Dinh Thi Phuong Thao
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2020-142-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2020
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 14.058324
Longitude: 108.277199
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Vietnam
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 22 January 2020
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Female
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
human rights defender and pro-democracy activist, who has been involved with VOICE, a Vietnamese civil society organization. Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao left Viet Nam in 2016 but continued to campaign for the promotion of human rights in the country, engaging with various UN human rights mechanisms. On 15 November 2019, Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao travelled to Viet Nam for the first time since 2016.
- Type of rights defended
- Unclear in SG Report
- Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
engaging with various UN human rights mechanisms
- Engagement with UN body
- Unclear
- Dates of engagement
- Since 2016
- Type of attempted engagement
- Unclear
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 15 November 2019
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Hanoi
- Reprisal information
On 15 November 2019, Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao travelled to Viet Nam for the first time since 2016. Upon her arrival at Hanoi International Airport, security officers from the Ministry of Public Security reportedly apprehended her, and held her in an interrogation room for eight hours without access to a lawyer and unable to contact family members. She was released later that day without charges. However, her passport was confiscated by the Vietnamese authorities and she is prevented from leaving the country, returning to her place of residence and pursuing her human rights work. Ms. Thao faced an online campaign, allegedly run by pro-government commentators, attacking her work.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Defamation / Defamation campaign
- Detention/Imprisonment: Release within a day
- Travel restriction
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 18 March 2020; 13 July 2020
- Government response content
Government responded to the communication stating that the allegations were inaccurate, mostly drawn from unsubstantiated information and did not reflect the nature of the case. The Government informed that, in 2015, Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao received an administrative citation for inciting people to disrupt social order. The Government stated that, in 2019, while entering the country, Ms. Thao was questioned by the police about activities related to a terrorist group. According to the Government, authorities had neither withdrawn nor confiscated her passport. 108
Concerning the case of Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao, the Vietnamese police suspected that she had attended training courses organized by Viet Tan, a terrorist group founded in 1982 in Thailand. In 2019, when returning to Viet Nam, Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao was asked by the police to provide details on her activities relating to the terrorist group Viet Tan, not because of her cooperation with the UN, its representatives and mechanisms. Vietnamese authorities neither withdrew nor confiscated her passport.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 1
- In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
- 2021
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
- The case of Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Thao, human rights defender and pro-democracy activist, was included in the 2020 report of the Secretary-General264 on allegations of passport confiscation upon her return to Viet Nam in November 2019 in connection with her engagement with various UN human rights mechanisms. Ms. Thao faced an online campaign, allegedly run by pro-government commentators, attacking her work (VNM 5/2019). On 18 March 2020, the Government responded265 stating that, while entering the country in 2019, Ms. Thao was questioned about activities related to a terrorist group. The Government stated that authorities had neither withdrawn nor confiscated her passport. According to information received by OHCHR, as of May 2021, the passport of Ms. Thao has not been returned, and her calls to the police on the issue have gone unanswered. Ms. Thao has allegedly remained under surveillance during the reporting period.
- Followup Trends 0
- Stayed same
- Did the government respond? 0
- Yes