Labor rights in Vietnam are basically non-existent. Independent labor unions are not allowed, rather only government-controlled unions can exist. The government-led Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is controlled by government appointees and all unions under the confederation are led by people appointed by management. State-run media has repeatedly referred to independent labor unions as “hostile forces.” The International Trade Union Confederation, in examining Vietnam’s labor laws, has concluded that the right to strike is severely restricted and nearly impossible to exercise.
Doan Huy Chuong, Do Thi Minh Hanh, and Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung are well aware of these obstacles. He was arrested in 2006 and spent 18 months in prison for founding the independent union United Farmers and Workers Organization. Do and her boyfriend Nguyen are members of Victims of Injustice—a group that advocates on behalf of victims of land confiscation. Both were detained briefly for their activism.
In January 2010, the trio wrote and circulated a list of demands when workers at the My Phong shoe factory went on strike because of their company’s arbitrary payment policies and their managers’ abusive behavior. In the weeks following the strike’s peaceful conclusion, authorities identified and arrested Doan, Do, and Nguyen on charges of disrupting national security.
The trio’s trial was plagued with violations of fair trial standards. The government assured the activist’s families that they would be provided a lawyer; however, they were not represented by counsel during the closed-door trial. The government also prevented them from speaking in their own defense during the proceedings.
In October 2012, Freedom Now and Woodley & McGillivary submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of the three activists. In March 2013, the Working Group found their detention to be in violation of international law and called on Vietnam to immediately release them.
We also submitted filings to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the UN Human Rights Committee to inform international institutions of the mistreatment Doan, Do, and Nguyen suffered during their imprisonment.
We worked with members of the UK Parliament to issue an early day motion calling for the release of the three activists as well as a letter from 13 members of the U.S. Congress.
Our law firm partner, Woodley and McGillivary, was presented with the 2015 Frances Perkins Public Service Award by the Labor and Employment Section of the American Bar Association for their work on the case.
Doan and Do were sentenced to seven years in prison but were released on June 26, 2014, and February 13, 2017, respectively. Nguyen was released on February 24, 2019, after the completion of his nine-year sentence.
After their release, Doan, Do, and Nguyen remained in Vietnam. They continue to be active on social media calling for human rights reforms and for greater labor protections for Vietnamese workers.