According to the information received by the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, an affiliated member of the International Federation for Human Rights, Phan Minh Man belonged to a very poor family and was studying at the Phu Lam school of advanced economic studies. The young man, his mother and other family members, were victims of extreme violence by his alcoholic father on a daily basis. As his mother stated :“Since he was a little boy, he endured his father’s violence without a word. When his father beat him, he ran away. When his father beat me and his sibling, he rushed in to stop it. Not once, in more than 10 years of beatings, did he ever talk back at his father”.
FIDH echoes the concerns expressed by its affiliated member, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, that domestic violence, in a context of extreme poverty is a phenomenon affecting several thousands families in the country today. As official statistics published in State media confirm every three days one woman is losing her life, victim of domestic and/or conjugal violence.
While FIDH is opposed to the death penalty under all circumstances, the Organisation expresses its firm belief that the Court should have taken into account the mitigating factors, in particular the social and economic background, in the case of Phan Minh Man. FIDH reminds the Vietnamese authorities that, as current chair of ASEAN, they should send to the international community a signal of humanity and respect of human life and take meaningful steps towards the abolition of this inhuman practice.
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