Jul 1, 2020 | News
On 30 June, the ICJ and five other organizations sent open letters to the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the European Union (EU) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights defenders, Dr. Phạm Chí Dũng, Nguyễn Tường Thụy and Lê Hữu Minh Tuấn.
The ICJ, Boat People SOS, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, VETO! Human Rights Defenders’ Network and Vietnam Committee on Human Rights in their address to the Prime Minister, urged the Vietnamese government to cease all harassment of other activists from the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN).
In November 2019, Dr. Phạm Chí Dũng, founding member and Chairman of IJAVN, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for allegedly “making, storing, distributing or disseminating materials” that “oppose the State” in violation of article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. He has since been held in incommunicado detention.
Following Phạm’s arrest, a number of persons were subjected to various forms of harassment up to and including arrest and prosecution in connection with their IJAVN membership. In May and June 2020, two IJAVN members, journalist Nguyễn Tường Thụy and law student Lê Hữu Minh Tuấn, were arrested in Hanoi and Quang Nam provinces on similar charges.
In their letters, the ICJ and other organizations raised concerns that Phạm had been targeted and arrested for his human rights advocacy. From 2013 till his arrest, Phạm wrote independently on key rights issues in Vietnam, including on freedom of expression, labour rights, detention of human rights defenders, and harassment of independent civil society. In July 2012, he was arbitrarily arrested under charges of “conducting propaganda against the State” and released in February 2013 after months in prison without trial. In 2014, he was prevented by Vietnamese authorities from travelling to Geneva to participate in a United Nations Human Rights Council side-event connected to the Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam, following which his passport was confiscated.
The organizations noted that the arrest and arbitrary detention of Phạm, Nguyễn Tường Thụy and Lê Hữu Minh Tuấn contravened article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which guarantees the right to freedom of expression, as they appeared to have been politically motivated to curtail the rights of the three individuals to freely express their opinions and share information relating to domestic affairs.
In a 2019 ICJ report on freedom of expression and information online across Southeast Asia, national security-related provisions in Vietnam’s Penal Code, including article 117, were shown to have often been abused to curtail free speech and access to information online.
The organizations further noted that the prolonged incommunicado detention of Phạm constituted a violation of the prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment, the right to liberty and the right to be treated with dignity under articles 7, 9 and 10 of the ICCPR.
They further called on Vietnam to protect and facilitate the work of human rights defenders in line with the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Human Rights Defenders Declaration).
The letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam by the ICJ, Human Rights Watch and VETO! Human Rights Defenders’ Network is available here.
The letter to the European Union by the ICJ, Boat People SOS, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, VETO! Human Rights Defenders’ Network and Vietnam Committee on Human Rights is available here.
Contact
Frederick Rawski, ICJ Asia and Pacific Regional Director, e: frederick.rawski(a)icj.org
See also
ICJ, ‘Dictating the Internet: Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia’, December 2019
Nov 4, 2019 | Advocacy, News
On 4 November, the ICJ and 16 other organizations called on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to postpone consent to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) until the Vietnamese government seriously tackles the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.
The letter was addressed to the President of the European Parliament, Chair of the International Trade Committee, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Chair of the Development Committee and all Members of the European Parliament.
Noting that the Vietnamese government had, in recent years, intensified its crackdown on human rights defenders, members of civil society, religious groups and individuals who express opinions deemed critical of the government, continued to strictly curtail the rights to free expression, opinion, association and assembly, and tightly control the press, civil society and religious groups, the organizations expressed regret that negotiations for the EVFTA and the IPA had not led to more explicit and tangible human rights commitments from the Vietnamese government.
Vietnam currently benefits of unilateral trade preferences through the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), and the country’s failure to uphold its numerous human rights obligations under the scheme has yet to incur substantial pushback by the EU.
The organizations urged MEPs to ask the European Commission to set up an independent monitoring and complaint mechanism to address the human rights impacts that the EVFTA and IPA may have.
Joint Letter
Frederick Rawski, Director, ICJ Asia and the Pacific, email: Frederick.Rawski(a)icj.org
Jun 20, 2018 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
At the UN the ICJ today addressed abuse of laws in Southeast Asia to restrict freedom of expression.The statement was made in an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It read as follows:
“The ICJ welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression (A/HRC/38/35), on online expression. Such concerns are reflected in the continued weaponization of laws to criminalize and unduly restrict freedom of expression in Southeast Asia. Increasingly, laws are misused to harass and intimidate civil society, journalists, politicians and ordinary individuals.
For example, in Cambodia, three persons were arrested – two charged and detained in May, and one reportedly arrested this past weekend – for sharing content on Facebook in alleged violation of a recent lèse majesté law. Another man was similarly detained, and a woman extradited from Thailand to Cambodia and imprisoned, for Facebook posts deemed critical of the government. An inter-ministerial order signed last month now allows government agencies to monitor and censor information on websites and social media.
Another example is Vietnam, where as well-known bloggers remain in jail, last week lawmakers adopted a cybersecurity law that will compel companies to store users’ data in-country, pass personal data to government authorities, and censor information online when directed to do so by the government.
A further example is Thailand, where this year alone at least 132 people were charged for “illegal assembly” after protesting for elections to be held – 27 were also charged with a sedition-like offence carrying a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. Last week, arrest warrants were reportedly issued alleging dissemination of false information on Facebook, which may lead to charges under the Computer Crimes Act carrying a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, despite international standards precluding imprisonment as an appropriate penalty.
The ICJ urges all States to implement the recommendations in the report of the Special Rapporteur, and to ensure the right to freedom of expression by revoking or amending all laws, orders, policies or other actions which unjustifiably restrict this fundamental freedom.”
Feb 27, 2018 | Events, News
The ICJ, in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Regional Office for South-East Asia (OHCHR), and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, organised a workshop for lawyers from southeast Asia, on engaging with UN human rights mechanisms.
The two-day workshop provided some thirty lawyers from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR with knowledge, practical skills and expert advice about UN human rights mechanisms, with the participants themselves sharing their own experiences and expertise.
In addition to explaining what the UN mechanisms are and how they work, the workshop discussed how lawyers can use the outputs of UN human rights mechanisms in their professional activities, as well as how to communicate with and participate in UN human rights mechanisms in order to ensure good cooperation and to best serve the interests of their clients.
Sessions were introduced by presentations by the ICJ’s Main Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and OHCHR officials, followed by discussions and practical exercises in which all participants were encouraged to contribute questions and their own observations.
A special discussion of effective engagement of lawyers with Treaty Bodies was led by Professor Yuval Shany, a member of the Human Rights Committee established to interpret and apply the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The workshop also aimed to encourage the building of relationships and networks between the lawyers from across the region.
The workshop forms part of a broader project of awareness-raising and capacity-building for lawyers from the region, about UN mechanisms.
A similar workshop was held in January 2017 for lawyers from Myanmar.
The project has also published (unofficial) translations of key UN publications into relevant languages, and is hosting lawyers in a mentorship programme in Geneva.
More details are available by contacting UN Representative Matt Pollard (matt.pollard(a)icj.org) or by clicking here: https://www.icj.org/accesstojusticeunmechanisms/
Feb 19, 2016 | News
The ongoing incommunicado detention of human rights defenders Nguyễn Văn Đài and Lê Thu Hà must end, said today seven human rights groups, including the ICJ. It violates their right to freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
All charges against Nguyễn Văn Đài and Lê Thu Hà, should be withdrawn and they should be immediately and unconditionally released, the organizations added.
An incommunicado detention is one in which a detainee is held without access to the outside world, particularly to family, lawyers, courts and independent doctors. The practice of incommunicado detention violates key rights of persons deprived of liberty and facilitates torture and other ill-treatment. Prolonged periods of incommunicado detention can themselves constitute a violation of the prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment.
Nguyễn Văn Đài and Lê Thu Hà were arrested on 16 December 2015 and charged under Article 88 of the Penal Code, ‘Conducting propaganda against the state’. All efforts by family and legal counsel to visit the pair since their arrests have been denied.
Vietnam-Release prisoners-News-webstory-2016-ENG (full story, in PDF)
