Balanced News: Vietnam intensifies crackdown on basic freedoms, Human Rights Watch says

Vietnam stepped-up its crackdown on domestic and international non-governmental organizations in Vietnam last year, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2023. As the country takes its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the New York-based group of independent international rights experts accused the government “under the dictatorial one-party rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam” of cracking down on independent unions, human rights groups and political parties. “The Vietnamese government’s blanket repression of rights activists and dissidents extended to include mainstream environmental leaders and international groups in 2022,” said Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson.