Children of ethnic minorities are cared for and facilitated to go to school - Photo: vietnamnet.vn

Democracy and human rights are the results of the progressive and civilized development of mankind. The more advanced and civilized the social regimes are, the more important the issues of democracy and human rights are to the government. Since its inception, our Party has advocated following the socialist path, determined to successfully build a socialist regime - a social system explained and affirmed by the scientific theory of Marxism - Leninism. The socialist system that we are building, which is a better, more democratic, progressive, and civilized social system than any social system in history. Therefore, we attach special importance to democracy and human rights, upholding the guarantee of democracy, and protecting human rights for the people.

Aware of that point, over the years, the Party and the State of Vietnam have always paid great attention to the issue of ensuring democracy and human rights, promulgating, and implementing many guidelines, policies and laws that aim to recognize, ensure and better protect the human rights of all citizens. In particular, in recent years, the issue of implementing democracy and protecting human rights has been increasingly emphasized, focused on and identified as an important task that is required in order to perfect the socialist law-ruled state in Vietnam, which is of the people, by the people, for the people in particular, and in general part of the process of building the socialist regime in Vietnam. Thanks to the continuous efforts made by the Party and State, Vietnam has achieved great achievements in implementing democracy, ensuring human rights and citizens’ rights in all areas of social life.

1. Identifying the distortion spread by hostile and reactionary forces

With dark political intrigues, hostile forces, reactionaries, and radical opportunists deliberately refused to acknowledge our practical achievements. They constantly distort, fabricate and slander the Party and the State of Vietnam for supposedly not respecting democracy and human rights, ignoring and trampling on the people’s basic rights, and grossly violating human and public rights only to protect the interests and ruling power of the Party; They claim the State of Vietnam is not a State of the people, by the people, for the people, but rather a government of officials, a tool for officials to do to citizens as they please and freely infringe on the democratic and human rights of citizens to protect the power and interests of the officials.

In recent years, activities against the state by hostile reactionary forces seeking to distort the truth have become stronger and more intense. They exaggerate the limitations and shortcomings in the Party’s leadership and State management. They distort the results of the fight against corruption and wastefulness, and its handling of a number of corrupt and wasteful officials; distorting the truth, distorting the actual human rights situation in Vietnam; fabricating evidence, making up fake cases to create a so-called “bad record on human rights” in Vietnam in order to slander the Party and the State of Vietnam, thereby enticing and inciting organizations to introduce unreasonable draft of law and resolutions condemning Vietnam for not respecting democracy and human rights.

They also claim that the violation of democracy and human rights in Vietnam is the essence of an undemocratic socialist regime, a systematic process and the level of violations will only become more and more serious. Therefore, they ask to put Vietnam on the blacklist of countries that need special attention and supervision on democracy and human rights. At the same time, they apply sanctions and use harsh measures to supposedly protect rights for the people, and demanded the abolition of the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the socialist State of Vietnam.

Most recently, when it came time for Vietnam’s candidacy for membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council for the term of 2023 - 2025, hostile forces became more aggressive in fabricating their lies, falsely claiming that Vietnam regularly violates democracy and human rights to “prove” that Vietnam is completely unworthy of that position. The most ridiculous thing is when Vietnamese authorities transparently and publicly arrest and prosecute reactionary and extremist elements due to their conducting disruptive activities, against the Party and State, and sabotaging the achievements of the country’s socio-economic development, harming the legitimate rights and interests of the Vietnamese nation and people, hindering the process of building a good, progressive and civilized socialist regime of Vietnam, even infringing or threatening Vietnam’s political security and national sovereignty, etc., they falsely proclaim that Vietnam oppresses, arrests, destroys freedom of speech, and handles those who dare to fight for democracy, human rights, dare to fight for freedom, justice, fairness, democracy for the people, protect the people, and so on.

It is not difficult to see that the dark political intentions of these “human rights activists”, “people under the banner of justice”, “fighters for freedom and human rights”, etc., are to defame and deny the leadership role of the Party, denying the good achievements of the socialist regime being constructed in Vietnam in order to carry out a plot to “take down” the Party, abolish the socialist regime in Vietnam, and entice Vietnam to follow the capitalist path that is propagated as having high levels democracy and human rights.

2. Reality of the issue of ensuring democracy and human rights in Vietnam today

First of all, it is necessary to affirm that ensuring democracy and protecting human rights are always issues that the Party and the State of Vietnam attach great importance to during the process of leading the cause of national construction and development. Respecting and ensuring democracy and protecting human rights are not just slogans and statements, but are the characteristics, nature, goals, and tasks of the socialist regime in Vietnam.

Because the socialist system that Vietnam built is a good, democratic, progressive, and civilized social system: “All benefits are for the people. All rights belong to the people”(1), a social system that always considers the people “the center and the subject of the renovation”(2), always “emanating from the life, aspirations, legitimate rights and interests of the people, taking the people’s happiness and well-being as a goal to for which to strive”(3).

In order to ensure and maintain the excellent and preeminent democratic nature of the socialist regime, the Party and the State of Vietnam are always determined to attach great importance to the protection of democracy and human rights, and to guarantee of all rights and interests of the people. Moreover, Vietnam always “respects, ensures and protects human rights and citizens’ rights”(4), “protects the people’s legal and legitimate rights and interests”(5), ensuring that the people can participate in deciding major issues for the country according to the motto “the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect, the people monitor, the people benefit”(6). The Vietnamese government is always ready to “timely and strictly handle organizations and individuals that take advantage of democracy, cause internal disturbances, destabilize socio-political stability, or violate democracy, harming the people’s right to mastery”(7).

All undertakings and policies of Vietnam are for the purpose of “ensuring the peaceful and happy life of the people”(8), “Continuously and comprehensively improving the material and spiritual lives of the people”(9), “implementing social progress and justice, improving the quality of life and the happiness index of Vietnamese people”(10), “improving social welfare, social security, striving to ensure the basic and essential needs of the people for housing, transportation, education, health care, and employment”(11), “Improving the quality of construction and effective implementation of policies on nutrition, food safety, protection, care and improvement of the health and stature of the Vietnamese people, ensuring that the entire population is managed, protected and taken care of”(12) towards the lofty goal of the whole nation which is “developing a prosperous and happy country; a  flourishing and enduring nation”(13).

All unremitting efforts made by the Party and the State of Vietnam aim to successfully build the socialist regime with the goal of “a rich people, a strong country, democracy, justice and civilization”(14). The Constitution of Vietnam also clearly states: “In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, human rights, political rights, civil rights, economic rights, cultural and social rights are recognized, respected, protected and ensured in accordance with the Constitution and the law”(15). All policies and laws of the State aim to recognize and to ensure these rights, and to better and more fully protect the rights of all people.

Thus, respecting, ensuring, and protecting democracy and human rights is the expression and affirmation of the preeminent democratic nature of the socialist regime that Vietnam has built, and at the same time is also the goal, task, and a key driving force for the process of building the Vietnamese socialist regime. Failure to pay attention to ensuring and protecting human rights, and not respecting the legitimate rights and interests of all people is not a real democracy. A real democracy - socialism (democracy is not only in declaration but in reality, democracy is not only for the ruling class minority, for the rich, but for all classes of working people, democracy not only in a certain field but also in all areas of social life, etc.) cannot allow the “ignoring of”, “trampling of”, “violation of” the rights to democracy, which would violate the rights of all people.

The practical achievements that Vietnam has achieved in respecting, recognizing, guaranteeing, the implementation of democracy and the protection of human rights are even more stronger evidence to dispel the slanderous claims of the hostile forces about the human rights situation and the implementation of democracy in Vietnam. The Party and the State not only promulgate but also make efforts to realize guidelines and policies to better guarantee the democratic rights and human rights of all people. All Vietnamese people from young to old, from rural to urban, from mountainous to lowland, regardless of gender, social status, class composition, religion, ethnicity, etc., are recognized, respected, ensured and enjoy full protection of their human rights and citizens’ rights. This includes not only their basic natural human rights, but also all economic, political, cultural, and social rights.

All efforts of the Party and the State of Vietnam in directing and promoting economic development, ensuring political stability, maintaining security, national sovereignty, developing health care, education, culture and society, implementing social security, social welfare, etc., are to ensure that all Vietnamese people have a free, prosperous and happy life in which they are guaranteed the right to life, the right to education, the right to be protected, to take care of their health, to ensure their right participate in labor, to contribute to society and enjoyed the fruits of the country’s socio-economic development process, and so on.

Further, in the economic field, the Party, and the State always focus on perfecting economic policies, and legal processes, creating a favorable legal corridor to ensure that all people have the opportunity to participate in economic activities, enjoy freedom of business, fair competition and protect their legitimate interests.

All people are also guaranteed full political rights, they can participate in elections, stand for election, freely express their opinions, contribute ideas to the affairs of the Party and the State, as well as participate in the overall development of the country, and so on.

All people are free to participate in cultural, social, religious and activities of faith according to their needs, interests, and in accordance with the nation’s good moral standards, culture, and traditions; and are ensured social security, life security, etc. Moreover, the Party and State always have specific guidelines and policies that pay attention to protecting the ensured “support for disadvantaged groups”(16) in society, such as women, children, the elderly, or policy beneficiaries, people in disadvantaged areas, regions, borders, islands and mountainous areas, thereby creating favorable conditions for everyone to have “equal access to resources, development opportunities and equitable enjoyment of basic social services”(17). The policies ensure that no one is left behind in the process of national development and that no one suffers from unfair discrimination, and so on.

In addition, Vietnam has also actively cooperated in, participated in and signed many international conventions to better ensure and protect people’s rights through global cooperation. Especially, in times of difficulty, natural disasters, raging pandemics, the Party and the State have actively implemented policies to ensure and to protect the rights and interests of the people, not to let them lose their rights to life, to have food and clothing, to have a job, to study, to receive medical care, to live a safe life, and so on.

In fact, the efforts of the Party and the State of Vietnam in directing and mobilizing all forces and resources to take care of, to support and to ensure a stable life for the people, and to protect legitimate rights and interests of the people, protecting people’s lives and health in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, is irrefutable evidence that the distorted claims of the hostile and reactionary forces on the issue of the implementation of democracy, and the protection human rights situation in Vietnam are false.

Vietnam is not and has never been a country that disregards democracy or people’s human rights. On the contrary, it is one of the shinning examples in respecting, ensuring, and protecting democracy and the human rights of the people. Moreover, Vietnam is also a country that actively contributes to the protection of democracy and human rights around the world; condemns and fights against human rights violations, including not only violations of people’s rights, discrimination based gender, ethnicity, religion, etc., but also violations of sovereignty and right to self-determination, and autonomy of all nations.

Reality also shows that it is the people “under the banner of justice”, “the defenders of human rights”, “fighters for democracy, progress and civilization”, etc., that condemn Vietnam for violating democracy and human rights are committing acts violating democracy and human rights, violently interfering in the internal affairs, infringing upon Vietnam’s rights to autonomy and self-determination, hindering the development process that aims to bring a prosperous, happy, democratic, fair and civilized life to the Vietnamese people.

In addition, the “political orientation” of the so called “advocates for democracy and activists for human rights” is to turn Vietnam into a liberal democratic, capitalist society, which despite what they claim, means democracy for only a small minority.. Capitalism has always been and shows itself to still be a democracy for only the richest 1%, for the benefit of 1% of wealthy capitalists, a system in which most of the wealth created by workers goes to 1% of capitalists. The capitalist regime creates conditions and opportunities for the 1% of the richest people to get richer and to profit on the bent backs and sweat of the workers.

It is not difficult to obtain such figures as the profits of capitalist corporations and the wages of bourgeois owners over the past century have continuously increased, while the real income of workers has increased insignificantly, not even enough to cover essential living expenses, without opportunities and conditions to access and enjoy the material and spiritual value created by them. In 2017 alone, 82% of the wealth created belonged to the richest 1%, while the wealth of the poorest 50% of the population did not increase.

Even in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, while billions of workers in capitalist countries are struggling to make a living and cover the burden of living costs, they do not dare go for testing and treatment because medical expenses are too high. Many individuals and capitalist corporations still take advantage of the situation by manipulation, profiteering and making great profits. The income gap between employers and workers continues to widen while the profits of the owners of capitalist corporations increase and workers are being exploited at ever increasing rate.

The capitalist economy is increasingly squeezing the labor force of workers to bring about huge profits for the capitalist owners. In the rotation of the great capitalist industry, workers become more and more a machine in the production line. They do not have the time and economic conditions to fully satisfy their material and spiritual needs, not to mention holistic human development.

Unfair discrimination against the poor, people of color, immigrants and other disadvantage communities still exists. Not to mention in the name of profit, many capitalist countries are ready to intervene, to incite, to create conflicts and wars between countries to sell more weapons without regard to the suffering, loss, and grief that so many civilians have to endure, infringing on their basic human rights rights including the right to live, to be free, to have food, clothing, etc. When witnessing this reality full of injustice and the lack of democracy, many scholars in capitalist countries had to exclaim that the bourgeois state is not of the people, by the people, for the people as they claim, but only a state of the 1%, by the 1% and for the 1%; All achievements of economic growth only benefit the rich and powerful, and are not shared for the benefit of the majority of the working class.

Therefore, saying that Vietnam violates democracy and human rights, or claiming that Vietnam does not have democracy and human rights, etc., are just distortions, fabrications, and baseless accusations of enemies, reactionaries, and extremist groups to carry out nefarious political schemes to destroy the Party and the State and hinder the process of building socialism in Vietnam. Vietnam has always been steadfast socialist path we have chosen is absolutely right and this is increasingly shown to be correct. Socialism is not only the goal of Vietnam but of all mankind. Even capitalist countries, even if they want to deny it, will inevitably reach that destination. The reality in some developed capitalist countries today is one in which there is a need to  promote economic development, improving people’s quality of life, and better meeting the legitimate rights and interests of the people, etc. This is proof that all countries will eventually reach socialism.

In order to successfully realize the goal of building a good, progressive and civilized socialist regime, Vietnam has attached great importance to, acknowledges and constantly strives to ensure and better protect democracy, the human rights of all people, because ensuring democracy and protecting human rights is the preeminent nature of the Vietnamese socialist regime, with the goal, the motivation, the requirement and important task of constructing socialism in Vietnam n  

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Received: October 31, 2022; Revised: November 2, 2022; Approved for publication: November 11, 2022.   

Endnotes:

(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.6, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.232.

(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (16), (17) CPV: Document of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.1, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.27, 28, 175, 148, 173, 174, 217, 116, 202,149, 151, 46, 56, 150, 264.

(15) Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2013.

Dr. HOANG THI KIM OANH

Assoc. Prof., Dr. VU THI THANH XUAN

Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics