● Majority of countries in Asia restricting civic freedoms
● Afghanistan, Myanmar and Hong Kong downgraded from ‘repressed’ to ‘closed’
● Use of restrictive laws, protest crackdown and harassment among top violations
Restrictions and attacks on activists and civil society have persisted across the Asian region according to a new report released by the CIVICUS Monitor, a global research collaboration that that rates and tracks fundamental freedoms in 197 countries and territories. The report, People Power Under Attack 2022, shows that out of 26 countries or territories in Asia, seven – China, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam and now Afghanistan, Myanmar and Hong Kong – are rated as ‘closed’. Eight are rated as ‘repressed’1 and seven as ‘obstructed’2. Civic space in Japan, Mongolia and South Korea is rated narrowed, while Taiwan remains the only country rated as
‘open’.
In reality, this means that the freedoms of speech, peaceful assembly and association are not being respected in most countries in this region. 2022 is the year with more people living in countries with closed civic space ever documented by the CIVICUS Monitor. Twenty-eight per cent of the world population – approximately 2 billion people – experienced extreme levels of repression.
In Vietnam, where civic space is rated ‘closed’ which is the worst rating, the CIVICUS Monitor documented in 2022, that the authorities continued to jail activists for their activism. Journalists were arrested and convicted for exposing abuses or for criticism of the state. The authorities have also jailed protesters and failed to prevent attacks against them.
In 2022, trumped up tax evasion charges were brought against a number of activists. In January 2022, the Hanoi People’s Court tried and sentenced former journalist Mai Phan Loi on tax related charges, to a total of 48 months in jail. He is a former editor-in-chief of Phap Luat, a prominent state-run magazine focused on legal issues. In the same month, Dang Dinh Bach, director of the non-profit organisation Law and Policy of Sustainable Development (LPSD) was sentenced to five years in prison. In June 2022, environmentalist, Nguy Thi Khanh, the founder of the non-profit Green Innovation and Development Centre was jailed for two years on tax evasion charges. In December 2022, the investigation agency of the Hanoi Police Departmentofficially indicted Hoang Ngoc Giao, a Vietnamese NGO leader and a legal expert, on charges of “committing tax evasion” under Article 200 of the Criminal Code. He is the director of the Institute for Policies on Law and Development (PLD).
Other activists were also jailed on trumped up charges of ‘abusing democratic freedoms’ or ‘spreading materials against the State’. Y Wo Nie, an ethnic Ede Montagnard minority rights activist was sentenced to four years in prison for writing and disseminating three reports about human rights violations in Vietnam. In August 2022, independent journalist and blogger Le Anh Hung was sentenced to five years in prison. He was arrested after he published an open letter which criticised the government’s new policy on economic zones and spent more than four years in a psychiatric hospital and on remand.
Journalists and blogger continued to be targeted. In March 2022, the courts convicted journalist Le Van Dung under Article 117 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials” against the state, and sentenced him to five years in prison and five subsequent years of probation. In April 2022, the courts sentenced journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam to three years, six months in prison under Article 331 of the penal code for his reporting on corruption. In November 2022 a court in Thanh Hoa Province sentenced blogger Bui Van Thuan to eight years in jail and five years of probation under Article 117 of the Penal Code.
Protesters have also been targeted. In March 2022, more than 100 villagers demanding titles to their land in Dien Ban town in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province were attacked and beaten by attackers wearing civilian clothes while police looked on and refused to intervene. In December 2022, a court in Vietnam convicted seven people for “resisting on-duty state officials” during a demonstration against the demolition of a road that ran through Binh Thuan parish in Nghe An province.
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March 16, 2023
Civic space in Vietnam still rated as ‘closed’ as report highlights increasing crackdown on civic freedoms across Asia
by Defend the Defenders • [Human Rights]
Civicus Monitor, Press release, March 16, 2023
● Majority of countries in Asia restricting civic freedoms
● Afghanistan, Myanmar and Hong Kong downgraded from ‘repressed’ to ‘closed’
● Use of restrictive laws, protest crackdown and harassment among top violations
Restrictions and attacks on activists and civil society have persisted across the Asian region according to a new report released by the CIVICUS Monitor, a global research collaboration that that rates and tracks fundamental freedoms in 197 countries and territories. The report, People Power Under Attack 2022, shows that out of 26 countries or territories in Asia, seven – China, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam and now Afghanistan, Myanmar and Hong Kong – are rated as ‘closed’. Eight are rated as ‘repressed’1 and seven as ‘obstructed’2. Civic space in Japan, Mongolia and South Korea is rated narrowed, while Taiwan remains the only country rated as
‘open’.
In reality, this means that the freedoms of speech, peaceful assembly and association are not being respected in most countries in this region. 2022 is the year with more people living in countries with closed civic space ever documented by the CIVICUS Monitor. Twenty-eight per cent of the world population – approximately 2 billion people – experienced extreme levels of repression.
In Vietnam, where civic space is rated ‘closed’ which is the worst rating, the CIVICUS Monitor documented in 2022, that the authorities continued to jail activists for their activism. Journalists were arrested and convicted for exposing abuses or for criticism of the state. The authorities have also jailed protesters and failed to prevent attacks against them.
In 2022, trumped up tax evasion charges were brought against a number of activists. In January 2022, the Hanoi People’s Court tried and sentenced former journalist Mai Phan Loi on tax related charges, to a total of 48 months in jail. He is a former editor-in-chief of Phap Luat, a prominent state-run magazine focused on legal issues. In the same month, Dang Dinh Bach, director of the non-profit organisation Law and Policy of Sustainable Development (LPSD) was sentenced to five years in prison. In June 2022, environmentalist, Nguy Thi Khanh, the founder of the non-profit Green Innovation and Development Centre was jailed for two years on tax evasion charges. In December 2022, the investigation agency of the Hanoi Police Departmentofficially indicted Hoang Ngoc Giao, a Vietnamese NGO leader and a legal expert, on charges of “committing tax evasion” under Article 200 of the Criminal Code. He is the director of the Institute for Policies on Law and Development (PLD).
Other activists were also jailed on trumped up charges of ‘abusing democratic freedoms’ or ‘spreading materials against the State’. Y Wo Nie, an ethnic Ede Montagnard minority rights activist was sentenced to four years in prison for writing and disseminating three reports about human rights violations in Vietnam. In August 2022, independent journalist and blogger Le Anh Hung was sentenced to five years in prison. He was arrested after he published an open letter which criticised the government’s new policy on economic zones and spent more than four years in a psychiatric hospital and on remand.
Journalists and blogger continued to be targeted. In March 2022, the courts convicted journalist Le Van Dung under Article 117 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials” against the state, and sentenced him to five years in prison and five subsequent years of probation. In April 2022, the courts sentenced journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam to three years, six months in prison under Article 331 of the penal code for his reporting on corruption. In November 2022 a court in Thanh Hoa Province sentenced blogger Bui Van Thuan to eight years in jail and five years of probation under Article 117 of the Penal Code.
Protesters have also been targeted. In March 2022, more than 100 villagers demanding titles to their land in Dien Ban town in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province were attacked and beaten by attackers wearing civilian clothes while police looked on and refused to intervene. In December 2022, a court in Vietnam convicted seven people for “resisting on-duty state officials” during a demonstration against the demolition of a road that ran through Binh Thuan parish in Nghe An province.