Crackdown on freedom of Assembly
"Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. No one may feel compelled to belong to an association"
-- Article 20, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
-- Article 20, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably as freedom of association, is the individual right to convene with other people to form groups and organize actions in order to promote, express, or share common concern towards an issue.
Vietnamese citizens are allowed to exercise freedom of assembly, however with extreme limitations. People who would like to come together and form a group must apply for a permit, which is subject to getting denied by the local authority. However, it seems that only arranged public groups discussing sensitive matters need a permit, and the government usually does not tolerate demonstrations with political purposes.
The most recent large-scale, public demonstration started on June 5, 2011, when more than 300 individuals gathered in front of the Chinese embassy in Hanoi to protest against Chinese expansion of Vietnamese sovereignty in the Paracel and Spratly Islands in South China Sea—the number kept rising during the demonstrations that continued in the next 11 weeks. In Ho Chi Minh City, roughly 1000 people participated in a similar protest. On July 10 in Hanoi, 20 activists were detained by the police. One week later, a police officer was suspended from duty since he was photographed to be treading on the face of one of the demonstrators. The Hanoi People's Committee issued a decree on August 18, clearly banning all "spontaneous gatherings, demonstrations and parades." On August 22, over 50 individuals were arrested by the police during the police; the protest leaders were not released immediately but to be kept and investigated. Security officials in plain clothes, on November 8, beat and arrested 30 protesters gathering outside the Chinese embassy to show support for two formerly detained protest leaders, Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh, who were convicted with illegally dispersing information into China.
This case was documented in the U.S. 2011 Human Rights Report on Vietnam as a serious crackdown on freedom of peaceful assembly.
Vietnamese citizens are allowed to exercise freedom of assembly, however with extreme limitations. People who would like to come together and form a group must apply for a permit, which is subject to getting denied by the local authority. However, it seems that only arranged public groups discussing sensitive matters need a permit, and the government usually does not tolerate demonstrations with political purposes.
The most recent large-scale, public demonstration started on June 5, 2011, when more than 300 individuals gathered in front of the Chinese embassy in Hanoi to protest against Chinese expansion of Vietnamese sovereignty in the Paracel and Spratly Islands in South China Sea—the number kept rising during the demonstrations that continued in the next 11 weeks. In Ho Chi Minh City, roughly 1000 people participated in a similar protest. On July 10 in Hanoi, 20 activists were detained by the police. One week later, a police officer was suspended from duty since he was photographed to be treading on the face of one of the demonstrators. The Hanoi People's Committee issued a decree on August 18, clearly banning all "spontaneous gatherings, demonstrations and parades." On August 22, over 50 individuals were arrested by the police during the police; the protest leaders were not released immediately but to be kept and investigated. Security officials in plain clothes, on November 8, beat and arrested 30 protesters gathering outside the Chinese embassy to show support for two formerly detained protest leaders, Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh, who were convicted with illegally dispersing information into China.
This case was documented in the U.S. 2011 Human Rights Report on Vietnam as a serious crackdown on freedom of peaceful assembly.