Reports

Movement Restrictions on Rights Activists in Vietnam

The 65-page report, “Locked Inside Our Home: Movement Restrictions on Rights Activists in Vietnam,” documents the Vietnamese government’s routine violation of the right to freedom of movement and other basic rights by subjecting activists, dissidents, human rights defenders, and others to indefinite house arrest, harassment, and other forms of detention. The authorities have detained activists just long enough to prevent them from attending protests, criminal trials, meetings with foreign diplomats and a US president, and other events.

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  • February 12, 2020

    Barriers to the Right to Education for LGBT Youth in Vietnam

    The 65-page report, “‘My Teacher Said I Had a Disease’: Barriers to the Right to Education for LGBT Youth in Vietnam,” documents how LGBT youth in Vietnam face stigma and discrimination at home and at school over myths such as the false belief that same-sex attraction is a diagnosable, treatable, and curable mental health condition. Many experience verbal harassment and bullying, which in some cases leads to physical violence. Teachers are often untrained and ill-equipped to handle cases of anti-LGBT discrimination, and their lessons frequently uphold the widespread myth in Vietnam that same-sex attraction is a disease, Human Rights Watch found. The government of Vietnam should fulfill its pledges to protect the rights of LGBT people.

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  • June 18, 2017

    Assaults on Bloggers and Democracy Campaigners in Vietnam

    This report highlights 36 incidents in which unknown men in civilian clothes beat rights campaigners and bloggers between January 2015 and April 2017, often resulting in serious injuries. Many victims reported that beatings occurred in the presence of uniformed police who did nothing to intervene.

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  • June 26, 2015

    Abuses against Montagnards in Vietnam

    This 33-page report is based on official Vietnamese media reports and Human Rights Watch interviews with Montagnards seeking asylum abroad. It describes religious and political persecution of Montagnards, highlanders who practice De Ga and Ha Mon forms of Christianity that the government calls “evil way” religions.

    Report Cover - Persecuting "Evil Way" Religion: Abuses against Montagnards in Vietnam
  • September 16, 2014

    Deaths in Custody and Police Brutality in Vietnam

    This 96-page report highlights cases of police brutality that resulted in deaths and serious injuries of people in custody between August 2010 and July 2014. Human Rights Watch documented abuses in 44 of Vietnam’s 58 provinces, throughout the country, and in all five of the country’s major cities.

  • July 24, 2012

    Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR

    More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are held in compulsory drug "treatment" centers in China and Southeast Asia. Detainees are held without due process for periods of months or years and may be subjected to physical and sexual abuse, torture, and forced labor.

  • September 7, 2011

    Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam

    The 121-page report documents the experiences of people confined to 14 detention centers under the authority of the Ho Chi Minh City government. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture.

  • May 26, 2011

    This 59-page report describes the unique elements that have made this Vietnam's most high-profile political trial in decades. They include Vu's legal challenges to promote human rights, official accountability, and environmental protection against the country's political elite, including Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
  • March 30, 2011

    A Case Study in Religious Repression

    This 46-page report details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

  • May 4, 2009

    Vietnam’s Suppression of the Independent Workers’ Movement

    This 32-page report documents the Vietnamese government's crackdown on independent trade unions and profiles labor rights activists who have been detained, placed under house arrest, or imprisoned by the Vietnamese government in violation of international law. The report calls on donor governments and foreign firms investing in Vietnam to press the government to treat workers properly.
  • January 21, 2009

    Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

    This report documents ongoing violations of the rights of the Khmer Krom in southern Vietnam and also abuses in Cambodia against Khmer Krom who have fled there for refuge. Wary about possible Khmer Krom nationalist aspirations, Vietnam has suppressed peaceful expressions of dissent and banned Khmer Krom human rights publications.
  • November 12, 2006

    Abuse of Hanoi Street Children in Detention

    This 77-page report documents cases of serious violations of the rights of street children in Hanoi. Police routinely round up street children in arbitrary sweeps and deposit them at state “rehabilitation” centers – euphemistically called “Social Protection Centers” – where they are detained for periods ranging from two weeks to as much as six months.
  • June 13, 2006

    Ongoing Threats to Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands

    Drawing on eyewitness accounts and published sources, this 55-page report provides fresh information about ongoing religious and political persecution of Montagnards, or indigenous communities, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

  • June 17, 2005

    A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper

    President Bush and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will hold a joint White House press conference on Tuesday, June 21. In a new briefing paper on Vietnam’s human rights problems, Human Rights Watch outlined key issues that the two leaders should raise.
  • May 12, 2005

    Dega Christians Targeted in Latest Crackdown

    Recent religious reforms announced by the Vietnamese government are not improving religious freedom for many Christian Montagnards, indigenous hill people from Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
  • January 7, 2005

    Cambodia Slams the Door on New Asylum Seekers

    This briefing paper describes new and disturbing information about recent large-scale arrests of Montagnard Christians living in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and the torture of Montagnard activists, house church leaders, and others, including individuals who have been deported or have voluntarily returned from Cambodia