Australia should push Vietnam to address its “abysmal human rights situation” by calling for clear targets for improvement, an international rights group said.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the Australian government on July 28 ahead of the 19th Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, which takes place in Canberra on Tuesday.
It pointed to the more than 160 people in Vietnamese prisons for criticizing the government, the targeting of environmental activists and the lack of press freedom.
“Australia has held 18 largely fruitless human rights dialogues with Vietnam over the last two decades and needs to take a new approach,” said Human Rights Watch Australia director Daniela Gavshon. “Instead of taking a reactive approach to human rights, the Australian government should press for systemic reforms backed by clear benchmarks.”
Human Rights Watch, or HRW, suggested that Australia focus on five priorities for Vietnam: releasing political prisoners and detainees; ending persecution of environmentalists; respecting labor rights; ensuring due process for criminal suspects; and ending religious repression.
The two countries upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership last March during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Canberra. But Human Rights Watch said Australia should not let the relationship become a barrier to raising human rights issues.
“Australia needs to consider a different and more effective approach, and make human rights central to all dealings with the Vietnamese government instead of relegating them to an isolated and inconsequential annual bilateral dialogue,” Gavshon said.
Radio Free Asia emailed the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs with requests for comment on the HRW statement but did not receive any responses by time of publication.
Release political prisoners
HRW named several detained activists and called on Canberra to raise their cases with Hanoi. They included Dang Dang Phuoc, Bui Tuan Lam, Tran Van Bang, Nguyen Vu Binh and Nguyen Chi Tuyen.
Dang Dang Phuoc’s wife, Le Thi Ha, told RFA political prisoners often faced harsh treatment, and mental and physical abuse in prison while their relatives outside were harassed, terrorized and deprived of their livelihood by authorities.
“In the camp, prisoners of conscience are prevented from sending letters, receiving medicine, visiting relatives, even being beaten, held in solitary confinement, and shackled,” she said.
“In the case of my husband, he was disciplined in early May, held in solitary confinement and shackled for 10 days. After that, the camp no longer allowed me to visit my husband once a month as before until ‘progress’ was made, but we do not know what criteria this progress is based on.”
Phuoc, a music lecturer, is serving an eight-year sentence for “anti-state propaganda” in Phu Yen province.
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Trinh Thi Nhung, wife of activist Bui Van Thuan, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence, told RFA she hoped Australia would put pressure on Vietnam to release all prisoners of conscience and improve conditions in prisons.
Khiet Ngan, a Vietnamese-Australian human rights activist in Sydney, told RFA the one-party government in Vietnam was terrorizing its people and anyone could be arrested under vague laws such as “conducting anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedoms.”
“I see that arbitrary arrests by the Vietnamese government are increasing and the human rights situation in Vietnam is getting worse, not only in the fields of religious activities and environmental journalism,” she said. “All Vietnamese people live in fear because they feel they can become prisoners at any time.”
She said Australia could use economic assistance and aid to press Vietnam to improve its rights record.
Last year, Australia-Vietnam two-way trade turnover reached US$13.8 billion, making Australia Vietnam's 10th largest trading partner, while Vietnam was Australia's 7th largest trading partner, according to Vietnamese media reports.
Australia has always been one of the largest non-refundable aid partners for Vietnam, with Overseas Development Assistance capital reaching about US$60 million per year in 2022-2023.
Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.