By Huynh Thuc Vy
Asia Sentinel
Feb 10, 2015
But no matter how many international treaties the regime has signed, human rights conditions in the country remain unchanged and in fact, the ratification is only being used as propaganda. Vietnam seems to have signed almost all the conventions on human rights that the world has ever promulgated. In fact, enthusiastic ratifications of UN conventions are not something new. As long ago as 1982, Vietnam became a state party to the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
That didn’t stop the government from trampling on human rights. According to the International Federation for Human Rights, Vietnam has the highest number of political prisoners – 212 – in Southeast Asia. The most recent US State Department Report on Human Rights was scathing, pointing out that “Specific human rights abuses included continued police mistreatment of suspects during arrest and detention including the use of lethal force as well as austere prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention for political activities; and denial of the right to a fair and expeditious trial. Political influence, endemic corruption, and inefficiency continued to distort the judicial system significantly.
