Vietnam's leaders have taken exception to a recent report by an international watchdog that rated the country's human rights situation as dire, asserting that the organization’s assessment was based on “factually inaccurate and fabricated information.”
On Jan. 25, Vietnam’s foreign affairs ministry accused Human Rights Watch (HRW), which reviews the human rights records of nearly 100 countries every year, of maliciously targeting Vietnam by painting a false image of its human rights record.
In defending itself, the Vietnam government
cited its remarkable socio-economic growth as proof of its protection of human rights. Moreover, they insisted that the country’s improved human rights situation has been "already recognized and highly appreciated" locally and internationally.
In 2023, the Vietnam government
celebrated its higher-than-planned 8% economic growth, calling it a "bright spot in the context of a developing country."
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World Bank report in 2022 said a large segment of the population remains “economically vulnerable” and noted the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the country.
A
recent report published by the New York-based HRW says Vietnam
intensified its repression of activists in 2023. Authorities had imprisoned at least 28 human rights defenders during the first 10 months of the previous year and detained dozens of others on politically motivated charges.
Phil Robertson, HRW Deputy Asia director,
said that the Vietnamese government has tried to repair its human rights record by touting its improved relations with the United States and other governments instead of seriously addressing its rights abuses.
Freedom House, another international organization that reviews the democratic freedoms in countries worldwide, has rated Vietnam as "
not free" in its Freedom in the World report 2023, citing the country’s strict rules on speech and people's limited political freedoms.
While the right to free expression is enshrined in Vietnam’s Constitution, in practice, authorities keep the media on a tight leash and conduct sham trials related to free expression, Freedom House said. Courts are not independent, while police “routinely flout due process” in arresting bloggers and online activists.
This is not the first time that Vietnam has rejected reports of its rights violations. In 2009, amid the United Nations' Human Rights Council's scrutiny, Vietnam
denied having "prisoners of conscience" despite well-documented evidence showing otherwise.