This submission highlights Human Rights Watch’s concerns regarding the human rights situation in Vietnam. Since its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in January 2019, Vietnam’s human rights situation deteriorated significantly. The Communist Party of Vietnam seeks to maintain its monopoly of power by arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting people in unfair trials for publishing or posting critical views of the government, joining independent organizations, and advocating for political reforms. Beyond criminalizing free speech and peaceful public assembly, and severely restricting other political and civil rights, the authorities also tightly regulate religious groups and prohibit independent media and other publications.
Dinh Tue Tam has been spending about two hours every day with a group of friends scouting for rental houses after learning his school would reopen Feb. 28. - VnExpress International