The state of civic space in Vietnam is rated as ‘closed’. Among ongoing concerns documented are systematic attempts to silence human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers, including their jailing under national security laws, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and torture and ill-treatment in detention. There are also strict controls on the media, online censorship and controls on social media as well as ongoing restrictions on peaceful protests.
Vietnam’s communist-dominated general assembly elected To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, to be the country’s president and head of state, an unusual concentration of power in one person. He was elected unanimously by the 500-seat assembly on 7th April 2026. Le Minh Hung, a former central bank governor, was elected Prime Minister on the same day.
In April 2026, Amnesty International reported that the government continued to rely on vague Penal Code provisions and tried to introduce additional new laws to counter dissent and suppress freedom of expression, resulting in further arbitrary arrests and detentions. Concerns persisted over the ill-treatment of activists in prisons across the country
In recent months, an activist was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison, Cao Dai adherents were arrested for documenting human rights abuses, and a Montagnard pastor was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. A new report documented 56 political arrests in 2025, a new retaliatory decree targets lawyers, while repressive Penal Code revisions have been proposed. Five were arrested for a Ho Chi Minh book, and a social media commentator and two journalists were convicted. Social media platforms removed posts critical of a megaproject in Da Nang while Hanoi residents mounted a silent protest over home demolitions.
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New retaliatory decree targets lawyers
A new governmental decree – which took effect on 18th May 2026 – undermines the independence of lawyers in Vietnam and will impede efforts to hold officials accountable.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Decree 109/2026 empowers the police and government officials at the local (commune) level to revoke lawyers’ licences and impose severe fines for vaguely worded offences such as ‘insulting’ officials or ‘obstructing’ the functioning of state agencies.
Decree 109 applies to civil and criminal proceedings, including land disputes, and includes sanctions for ‘administrative violations’ such as ‘insulting the honour, dignity, or reputation of persons authorised to conduct legal proceedings.’ Other alleged violations include conduct aimed at ‘delaying, prolonging, or creating difficulties for, or obstructing, the operations of procedural bodies’ and acts that ‘cause harm to the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organisations, or individuals.’ The latter evokes the nearly identical language of article 331 of the Penal Code, which the authorities have used to prosecute citizens who have criticised the government or exposed wrongdoing by officials.
The decree specifies that advising clients to file unlawful complaints or denunciations’ is also grounds for punishment, but it does not specify what constitutes an ‘unlawful’ complaint. The violations set out in this decree are likely to deter lawyers from taking cases involving land rights activists or whistleblowers as clients.
Local officials under Decree 109 can punish Vietnamese lawyers by revoking their licences for up to nine months, and those of international lawyers for up to three months, and impose fines of up to 40 million VND (USD 1,520). Decree 109 also states that advising clients to join a protest (‘to gather in large numbers to disrupt public order) may temporarily cost a lawyer their licence to practice.
On 17th June 2026, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, wrote a letter to the government concerning the decree. They said “several provisions of these amendments may not be in line with international human rights standards related to independence of lawyers, the autonomy of professional associations, and the right to effective legal assistance, by allowing broad administrative sanctions, including temporary deprivation of practicing certificates, for vaguely defined professional conduct. They may also infringe upon the right to a fair trial protected in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam acceded on 24 September 1982.”
Repressive Penal Code revisions proposed
On 10th August 2026, Human Rights Watch raised concerns around proposed revisions to the penal code that violate basic rights.
According to HRW, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security submitted the draft code to the National Assembly for review during the session from 3rd-24th August 2026, with the expectation that the revised code would be adopted after 20th October 2026. The draft revisions would increase already harsh penalties for vague and overbroad criminal offences that infringe upon the right to freedom of expression and other rights.
The Ministry of Public Security proposes to increase the punishment for violators of article 331(2), which criminalises acts deemed to ‘infringe upon the interests of the state,’ from a minimum of two to three years in prison. Article 117, which prohibits ‘making, storing, disseminating or propagandising information, materials and products that aim to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,’ has been amended to broadly prohibit acts that ‘aim to oppose the Communist Party of Vietnam.’ The ministry also proposes to criminalise offences against the Communist Party flag, punishable by up to three years in prison.
