Despite political infighting among top political officials in Vietnam at the start of 2024, the authorities were not deterred from continuing their crackdown against human rights defenders. In particular, renowned activists Nguyen Chi Tuyen and Nguyen Vu Binh were both arrested on February 29, 2024, in separate incidents.
It’s an honor for me to be at the Canadian Parliament today to discuss crucial issues: human rights in Vietnam, the rule of law, and perspectives for Canada and Vietnam.
Transnational repression is a new scourge affecting many countries, and sadly, Canada has also witnessed an unprecedented case with the assassination of Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
On the eve of Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Viet Tan and nine international organizations held a conference to shed light on the human rights situation in Vietnam.
On October 30th, the Honorable Judy Sgro in cooperation with Viet Tan hosted a luncheon “Vietnam and Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy” in the Wellington Building in Ottawa attended by parliamentarians and their teams. The event focused on how Canada can engage Vietnam to advance human rights and security in the Indo-Pacific. From addressing climate change to transnational repression to military capacity building.
On January 1, 2023, Vietnam joined the United Nations Human Rights Council after an intense lobbying effort within the international community. Some hoped that this would lead to greater respect for human rights by the Vietnamese government, while others raised alarm about the contradicting nature of the situation. In particular, a country notorious for human rights violations is now tasked in the UN with promoting these rights internationally.
ACAT-France, ACAT Germany, Brotherhood for Democracy, Reporters Without Borders and Viet Tan submit this report on the state of the Human Rights situation in Vietnam with our recommendations for the Office of the UN OHCHR for the 33rd session of the UPR in May 2024.
It is time for the Vietnamese Communist Party to abandon its fear of “peaceful evolution” and truly upgrade diplomatic relations with the United States and other democratic countries. This will help Vietnam avoid excessive dependence on China and to promote its own economic development, especially in the strategic areas of advanced technology, workforce development, and environmental protection.
As you will be visiting Vietnam on September 10th to strengthen the strategic ties between the United States and Vietnam, we, the undersigned organizations, write to express our extreme concern about the human rights situation in Vietnam.
The United States and Vietnam are poised to significantly enhance their economic and technological ties, bringing the former foes closer at a time of increased Chinese assertiveness in the region. The deal, expected to be announced when President Biden makes a state visit to Vietnam next weekend, is the latest step by the Biden administration to deepen relations in Asia. For Hanoi, the closer relationship with Washington serves as a counterweight to Beijing’s influence.
