Access Now signed this public letter and joins Article 19, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations calling on the UN Resident Coordinator and UN Agencies to pro-actively demand serious improvements to the government of Vietnam’s atrocious human rights record and to start holding it to account.
20 October 2022 Mr. António Guterres Secretary-General United Nations UN Headquarters, S-3800 New York, NY 10017 Dear Secretary General, We are writing ahead of your visit to Vietnam later this week, which comes at a time when, as you note, climate change presents an “existential threat” to humanity. During your trip, we urge you to publicly call on the Vietnamese government to release the four environmental human rights defenders who were sentenced on trumped-up charges of “tax evasion” earlier this year. These political prisoners are emblematic victims of a new wave of repression in Vietnam which, through a combination of threats and judicial harassment, is threatening progress in combatting climate change, protecting human rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The persecution of environmental defenders is only the tip of Vietnam’s broader crackdown on dissent. Organizations that monitor the situation have documented how Vietnam is currently holding hundreds of political prisoners. UN Human Rights Mechanisms have noted that once arrested, most of these people are prosecuted for vaguely-worded national security crimes, subjected to prolonged periods of incommunicado detention, and denied access to legal counsel and family visitation, often while being subjected to willful neglect or mistreatment. These are people who have been persecuted for exercising their civil and political rights. These are people who should not be criminalized, and should not be in prison. The United Nations should urgently press the Vietnamese government to end its policies and practices that are subverting rather than supporting human rights, and emphasize that there can be no progress on climate change and development without an active civil society that can freely exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly. We call on you to remind Vietnam that, as a newly elected member of the UN Human Rights Council, it has an obligation to uphold the highest human rights standards. Specifically, we urge you to: Finally, we believe that the UN system in Vietnam has an important role to play in this process. We urge you to call on the UN Resident Coordinator and UN agencies to publicly and pro-actively demand serious improvements to the government’s atrocious human rights record and to start holding it to account. The best way that the UN can do this is by making itself more accountable to Vietnamese civil society. Sincerely, Access Now Amnesty International Asia Democracy Network (ADN) Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) ARTICLE 19 CIVICUS Defend the Defenders FIDH- International Federation for Human Rights Frontline Defenders Human Rights Watch International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) Legal Initiative for Vietnam The 88 Project Safeguard Defenders Quê Me: Vietnam Committee on Human Rights