EU Trade Commissioner Faces Criticism Over Vietnam's Rights Record

European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will visit Vietnam this week, sparking concerns that the EU's free trade agreement with the country has failed to yield any significant reforms on human rights. Despite promises made by Vietnam to enhance labor rights and improve its human rights record, the country has intensified its repression of basic freedoms, including the right to form independent trade unions. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly warned EU officials about Vietnam's rights record, citing the country's refusal to ratify key labor rights conventions and its failure to implement modest changes to its labor laws.

Key Takeaways:

• Vietnam has failed to undertake any significant reforms on human rights despite promises made to the EU before the EVFTA was ratified.
• Vietnam has intensified its systematic repression of basic freedoms, including the right to form independent trade unions.
• The country has failed to ratify a key labor rights convention obligating it to allow independent trade unions to register and operate freely.
• Vietnam has not implemented modest changes to its labor laws to allow the formation of independent "worker representative organizations."
• The Vietnamese government has been clear in its intention not to allow independent unions, with state media calling them "hostile forces."
• A Communist Party of Vietnam directive in 2023 ordered enhanced scrutiny of labor groups, civil society, and foreign organizations, specifically in the context of Vietnam's implementation of new trade agreements.
• Labor rights activists, journalists, and critics of the government have been arrested and imprisoned for speaking out against the country's human rights record.

Statistics:

• Vietnam has failed to ratify a key labor rights convention obligating it to allow independent trade unions to register and operate freely.
• Since the EVFTA was ratified, Vietnam has intensified its repression of basic freedoms, including the right to form independent trade unions.
• As of 2025, several human rights and labor groups have filed complaints with the EU that Vietnam had breached labor and human rights provisions in the EVFTA.

Sources:

• Human Rights Watch, letter to EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic
• Human Rights Watch, report on Vietnam's rights record
• Human Rights Watch, statement on the arrest of labor rights activist Mai Phan Loi and Dang Dinh Bach
• European Union, Domestic Advisory Group on the EVFTA
• Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, report on labor laws and regulations in Vietnam
• Communist Party of Vietnam, directive on enhanced scrutiny of labor groups, civil society, and foreign organizations (2023)