Holds the Trump Card in the US-Vietnam Partnership

    The Diplomat/ Khang Vu/ April 5

    “Vietnam seems to well understand its strong bargaining leverage and thus its refusal to raise the relationship to the level of a strategic partnership is based on the confidence of its importance in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. In other words, Vietnam’s reluctance does not hurt the positive outlook of U.S.-Vietnam relations. As U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet put it in his recent visit to Vietnam, bilateral exchanges show “the ever-growing strength of the United States-Vietnam relationship.” This explains why some Vietnamese officials claimed the partnership is already strategic in practice thanks to the current level of cooperation.”

    Will Vietnam Be Able to Wean Itself Off Russian Arms?

    Fulcrum/ Le Hong Hiep/ April 4

    “Nevertheless, relying on a single source of arms will subject Vietnam to serious risks. Apart from the above-mentioned issues, Moscow’s increasingly close ties with Beijing is another source of risk that Hanoi should be mindful of, given the intensifying South China Sea dispute. Putting in place plans to wean itself off Russian arms will only become increasingly important to Vietnam. The compatibility issue means that this needs to be done in phases, matching the retirement of old Russian platforms with the procurement of new platforms from other suppliers. During this process, in addition to improving domestic arms production capabilities, further strengthening its strategic ties with potential alternative suppliers will also help Hanoi better manage its diversification efforts.”

    💡
    More from The Vietnamese Magazine. 

  • LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in Women in Journalism – Pham Doan Trang: Human rights journalist in jail for “anti state activities” By Caitlin Tilley

    Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder and Luat Khua co-editor Trinh Huu Long shares his concerns about colleague and friend Pham Doan Trang who was sent to prison for 9 nine years.  The acclaimed journalist and human rights defender has suffered physical abuse in the hands of the police over the years which left her with a limp and several medical problems.

    Excerpt:

    Trang comes from humble beginnings, living in poverty and enduring “all kinds of discrimination that a woman in Vietnam faces”, close friend Trinh Huu Long said. Long is also editor-in-chief of Luat Khoa Magazine, which he co-founded with Trang in 2014. He believes her upbringing was the reason for her immense empathy. “Whenever she sees someone, she can quickly feel that person’s struggles. Because of that, she can see what others don’t. She can come up with topics that no one thinks about, she can come up with questions that no one thinks about,” he says.

    In 2006, Trang started her blog, which began as a way for her to practise her English, but later became a way for her to publish what the wider media would not. Long says: “She will never let a story slip, she will find every means possible to publish her stories.” She wanted to document the democracy and civil rights movement that could otherwise be forgotten about. Trang wrote about a multitude of issues affecting citizens, including Sino-Vietnamese relations, the South China Sea issue, human rights, land disputes. Long says: “It is just so admirable that she has such deep care about how people are struggling on a daily basis, not only politically but also economically.”

    Trang was willing to take huge risks to get people heard in her stories. In 2012, hundreds of farmers near Hanoi protested against the government taking 5.8 hectares of their land away and giving it to developers without properly consulting with them. The mainstream media stayed silent and no journalists dared to talk about it. But Trang decided she had to be there to give the farmers a voice. Long described the village as a “battlefield”, but Trang told him, “I have to go”. “She went there fully knowing that she could be in great danger,” Long says.

    As all press in Vietnam is state-owned, publishing books was a way for Trang to avoid control, and she created her own company, the Liberal Publishing House. She gave her farewell letter to her main English copy-editor and translator, Vietnamese democracy advocate Nguyen, and instructed him to publicise it in the event of her arrest, which he said she knew “was only a matter of time”.

    Long says many government officials actually sympathise with and support Trang. “Or at least, they know that what she is doing is right. The thing is that they cannot publicly support her, they could not even publicly like her post on Facebook. That is the problem. But they have a way of listening to her, and they have a way of sending messages to her that they respect her work.”

    According to Bastard, the Vietnamese government is responsible for the physical abuse Trang has suffered over the years. She has been beaten so badly on her back and feet with wooden sticks that she now walks with a limp and often cannot sleep because of the pain. “As she is an impassioned guitar player, she was always viscerally terrified that police would torture her and mangle her hands permanently, as they have other dissidents. She also suffered a concussion when thugs beat her with a motorcycle helmet during a concert raid in 2018 and still has headaches from that occasionally,” says Nguyen.

    Bastard is not hopeful Trang will be released before the nine years are up. When journalists have been freed in the past, they have had to go into exile, and Trang is determined to stay in Vietnam. “She wants to stay with her people,” Bastard says, and this makes it much harder for RSF to ask for her release. Long says he hopes she will change her mind and is concerned her illnesses are so severe she might not be able to endure them much longer. When her lawyers visited in March 2022, she was losing weight and receiving no medical attention in prison, which Long says is a kind of torture in itself.

    Trang has received a number of awards over the years, including the Press Freedom Award for Impact from RSF in 2019. To support Trang, people can sign the RSF’s petition calling for her release, and also write to her, as she speaks good English. Long says Trang’s “ultimate goal” is to get more people, especially young people, involved in politics. “Spreading her words, reading her books, writing books, opening up magazines, trying to educate the public about their rights, that’s what she wants.”

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