Vietnam’s leaders have issued a secret directive that will frame almost all international commerce and cooperation as a threat to national security, a rights group said yesterday, adding that it would further entrench “systematic” human rights violations.
Directive 24, as it is called, was issued in July last year.
The directive’s stated goal is to ensure national security at a time of deepening international integration, according to a review of it by Vietnam-focused human rights organization The 88 Project.
Photo: Reuters
Vietnam is pushing for foreign investment as it seeks to upgrade its thriving industrial sector to more lucrative high-tech manufacturing.
Directive 24 issues nine orders for party and state organizations, including instructions to control foreign travel by Vietnamese and to closely monitor international cooperation “to prevent attempts to exert influence through economic, cultural and social activities that affect national security.”
It also orders the development and “strict implementation” of policies and laws on national security, especially in relation to foreign investment and foreign non-governmental organizations in Vietnam.
The authenticity of the secret document has not been officially confirmed, but The 88 Project said it had been referred to by name and date by at least 45 state media sources and 18 government documents, and a senior party official promulgated the directive in a conference speech in December last year.
“The directive frames all forms of international commerce and cooperation as threats to national security and articulates a disturbing plan to deal with these perceived threats by systematically violating the human rights of the country’s 100 million citizens,” The 88 Project said in its report. “Directive 24 reveals that Vietnam’s leaders are profoundly ambivalent about the country’s integration with the world and offers a rare look into their paranoid minds.”
Vietnam’s government tolerates no dissent and there are 175 rights advocates in jail in the country, The 88 Project said.
Government critics face intimidation, harassment and restricted movement, it added.
Since 2021, five environmentalists have been jailed for tax evasion and a sixth was arrested for allegedly misappropriating government documents.
“The common thread in these cases is that each of the climate activists ran organizations that conducted advocacy on energy policy, each received foreign funding to carry out this work and each participated in civil society coalitions,” the report said.
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