Human rights in Vietnam () are among the poorest in the world, as considered by various domestic and international academics, dissidents and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
This has long been a matter of controversy between the Government of Vietnam, led by its Communist Party (CPV), and other countries and political unions, such as the European Union (EU) and the United States. Under the current constitution, the CPV is the only legal political party: all other parties are outlawed, making Vietnam one of a few legally constituted one-party states, along with China, Cuba, Eritrea, Laos, and North Korea.
Elections in Vietnam have been characterized as nothing more than a rubber stamp, with every election resulting in 99% of votes for the CPV. Freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to a healthy environment are severely restricted. Citizens critical of the Vietnamese government or who discuss certain topics deemed "unacceptable" by the CPV are often subject to intimidation and imprisonment.
The Vietnamese government has also made use of online operatives and nationalist netizens or "public opinion brigades", state-sponsored anonymous political commentators and trolls who combat any perceived dissent against CPV policies or protest over the status of human rights. A Vietnam Human Rights Day is observed each year on 11 May in the U.S. state of Virginia, particularly by the Vietnamese diaspora who left after the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon as well as by dissidents who fled the country in subsequent decades.
Rights
Environmental rights
De jure, the article 43 of the constitution of Vietnam includes a right to a healthy environment. The state is obliged to "…protect the environment; manage, and effectively and stably use natural resources; protect nature and biodiversity; take initiative in prevention and resistance against natural calamities; and respond to climate change." These rights were further advanced through the Law on Environmental Protection in 2014.
Freedom of religion
Rights of specific groups
LGBT rights
Ethnic minorities
According to the Vietnamese constitution: "All the ethnicities are equal, unified and respect and assist one another for mutual development; all acts of national discrimination and division are strictly forbidden."
The Cham, Montagnard and Khmer Krom minorities joined together in the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO), to wage war against the Vietnamese for independence during the Vietnam War. The last remaining FULRO insurgents surrendered to the United Nations in 1992.
Various ethnic minority organizations like the Montagnard Foundation, Inc., International Office of Champa, and Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation allege that the Vietnamese people and government perpetuate human rights abuses against the Degar (Montagnards), Cham, and Khmer Krom. Vietnam has settled over a million ethnic Vietnamese on Montagnard lands in the Central Highlands. The Montagnard staged a massive protest against the Vietnamese in 2001, which led the Vietnamese to forcefully crush the uprising and seal the entire area off to foreigners.
Repression of Chams
The Cham in Vietnam are only recognized as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to the region. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confiscating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. Hindu temples were turned into tourist sites against the wishes of the Cham Hindus. In 2010 and 2013, several incidents occurred in the villages of Thành Tín and Phươc Nhơn, where Cham were murdered by Vietnamese. Cham Muslims in the Mekong Delta have also been economically marginalized and pushed into poverty by Vietnamese government policies, with ethnic Vietnamese Kinh settling on majority Cham lands with state support, and the religious practices of minorities have been targeted for elimination by the Vietnamese government.
In 2012, Vietnamese police in Chau Giang village stormed into a Cham Mosque, stole the electric generator, and also raped Cham girls.