(Tokyo) – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ought to urge Vietnamese President To Lam to make concrete progress on human rights throughout his official go to to Japan from November 8 to 11, 2026, Human Rights Watch stated in the present day.
Human Rights Watch wrote to Prime Minister Takaichi expressing considerations about Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown on human rights. The repression violates obligations that Vietnam accepted beneath the 2018 Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, to which Vietnam and Japan are events.
“The Vietnamese government has broken its pledges for reform and continues to crack down on basic freedoms,” stated Kanae Doi, Japan director at Human Rights Watch. “Prime Minister Takaichi should communicate clearly and publicly to President To Lam Japan’s serious concerns about human rights and labor rights violations.”
The Vietnamese authorities has sharply intensified its repression of primary freedoms over the previous decade, Human Rights Watch stated. To Lam served as Vietnam’s minister of public safety from 2016 to 2024, heading the nation’s nationwide police drive. He is now each basic secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and president.
Japan is amongst Vietnam’s prime commerce companions and one of many largest sources of overseas direct funding within the nation. As Vietnam’s largest bilateral donor of improvement help for greater than 20 years, and a serious commerce associate, Japan is in a really favorable place to steer Vietnam to enhance the nation’s human rights.
On To Lam’s watch, Vietnamese police initiated a far-reaching crackdown that decimated the nation’s civil society, stepped up transnational repression, and expanded the scope and use of draconian legal guidelines that criminalize the train of freedom of expression, in contravention of worldwide human rights regulation.
Vietnam at the moment has greater than 160 political prisoners, convicted beneath legal guidelines that violate their rights to free expression and peaceable activism for human rights and democracy. These embrace: Pham Doan Trang, a author and human rights advocate; Can Thi Theu, a land rights activist; Pham Chi Dung and Nguyen Tuong Thuy, unbiased journalists; Hoang Duc Binh, a labor activist; and Le Dinh Luong, Nguyen Van Tuc, Tran Duc Thach, Tran Van Bang, and Nguyen Trung Ton, democracy campaigners.
During the primary 9 months of 2026, Vietnamese courts convicted and sentenced no less than 31 activists, together with the outstanding bloggers Hoang Thi Hong Thai and Huynh Ngoc Tuan, to lengthy jail phrases. Police arrested no less than 46 different folks for allegedly criticizing the federal government.
The Vietnamese authorities has didn’t put in place authorized reforms it pledged to undertake, Human Rights Watch stated. In article 19.3 of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vietnam dedicated to “adopt and maintain in its statutes and regulations, and practices thereunder,” the rights within the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration, together with the “freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.” Vietnam additionally pledged to ratify ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise by January 2024 however has but to take action and continues to thwart the institution of unbiased commerce unions.
Japan’s personal Diplomatic Bluebook 2026 states that the Trans-Pacific Partnership “has great strategic significance in that it will establish a free and fair economic order with countries sharing fundamental values and principles, including freedom, democracy, fundamental human rights and the rule of law,” values that the Vietnamese authorities has systematically disregarded.
Japan has not meaningfully responded to Vietnam’s worsening human rights document. In November 2023, the 2 nations upgraded their relationship to the very best degree, a “comprehensive strategic partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World.”
“Japan should stop giving Vietnam a free pass on repression,” Doi stated. “As one of Vietnam’s most important partners, Japan should make clear to To Lam that respecting basic rights and its labor commitments are crucial for a strong and lasting partnership.”
Source: Human Rights Watch