(Sydney, August 11, 2025) – Australia should press the Vietnamese government on human rights by seeking clear, concrete, and measurable benchmarks for progress, Human Rights Watch said today in a recent submission to the Australian government. The 20th Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue will take place tomorrow on August 12, 2025, in Vietnam.
Vietnam has incarcerated more than 170 political prisoners under draconian laws restricting free expression and peaceful activism for human rights and democracy. The Vietnamese authorities harshly repress independent rights groups, labor unions, media, religious groups, and other organizations seeking to operate outside of government control.
“Australia has now held 19 human rights dialogues with Vietnam over the past two decades and it’s virtually impossible to identify any lasting human rights progress,” said Daniela Gavshon, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “These dialogues will only be worthwhile if Australia’s leadership sets specific and measurable human rights benchmarks for the Vietnamese government to meet.”
Human Rights Watch, in its submission, recommended that the Australian government focus on five priority human rights concerns in Vietnam: releasing political prisoners and arbitrarily held activists; ending persecution of environmental activists; respecting labor rights; ensuring due process for criminal suspects and defendants; and allowing the right to freely practice religion and belief.
The Australian government should raise the cases of detained rights activists including
Pham Doan Trang, Bui Tuan Lam, Pham Chi Dung, Dang Dinh Bach, Le Dinh Luong, Dinh Van Hai, and Nguyen Thai Hung.
“The Vietnamese government’s increasingly broad and intense crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly is a direct affront to the human rights dialogues,” Gavshon said. “The Australian government should press for systemic reforms that recognize these dialogues are only one part of its human rights relationship with Vietnam.”
