Please find hereafter the statement of 25 European Union member states concerning Vietnam, especially on labour rights (HRC58 – Item 2 General Debate – Group Statement of 25 EU Member States | EEAS)

March 3th 2025

“Mister President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, member states of the European Union. ….

….

We remain deeply concerned over the arrests of human rights defenders as well as labour rights, climate and environmental experts in Vietnam, which has a chilling effect on freedom of expression, assembly and association. We call on Vietnam to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are protected so that civil society can participate freely in all aspects of development free of harassment, intimidation and reprisals, and to release all those imprisoned for having peacefully expressed their views. We reiterate our call on Vietnam to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its abolition. While we welcome Vietnam’s ratification of ILO Conventions, we encourage Vietnam to ratify the remaining Convention No 87 on The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise.

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