Despite Vietnam's remarkable achievements in protecting and promoting human rights, Freedom House continues to make biased assessments and baseless accusations, distorting the human rights situation in Vietnam.
 |
| Freedom House's Global Freedom 2025 report is unbiased and baseless on the human rights situation in Vietnam. |
In the Global Freedom 2025 report titled “The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights” published on February 26, the non -governmental organization Freedom House (FH) ranked Vietnam among the 67 countries that are not free. The distorted and baseless content of the report demonstrates the sabotage tricks, extreme and one-sided thinking of an organization that labels itself “for human rights” and “for freedom” but denies the clear progress and achievements in protecting and promoting human rights of the country that always puts people at the center of all policies and actions.
Extremist, one-sided nature and subversive intentions
Freedom House is a non-governmental organization based in the United States, founded in 1941. According to the statement, Freedom House's goal is to promote and promote democratic values and freedom around the world. Every year, this organization issues reports assessing the level of freedom of countries based on two main criteria: civil liberties and political rights; measured on a scale from 0 to 100, in which a low score means a limited level of freedom.
The Freedom House 2025 report once again slandered and classified Vietnam as a country “not free” in terms of human rights and the Internet. Accordingly, Vietnam only scored 20/100 points (specifically 4/40 points for political rights and 16/60 points for civil liberties), lower than neighboring Cambodia (23/100 points).
The annual reports of Freedom House and other human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHR)... are essentially still old, repetitive and worthless arguments about the human rights situation in Vietnam.
The unfounded scoring clearly shows that an organization that has no presence in Vietnam and has no survey activities or practical experience yet gives itself the right to evaluate. This is not surprising because Freedom House reports have often been criticized for three major shortcomings: lack of transparency in information sources; rigid evaluation criteria; and influence from funding sources, making the reports more political than objective.
Notably, the organization’s information gathering methods often rely on secondary sources, including reports from opposition organizations, Western media, and opinions from individuals who do not represent the entire society, not to mention that most of these individuals are extremists with opposing ideologies. This leads to information that may be distorted or incomplete.
Professor Stephen Krasner (Stanford University, USA) pointed out that Freedom House's evaluation criteria are "overly standardized" and do not take into account the cultural and historical diversity of each country. According to this international relations expert, applying a Western-style model of freedom and democracy to societies with different traditions is a methodological mistake.
Many other experts also commented that this organization not only reflects the views of its donors but also serves as a propaganda tool in the US's global geopolitical strategy. This explains why countries that do not follow the Western liberal democratic model are often negatively evaluated, while the restrictions on freedom in some Western countries and the US are rarely mentioned fairly by Freedom House.
Without accurate sources of information and without information verification activities, all assessments, rankings, and conclusions of Freedom House are meaningless. Therefore, the fact that this organization gives itself the right to make arbitrary and arbitrary reports and assessments on democracy and human rights, as well as calling on other countries to interfere in Vietnam's internal affairs, shows the organization's extremist, one-sided nature and destructive intentions.
 |
| Vietnam has achieved many successes in ensuring human rights in all aspects of social life. Illustrative photo: Red Dao ethnic people, Cao Bang. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
Undeniable achievement
Contrary to Freedom House's assessment, over the years Vietnam has always had consistent policies, strong commitments and achieved many achievements in protecting and promoting human rights, which have been recognized and highly appreciated by the international community.
Summarizing the process of human development and ensuring human rights in Vietnam in a letter sent to the National Scientific Conference "Humans and human rights are the center, goal, subject and driving force of national development" in October 2024, General Secretary To Lam affirmed: "Implementing a consistent and consistent viewpoint on human rights is a key factor in creating the strength of the great national unity bloc, combining national strength with the strength of the times, under the leadership of the Party, leading the Vietnamese revolutionary boat to overcome all rapids, achieving one victory after another".
Since 2019, Vietnam's average gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by 25%, and the poverty rate has decreased by 1.5% per year. Vietnam currently ranks 54th out of 166 countries ranked in the sustainable development index, up 1 place compared to 2023.
Professor Carl Thayer of the Australian Defense Force Academy, University of New South Wales, was deeply impressed by the success of Vietnam's economy, with a growth rate forecast to reach 6.1-7% in 2024, and a sharp decline in poverty. He paid special attention to achievements that help ensure social security and improve the lives of Vietnamese people, such as increasing the base salary and annual regional minimum wage for workers from mid-2024.
Meanwhile, Professor Reena Marwah of Delhi University, who is also Secretary General of the Asian Scholars Association, said that Vietnam has made impressive and remarkable progress in all areas, not only in trade and investment attraction but also in increasing per capita income.
Vietnamese people have benefited from remarkable social progress, with per capita income rising from around $200 to over $4,000 by 2024.
Along with the achievements in nation building, Vietnam has achieved many successes in ensuring human rights in all aspects of social life. Civil, economic, political and cultural human rights in Vietnam are clearly stipulated in the Party's policies and guidelines and the State's legal policies.
Vietnam's health insurance coverage rate is now 94.1%, up from 90.9% in 2000. According to the United Nations World Happiness Report 2024, Vietnam's happiness index increased 11 places, ranking 54/143.
Impressed with the Human Development Index (HDI) in Vietnam increasing continuously for many years and now being in the high index group, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Ramlaal Khalidi emphasized that this can only be achieved from a sustainable development orientation.
At the multilateral level, Vietnam continues to demonstrate its efforts and responsibilities as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term.
Within the framework of the 57th Regular Session in September 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the results of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle IV for Vietnam.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Permanent Secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC) Iraklis Tsavdaridis praised Vietnam's consistent policy on protecting and promoting human rights, expressing his impression of Vietnam's achievements in reducing extreme poverty and rapidly improving its rankings according to international standards, despite facing many difficulties in the process of building and developing the country.
That fact is the clearest proof and the strongest rebuttal to the distorted and baseless arguments about the human rights situation in Vietnam.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/loi-hoi-dap-cho-nhung-luan-dieu-xuyen-tac-vo-can-cu-ve-tinh-hinh-nhan-quyen-tai-viet-nam-307548.html
Comment (0)