1. Basic perceptions of dialogue and struggle in the field of human rights

Dialogue in the field of human rights is an equal exchange and negotiation between dialogue participants on a particular legal basis, directed at a specific topic, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the opposite side and reach a higher truth for both sides and also reach a settlement of one or several specific issues related to the honor, dignity or interests of the dialogue parties. Struggle in human rights is the proactive, positive identification, criticism, and resolute handling by law to defeat the plots and tricks that take advantage of human rights issues as a tool against Vietnam’s socio-political regime.

Objects of dialogue and struggle are hostile and reactionary forces, organizations and individuals. Hostile forces include far-right forces in some Western countries (mainly in the US), overseas Vietnamese forces, and individuals at home who have been bribed and taken advantage of by far-right foreign forces to oppose Vietnam’s socio-political regime.

The competing ideological and political forces include those who study political theory and activities in some Western countries and those who are opportunistic and degraded in political thought in Vietnam. The dialogue and struggle between socialist and capitalist ideologies still occur on a world scale. Those who are opportunistic and degraded in political thought are actually “hidden” hostile objects playing the “middle faction” role, so they are very dangerous because they “hit from the inside”, indirectly promote “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and “deviate” the ideological foundation of the Party from the inside.

Dialogue and struggle on political - legal ideologies between two types of socialist and bourgeois ideological values on democracy and human rights: are essential features of dialogue and struggle in human rights. It shows that dialogue and struggle in democracy and human rights do not have clear lines but are right in the perception of each individual and organization. Therefore, each cadre and party member, the people, are the subject of dialogue and struggle with hostile democracy and human rights forces.

Regarding the content of the struggle, identify the plots and tricks against human rights. The hostile forces try to spread the bourgeois ideology with the essential content: One-sided conception, sometimes absolutizing individual rights and civil and political rights to the point of identifying them with human rights in general; disregarding the rights of the collective, the nation and national sovereignty; considering Western human rights ideology to be universal to all humanity, even higher than national sovereignty; disregarding the equality of right holders and proper contents, especially economic, social and cultural rights, which occupy an absolute position and are an urgent requirement for developing countries like Vietnam. This is politically an expression of cultural imperialism.

They also make every effort to propagate, distort, and deny theoretical and practical values of human rights; conduct activities against the practice of ensuring national sovereignty in Vietnam in all fields: economy, religion, ethnicity, information, communication, education, training, culture, art, justice, including international cooperation; propagate and praise bourgeois human rights values in order to incite and promote the division and transformation of socialist political thought, and at the same time promote “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” to bourgeois human rights thought, firstly within the Party and State; build a “flag” on human rights through propaganda, praising and awarding prizes to many opposing characters in order to incite the formation of opposing political organizations at home and abroad.

Hostile forces propagate, distort and incite ethnic minority issues and distort religious policies, distorting Vietnam’s prevention of freedom of speech, freedom of opinion expression, and freedom of association. Moreover, they also incite extremist tendencies to “take down idols”, demand “abolishing the sacredness” of national historical values, deny revolutionary achievements, smear and insult leaders and leaders of the Party and State; demand to open up the literary line of anti-communist writers before 1975; establish the “Voice Raising Group” (appeared around 1995) to advocate vulgar poetry, junk poetry, and dust poetry to “push poetry into a dead end”, in order to promote the “left-side” (informal) press instead of the “right-side” (revolutionary) press;... as a premise for the transition to bourgeois ideology, not only in the field of human rights.

They also distort the so-called “unfair application of the Penal Code”, especially articles 19, 79, 87, 88 and 258 of the 1999 Penal Code, even though this Code has been amended since 2015, including distorting allegations that Vietnam has a double policy in detaining “prisoners of conscience”, “political prisoners”; or distorting allegations about the bow, corporal punishment for persons held in custody or temporary detention; and slander Vietnam to arrest and arbitrarily bring to trial; allege the situation of oppressing, blocking or obstructing the lawyer’s activities; to name a few.

The hostile forces have increased their priority in granting scholarships to attract students to learn about the “American way of life”, “research on human rights”, and promote the activities of religious organizations and groups. Infiltrate and incite in order to promote “self-evolution, “self-transformation” to bourgeois human rights ideology. At the same time, strengthen “external” influences, such as requiring the Vietnamese State immediately meet the standards of civil and political rights (freedom of association, freedom to publish private press, conduct religious activities without the need for state management,...) similar to Western developed countries. They link human rights with development cooperation, democracy, religion, access to information and legislative, executive and judicial activities... Moreover, they incite domestic individuals and organizations to organize riots and ask foreign countries to sue Vietnam. For example, during the UPR cycles I, II and III, a number of international organizations with observer status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) such as the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights for the Vietnamese - The VCHR, the Transnational Radical Party Organization - TRP, and a number of NGOs belonging to the reactionary Vietnamese group took advantage of the forum of the Human Rights Council to accuse Vietnam of violating the human rights.

Regarding opposing tricks: Use political and ideological countermeasures as a breakthrough; take economic bribes as a spearhead; take advantage of democracy, human rights, ethnicity and religion as a detonator; use diplomacy and economic investment to support countermeasures.

Regarding opposing methods: Hostile forces use newspapers and media, especially online newspapers and the internet; to sponsor several foreign press agencies (such as Vietnamese VOA, RFA, RFI, and Vietnamese BBC) to distort and provoke ideological and political ideas to incite illegal protests; organize seminars to review issues related to history; use the guise of “putting works”, “baiting”, to incite to cause confusion, skepticism, and deterioration in political thought.

2. Directions and solutions for dialogue and struggle in the field of human rights

On the basis of steadfastly following the lines, viewpoints and undertakings of the Party, policies and laws of the State, respecting, ensuring and protecting human rights, state management agencies need to regularly grasp the situation, timely forecast conspiracies and tricks of “peaceful evolution”, including in the fields of democracy and human rights. Innovate content, methods of dialogue and struggle. Implement the principle of dialogue in struggle, diversify forms of struggle, proactively and actively identify and criticize, and handle by law openly and transparently, first of all to the leaders, and at the same time suitable for relations directly related to the issue of struggle and the object of struggle.

Dialogue and struggle with international and foreign organizations and individuals should be conducted in the following ways:

Dialogue and struggle under the UN Charter-based mechanism at the Human Rights Council and the ECOSOC Committee of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): In a way that ensures national sovereignty and obligations as a member of the United Nations based on which select and conduct methods and measures of dialogue and struggle appropriate to each specific case.

Dialogue and struggle under the convention-based mechanism at the UN’s committees (subcommittees) on human rights, in accordance with the regulations of each convention committee.  

Dialogue and struggle at organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), etc.: In a way that ensures national sovereignty and cooperates with the institutions of organizations that Vietnam has joined. The selection and implementation of methods and measures of dialogue and struggle must be consistent with the institutions of each international organization, the international public law system, and with each type of right (labor, union, social security, business, trading, environment, etc.).

Dialogue and struggle with foreign organizations and individuals that have activities against the socio-political regime in Vietnam: In a way that ensures national sovereignty and based on cooperation documents with these countries, and organizations. The determination of methods and measures of dialogue and struggle should be consistent with the international public law system and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the related country. For example, the struggle against objectivity and distortion about the situation of religion, human trafficking and human rights in Vietnam in the reports on the religious freedom of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the reports on human rights and human trafficking of the United States Department of State, not the struggle with the American people or the West in general. This also shows that in the struggle, cooperation and dialogue must be valued in upholding national sovereignty and enlisting people’s support, including a part of the government in the West.

Dialogue and struggle with several international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders... about one-sided, distorting and un-objective reports about the human rights situation in Vietnam, in a way that ensures national sovereignty and based on the international public law system. The determination of methods and measures of dialogue and struggle must be appropriate to the position and nature of each organization and each specific case.

The common way to conduct dialogue and struggle with hostile Vietnamese organizations and individuals at home and abroad is to comply with the Vietnamese legal system. For Vietnamese counter-forces living abroad, it is necessary to consider the extent to which it is compatible with the international public law system and the laws of the host country. The determination of methods and measures of dialogue and struggle for democracy and human rights must be appropriate to the nature of the opposing elements at home and abroad, especially with the level and nature of the opposition for each specific case.

In dialogue and struggle, it is necessary to attach importance to political-ideological manners, methods and measures such as communication and advocacy to raise awareness, actively prevent and combat “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, and how to combine dialogue with struggle or vice versa.

Assoc.Prof.,Dr. NGUYEN THANH TUAN

Institute of Human Rights,

Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics