Recommendations 
to the Government of Vietnam, the United Nations, and International Development Partners

Summary of Recommendations

We recommend that the Vietnamese government enact strict prohibitions against all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and vigorously enforce these prohibitions, including by:

·       Prosecuting public officials and employees who engage or acquiesce in torture and ill treatment of detainees and prisoners;

·       Ending incommunicado detention, prolonged solitary confinement, forced labor, the use of statements and “confessions” extracted by torture in trials and legal proceedings, and other practices that encourage or facilitate torture; 

·       Repealing laws that penalize peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion; 

·       Allowing unhindered access to places of detention by United Nations monitors, independent human rights organizations, attorneys, medical personnel, and family members of detainees,  and others whose presence would deter torture;

·       Promptly ratifying the U.N. Convention against Torture (CAT) and signing and ratifying  the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (Op-CAT), a treaty that supplements CAT and strengthens its preventive mandate. 

In addition, we call on international human rights organizations, concerned governments, and Vietnam’s development partners to:

·       Defend individual advocates and civil society organizations in Vietnam who step forward to report incidents of torture and other abuses of detainees and prisoners in Vietnam, and hold Vietnamese authorities accountable in implementing the Convention against Torture.

Full Recommendations