Vietnam orders control of workers, unions despite UN pledges, watchdog says
Al Jazeera
Directive 24 also urges officials to push back against foreign influence, The 88 Project says.
Taipei, Taiwan – Vietnam’s Communist Party leaders have issued a sweeping directive aimed at clamping down on civil society, including trade unions and labour activism, even as it pledges to uphold human rights at the United Nations, according to a rights watchdog.
Among the many provisions of the order known as Directive 24, officials are asked to closely monitor trade unions and labour disputes, and ensure that new labour groups are not established based on ethnicity or religion, Bangkok-based The 88 Project, which obtained the directive, said on Friday.
The directive also calls for vigilance of foreign aid and foreign investors to ensure they cannot “hide in the shadows” and take over domestic markets or “vital economic sectors”, The 88 Project said.
The orders stand in contrast to pledges Vietnam is supposed to make later this year, when it is due to ratify the International Labour Organization’s Convention 87 after a decade of negotiations. The convention upholds workers’ rights, including their right to form trade unions.
“The mask is off. Vietnam’s leaders are saying that they intend to violate human rights as a matter of official policy,” Ben Swanton, co-director of The 88 Project, said in a statement.
