Bui Thi Kim Phuong (2015)
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2015-041-009
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2015
- 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
- 25 November 2014; 30 January 2015; 10 March 2015
- 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
had been expelled from their house
- Type of rights defended
- Economic/social rights
- Religious freedom
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
who met with the Special Rapporteur in Ho Chi Minh City on 25 July 2014
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Special Procedures: thematic
- Dates of engagement
- 25 July 2014
- Type of attempted engagement
- Meeting with UN officials during country visit / with locally present UN officials
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 28 August 2014
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Dong Thap Province
- Reprisal information
were reportedly followed and threatened by the police while travelling to meet the Special Rapporteur at their house in Dong Thap Province, to which they had not been able to return since February 2014 when they were expelled. The area near their house was however surrounded by police officers and they were unable to meet the Special Rapporteur.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Access denied to UN expert/representative
- Surveillance
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- 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
- Further case development
In his oral statement to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-eighth session, on 10 March 2015, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that the acts of reprisal committed during his visit were a blatant violation of the terms of reference of the visit; In his mission report, the Special Rapporteur expressed his deep concern and outrage at these reports and reiterated his request to the Government of Viet Nam to reconfirm its guarantee that none of the individuals with whom he met or intended to meet would be subjected to any form of reprisal (A/HRC/28/66/Add.2, paras. 4, 83 (s) and 84 (c)).
- Government response dates
- 10 March 2015; 16 March 2015
- Government response content
to which the delegate of Viet Nam responded that there had been “no such harassment, threat nor reprisal against the persons who met with the SR as the SR just mentioned. We deeply regret this inaccurate misleading information, and probably misunderstandings”; In its response of 16 March 2015, to the joint communication (see A/HRC/29/50, case VNM 11/2014) and in its comments on the mission report (A/HRC/28/66/Add.4), the Government affirmed that it had cooperated fully with the Special Rapporteur during his visit and that the allegations had been fabricated, ill-intended and sought to “distort and tarnish” the situation of human rights in Viet Nam.
- 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?
- 0