Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday issued a submission urging the Australian government to press the Vietnamese government on human rights by seeking clear, concrete, and measurable benchmarks for progress in upcoming meetings.

The five main points of the submission were to release political prisoners and people detained without cause, to stop persecuting environmental activists, to respect labor rights, to guarantee due process for criminal suspects and defendants, and to stop restricting people’s freedom to practice their religion and beliefs.

Human Rights Watch’s Australia director Daniela Gavshon stated, “Australia has held 18 largely fruitless human rights dialogues with Vietnam over the last two decades and needs to take a new approach” suggesting that “instead of taking a reactive approach to human rights, the Australian government should press for systemic reforms backed by clear benchmarks.”

Vietnam has had a history of imprisoning activists who speak against the government or its practices. The UN issued a request to the Vietnamese government earlier this year to cease persecuting, imprisoning, and mistreating human rights activists. The request followed the environmental rights advocate Dang Dinh Bách’s third hunger strike, which he initiated in protest of his conditions of detention.

According to HRW, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Vietnam ratified in 1982, has repeatedly been violated by the Vietnamese government through its sweeping restrictions on civil and political rights. These include the freedoms of speech, association, peaceful assembly, travel, and practice one’s own religion or belief. The government has previously forbidden any organization or group that the Vietnamese Communist Party believes poses a danger to its monopoly on power from being founded and allowed to function. Websites are blocked by authorities, and social media and telecom firms are forced to take down any politically sensitive content.

Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh, of Vietnam, traveled to Canberra in March intending to advance the relationship between the countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP). However, HRW has advised the Australian government that it should not allow the potential for better diplomatic ties with Vietnam to stand in the way of resolving the human rights of the Vietnamese people.

The next Human Rights Dialogue between Australia and Vietnam will take place on 30 July 2024 in Canberra.