The European Parliament (EP) resolution of December 14 condemns the sentencing of blogger Nguyen Van Hoa to a 7-year jail term for exercising his right to freedom of expression and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
FIDH and its member organisation the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) published a joint paper ahead of the EU-Vietnam human rights dialogue held on 1 December highlighting the increasing restriction of freedom of expression, assembly, religion or belief and harassment and surveillance of human rights defenders. The EP resolution reiterates all key areas put forward by FIDH, and in particular denounces Vietnam’s use of the death penalty and its amended Criminal Code that is used extensively as a tool of repression against human rights activities and is in breach of international human rights law.
The resolution urges the Commission to monitor progress with the introduction of benchmarks and mechanisms and to continue to raise these issues during the next Asia-Europe Meeting Summit in 2018.