Since 2021, Vietnamese authorities have arrested and imprisoned at least five prominent climate activists on the same charge; tax evasion. Serious concern for the safety of climate activists in Vietnam have mounted as prominent, globally recognised, activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was the fifth individual to be arrested and sentenced to prison time last week.
It has largely been recognised that Vietnamese authorities, in recent times, have mobilised a rather vague tax code in what should be understood as a serious crackdown on influential climate activists. Stark differences between treatment of standard tax evasion suspects and climate activists illustrate to many that authorities are weaponising tax codes, rather than enforcing law. In usual circumstances, suspects indicted on this charge are either placed under house arrest or released on bail. This has not been the case for the five activists. Detained without initial charge, held for months in pretrial detention, judged in closed room one-day trials and all receiving hefty sentences, the legitimacy of Vietnamese climate activism is under serious threat.
Despite widespread condemnation of this violation, governments and investors globally are still investing in the nation. Most notably the COP26 ‘Just Energy Transition Partnership’ (JETP) , which has mobilised US $15.5 billion of public and private finance to support Vietnam in it’s transitional process, remains unthreatened despite collaborating members denouncing the arrests. It is vital, if the state is serious about it’s transition from lucrative fossil fuel extraction, that all five activists are not only released, but their records are expunged to prevent future arbitrary imprisonment and allow for healthy national discussion of the climate crisis.
Between 2021 and 2022, activists now known as the ‘Vietnam Four’ were arrested on evasion charges and imprisoned with little actual explanation. One of the most vocal arrestees, environmental justice lawyer, Dang Ding Bach was arrested and sentenced to five years. Since his imprisonment, a number of international institutions, with the help of his wife, have raised alarms over his treatment inside and the treatment of the ‘Vietnam Four’ generally. The UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention detailed the arrests as “a violation of international law” and denounced the treatment of all four arrestees. The 88 Project has reported various claims of intimidation and violence from within the prison, Ms Dang has described a number of incidents of intimidation and violence perpetrated against her husband. Bach himself has been protesting throughout his imprisonment, taking part in a number of hunger strikes, the latest of which started in August. Ms Dang told The 88 Project that he now weighs just 45 kilograms.
Hoang Thi Minh Hong’s experience is the fifth iteration of repressive state policies on climate activists. A prominent figure, she has received commendation for her work globally, winning a grant by the Obama Foundation of Scholars Program, her arrest on the 30th May stoked widespread concern. This came after her company mysteriously closed, with little explanation, in 2022, which seeded concern that she had been targeted by the state for some time.
It was reported last week, during her hearing, that she had dodged up to $275 000 related to her company. Supposedly in an attempt to secure a lighter charge, according to state media she plead guilty, paying back $145 000, Hong was still sentenced to three years in prison. Family have expressed disappointment at the verdict after her “lawyers arguments were not considered”. The 88 Project, which has followed the arrests of climate activists for some time have stated that the “conviction is a total fraud” and “yet another example of the law being weaponised to persecute climate activists”.
Given the position of Vietnam within global environmental initiatives, this is certainly worrying. impACT implores state authorities to reconsider all charges against the five arrestees if the state is truly serious about a clean energy transition, as it so clearly indicated it was in discussions concerning JETP at COP26. Of course, we at impACT are not naive, and are aware of rampant hypocrisy concerning climate goals, particularly nations like Britain and the United States, who often espouse the values of climate protection, but continue the writing of lucrative extraction contracts, as can be seen by the recent approval of Rosebank and the Willow Project. This is why, independent and individual climate activists are becoming increasingly important as states fail to reach their own goals. With coal extraction set to expand over the coming years, Vietnam’s climate activists are the only hope for redirection.
We at impACT, alongside the countless other human rights organisations who have signed a statement by the OMCT, call for the release of the five activists with immediate effect.