Vietnamese journalist, blogger, and author Huy Duc was detained by Hanoi police on June 1. Human Rights Watch has pointed out that the Vietnam government is the world’s third largest jailer of journalists, and its communist regime engages in strict control of all media A global rights body has urged the European Union to reconsider its bilateral rights dialogue withand adopt more effective measures to address the intensifying repression in the Southeast Asian country.
HRW pointed out that more than 160 people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for criticizing the government, which is a criminal offense under the penal code. Reportedly, Vietnamese police officials arrested the prominent journalist Huy Duc and the lawyer Tran Dinh Trien for their pro-democracy posts on Facebook on June 1.
It further mentioned the arrests of activists Mai Phan Loi and Dang Dinh Bach, leaders of a nongovernmental organization trade agreement network that civil society groups created to promote their participation in Vietnam’s Domestic Advisor Group . Dung had been urging the EU to leverage Vietnam’s appetite for trade deals to secure human rights progress in the country.Vietnam has yet to ratify the International Labor Organization Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, despite a specific pledge to do so by 2023, HRW said.
It urged for “more effective tools to press Vietnamese authorities to halt their abuses,” and called for a review of Vietnam’s compliance with its human rights commitments under the bilateral political and trade deals.