Vietnam Wins UN Human Rights Seat Despite Abysmal Record

General view at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council's 44th session in Geneva on June 30, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Vietnam has won a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2023–2025 term with 145 votes, despite the country’s numerous human rights violations.

The Southeast Asian nation was one of the 14 new council members elected by the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 11, marking its second term on the council.

The 13 other countries elected include Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, and Sudan.

International human rights groups were skeptical of Vietnam’s appointment to the council, given the country’s dismal human rights record and diplomatic support of major rights violators abroad. Vietnam is ranked as “not free” by Freedom House.

Amnesty International, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists issued a joint statement on Oct. 10 urging Vietnam to improve its human rights performance and ensure the right to freedom of expression.

The communist-controlled country has arrested at least 48 journalists and activists for arbitrary crimes since announcing its candidacy for the UNHRC on Feb. 22, 2021, according to the statement.

“We express particular concern that Vietnam has falsely characterized civil and political rights in the country as ‘better ensured,’ especially given the continued harassment and arrests of activists and journalists,” the statement reads.

More than 100 human rights defenders have been arrested in Vietnam since 2019 as the government imposed laws targeting individuals who speak out in defense of their and others’ human rights, according to the groups.

“Our organizations believe that Vietnam, before seeking election into the HRC, needs to first demonstrate a genuine commitment to uphold the highest standards of human rights protection,” they said.

On Oct. 3, United Nations Watch, Human Rights Foundation, and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights released a joint report (pdf) detailing the rights abuses of UNHRC candidates, including Vietnam, Algeria, and Sudan.

The report states that Vietnam had opposed resolutions supporting human rights victims in Belarus and Iran during its 2014–2016 term, and failed to support resolutions for human rights victims in Burundi and Syria.

Vietnam also supported counterproductive resolutions that undermined individual human rights or addressed issues beyond the competency of the council, it stated.

“Regrettably, when the U.N. itself ends up electing human rights violators to the Human Rights Council, it indulges the very of culture of impunity it is supposed to combat,” Irwin Cotler, head of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, said in a statement.