Vietnam said on June 24 that the human rights report just released by the European Union’s External Relations Service was “not objective” and “did not reflect reality in Vietnam.”
“As it has repeatedly affirmed, the State of Vietnam is always protecting and promoting basic human rights,” Vietnam’s state-controlled media quoted Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang as saying during the regular press conference during the day.
Earlier on June 21, the European External Relations Service (EEAS) released the “Report on the world human rights situation in 2020,” which recognized Vietnam’s efforts in the fight against child labor and in promoting gender equality, but violations of civil and political rights continue.
“Particularly worrisome is the severity of the restrictions and sentencing in cases involving the practice of freedom of expression online and in practice,” the EEAS report said. “Social media users increasingly face arbitrary censorship when sharing key views online.”
The European agency also mentioned that the Vietnamese government forced large international social media companies (such as Google, Facebook, etc.) to close local users’ accounts or content criticizing the government. According to the EEAS, this “sets a disturbing precedent.”
Responding to the above comments, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam on June 24 affirmed that freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of information in Vietnam are still clearly demonstrated through the diverse development of social media and content of Vietnamese newspapers, and more than 70% of Vietnam’s population uses the Internet and international and domestic social networks.
“In Vietnam, no one has been arrested or tried for just ‘expressing opinions’ and ‘protecting human rights,” Vietnam’s state media quoted Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang as saying.
Meanwhile, the EEAS report says that in 2020, many bloggers, journalists, and human rights activists have been arrested or convicted in Vietnam and that the government “controls the media and restricts freedoms of expression both online and in real life.”
Another human rights report released on June 20 by the Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN) also said that there are currently 288 prisoners of conscience being held in prisons in Vietnam and 79 people have been detained by the government. arrests over the past year, of which at least 46 people have been arrested and charged as of May 31 after “expressing their political views through social media.”
At a press conference on June 24, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Vietnam is ready to discuss and cooperate with the EU on human rights issues in the spirit of frankness, openness and respect through the annual human rights dialogue mechanism and other bilateral exchange frameworks.
Vietnam is currently ranked 175th out of 180 countries in the world in the ranking of “Press Freedom Index 2020” published by Reporters Without Borders at the end of April.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
