Question

silencing of dissent: intolerant society or government obligations?

Answer 1

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1982, Vietnam has a treaty obligation to respect and promote the rights set out in the Covenant. Increasingly, the government has shown itself willing to engage with the relevant institutions of the U.N. in order to address certain of these rights: this is to be greatly welcomed and encouraged. It has accepted a significant monitoring and aid presence by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in order to facilitate the return and resettlement of refugees. The government has also permitted visits to Vietnam by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, although in both cases these visits were carried out under close government supervision, access was limited, and the Vietnamese government subsequently repudiated the U.N. experts' findings. Prisoners held on account of their political or religious opinions continue to be among those released in presidential amnesties, as in September and November 1998, when twenty-four political and religious prisoners were released.