Vu Minh Tien
Vũ Minh Tiến
Current Status: Pre-trial detention
Date of Birth:
Gender: M
Occupation: Public institutions employee
Citizen: Y
Citizenship Status: Citizen (by birth, descent)
Human Rights Defender: N
Activist Focus:
- Labor rights
Organizational/Political Party Affiliation:
Details
Vu Minh Tien was the head of policy and legal affairs at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) and director of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions. At the time of his arrest, he was leading efforts to bring Vietnam’s labor law into line with international standards. In his role at the VGCL, Tien was tasked with amending the Trade Union Law, which is due to be signed into law by the National Assembly in 2025. The VGCL is Vietnam’s state-controlled confederation of trade unions-- the country does not permit independent trade unions
Profile photo source: CIVICUS
Charged under Art 337.
April 20, 2024
- Art 337
District
Viet Nam
judicial/legal
Yes
Unknown
No
No
On April 20, 2024, Hanoi police arrested Vu Minh Tien, head of policy and legal affairs at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) and director of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions (IWTU). While police have not formally announced his arrest or the charges against him, a source told Project88 that Tien is being detained under Article 337 of the country’s criminal code by the Hanoi Security Investigation Agency (Cơ quan an ninh diều tra - Công an TP Hà Nội). Article 337 criminalizes the ‘deliberate disclosure of classified information; appropriation, trading, [and] destruction of classified documents’. Tien was last seen in public on March 21, 2024, at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City.
Tien’s arrest came on the heels of the arrest of Nguyen Van Binh, a government labor reformer who was also arrested on the same charge. Hanoi police only announced Binh’s arrest after Project88 revealed that he had been detained.
Resources
Vietnam arrests second trade unionist in a month as minister of public security named as president, Project88, May 20, 2024
Dự án 88: VN bắt giam cựu Viện trưởng Viện công nhân và công đoàn Vũ Minh Tiến, VOA Tieng Viet, May 21, 2024
Vietnam detains trade unionist, rights group says, RFA, May 20, 2024
Vietnam Arrests Second Labor Activist In a Month, Rights Group Claims, The Diplomat, May 22, 2024
Profile last updated: 2025-04-11 11:03:08