In July 2018, the UN Human Rights Committee will review Viet Nam’s compliance with its international human rights obligations. Lawyers for Lawyers submitted a report for the adoption of the List of Issues together with Lawyers Rights’ Watch Canada for this review, to inform the Committee about the situation of lawyers in Viet Nam.
In the report on Viet Nam, Lawyers for Lawyers highlighted the failure of Viet Nam to guarantee effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Lawyers working on high-profile cases are often harassed or intimidated. When lawyers are the subjects of crimes, harassment or other violations, the Vietnamese authorities should make sure that these violations are effectively investigated. However, the case of Tran Thu Nam and Le Luan demonstrates that the Vietnamese authorities have failed to address the impunity of crimes that human rights lawyers are subjected to.
