Vietnam: Coronavirus

(asked on 15th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Vietnamese Government on prisoners of conscience Nguyen Bac Truyen, Nguyen Trung Ton, Nguyen Van Hoa , Bui Van Trung and Phan Van Thu in light of the risk of covid-19 to detainees in overcrowded prison.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 20th May 2020

The UK is concerned by restrictions on freedom of expression in Vietnam. We regularly raise these issues at the United Nations and in bilateral contacts with the Government of Vietnam. We are concerned by prison conditions, which are affecting many inmates, including prisoners of conscience.

We raised concerns about freedom of expression and assembly, the treatment of prisoners and the protection of civil society in Vietnam during Vietnam's Universal Periodic Review in January 2019, and again in a UN Human Rights Council Item 2 Statement in March 2019.

Bilaterally, the former Minister for Asia and the Pacific, raised the UK's concerns about human rights with the Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister during her visit to Vietnam in January 2020.

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