Four international human rights NGOs lodged a complaint with the European Commission, saying that the human rights provisions in the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement were being ignored. They document 40 emblematic cases of men and women in prison for up to 20 years for their actions in favour of sustainable development and workers' rights.
The EU trade agreement includes trade and sustainable development measures that require partners to ratify and implement fundamental international labour rights and environmental conventions, and to commit to ensuring civil society participation, freedom of association, and access to information. Instead, in recent years, the Vietnamese government has intensified its violations of rights, cracking down on critical voices with the stated aim of silencing any form of peaceful dissent.
Starting in , Vietnamese authorities have expanded the range of offences against human rights advocates. Extensive legislation, such as Decree of , has been adopted to restrict the formation and operations of civil society groups, preventing workers from organising in independent trade unions and failing to establish a robust legal framework for workers' rights.
The four NGOs that filed the complaint estimate that dozens of environmental, land and labour rights defenders are currently arbitrarily detained in Vietnam. In the complaint they filed, they document about 40 emblematic cases of men and women serving prison sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to 20 years for their actions in favour of sustainable development.
In some cases, the clampdown affected people who were trying to inform EU institutions. For example, journalist Pham Chi Dung pictured was arrested in , just two days after sending a video message to the European Parliament calling for the agreement to be postponed. Donate now. Support AsiaNews. Geographical areas. Central Asia Kazakhstan. North Asia Mongolia. East Asia China. North Korea. South Korea. Hong Kong.
