Vietnam Free Expression Newsletter No. 21/2022 – May 23-29

Vietnam keeps its death sentences quiet. Rights groups say it’s one of the world’s biggest executioners. Heather Chen, CNN; May 27, 2022: Vietnam is famously secretive about its use of capital punishment. However, rights groups believe it to be one of the biggest executioners in the world and the biggest in Southeast Asia. Previously classified government data made public and published in Vietnamese state media outlets in 2017 revealed 429 executions had taken place between 2013 and 2016 — putting the country behind only China and Iran in its use of the death penalty. A report released by Amnesty International this week found that global executions had risen by 20% as Covid-19 restrictions in countries eased. However, as in previous years, it did not include China and Vietnam where executions are regarded are state secrets.

Deadly confessions, the hidden abuse by Vietnam’s police. Govi Snell, Southeast Asia Globe; May 27, 2022: Torture as an interrogation technique is driven by the rat race in Vietnam’s police force where there is constant pressure to close cases quickly to get promoted, said Le Cong Dinh, a lawyer and human rights advocate who was jailed and then put under house arrest for critiquing Vietnam’s ruling one-party government. Instead of investigating the evidence, police force their understanding of the crime onto a suspect. “If they rejected to cooperate with the police the result would be torture,” Dinh said. “That’s why some were tortured to death… The police try to hide the true facts of such cases. They try to explain in a different way about their death.”

Vietnam and Russia’s Political Alignment: More than Meets the Eye. Hoang Thi Ha, Darren Cheong, Fulcrum; May 25, 2022: Putin’s authoritarian leadership fuelled Russia’s pivot towards conservative voting on human rights issues at the UN. Accordingly, Vietnam and Russia became increasingly aligned on human rights-related resolutions with the share of their voting alignment jumping to 75 per cent between 2000 and 2020. In this period, there were only two resolutions (or 0.5 per cent) where the two countries voted in opposite directions — a sharp decrease from 12.9 per cent in the previous period (Figure 1). In contrast, the US and Vietnam voted similarly on only 4 per cent of the resolutions and diverged on the remaining 93 per cent.

Vietnam’s rare commemoration of a deadly South China Sea battle is a quiet but direct message to Beijing. Benjamin Brimelow, Business Insider; May 24, 2022: Vietnam’s official commemoration of the battle at Johnson South Reef this year was seen as an assertion of sovereignty and as a reminder of how Hanoi had defied its larger neighbor in the past — a message made necessary by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. In the years since the battle, China has worked to turn the reefs and islands that it controls in the South China Sea into small fortresses. Through land reclamation, China has expanded existing features and built artificial islands to which it has deployed weapons and troops.

How Vietnam’s economy benefits from China’s pandemic policy. Rodion Ebbighausen, Deutsche Welle; May 27, 2022: Another challenge, especially with regard to investments from Germany and the EU, is Vietnam’s authoritarian political structure. In its coalition agreement, the current German government has declared that it will pursue a “values-based foreign policy” that puts a greater emphasis on human rights. Germany’s Due Diligence Act (also known as the Supply Chain Act) also places higher requirements on companies with regard to environmental protection and human rights. Although the act has been in force since 2021, it does not have to be implemented until after 2023, and then first in stages and depending on the size of the company in question.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Nguyen Thuy Hanh