Skip to main content

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Citizenship and Country Documents

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM35437 - September 2009
      1. Would a person with a dissident profile face any difficulties in obtaining a passport and exiting Vietnam?
    • VNM33819 - October 2008
      1. Please provide information on Vietnam’s Law of Residence (implemented in mid 2007) and how it is applied in practice.
      2. Is there any information available that would indicate that household registration has been withheld from Vietnamese citizens who have returned to the country after a long absence (ie above two years)? Specifically, is there information in this regard pertaining to the treatment of persons who have returned to Vietnam after seeking asylum overseas?
      3. Is there any information available that would indicate that household registration has been withheld from Vietnamese citizens whose political views are known to oppose Vietnam’s Communist government? Specifically, is there information in this regard pertaining to the treatment of persons whose family members may have been associated with the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)?
    • VNM33674 - Aug. 2008
      1. Please provide information about the various ways in which household registration ceases, in particular whether this happens when a person travels overseas, and whether people can gain employment without this registration.

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Children

Foreign Government Reports

  • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Unaccompanied children - Sept. 2021

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers - Child Soldiers Global Report - 2008

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Corruption

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • VNM101947.E - Vietnam: Exit and entry laws; whether someone who has fallen out of favour with the government can obtain a passport; corruption and the passport application process; whether or not clearance by police is required; reasons why a citizen's passport application would be rejected - Feb. 2007
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM38078 - February 2011
      1. Please provide information on whether most of the farmlands are owned by the Provincial district government and that they enforce very strict control on rent and participation in "protection money". Is there information to suggest that followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism are treated any differently to the general population in this respect?

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch
    • Public Insecurity:Deaths in Custody and Police Brutality in Vietnam - Sept. 2014

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Disabilities

Not Available

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Elections

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023

Non-Government Organization Reports

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Ethnic Groups / Race

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Hoa Hao - Jan. 2024
    • Vietnam: Ethnic and religious groups -Feb. 2022

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Minorities Rights Group International - State of the Worlds Minorities - 2016

 

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Ethnic Groups / Race - Chinese (Hoa)

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Hoa Hao - Jan. 2024

Non-Government Organization Reports

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Ethnic Groups / Race - Highland minorities

Non-Government Organization Reports

Return to the Top of the Page

Ethnic Groups / Race - Khmer

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • World Directory of Minorities - Khmer
  • Human Rights Watch - On the Margins: Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta - Jan. 2009

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Ethnic Groups / Race - Montagnards

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch
    • No Sanctuary Ongoing Threats to Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands - June 2006

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Gender

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • VNM105425.E - Viet Nam: Divorce, including availability of divorce to women, associated costs, support services available to divorced women and single mothers; whether the government mandates financial support and/or child support to ex-spouses; treatment of divorced women/single mothers; custody orders, including decisions made in favour of mothers (2008-January 2016) - February 2016
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM36532 - Apr. 2010
      1. Would the discrimination likely to be experienced by a single mother made more serious because she is a Buddhist nun?

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Human Rights

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM38055 - Feb. 2011
      1. Please provide background information on the human rights situation in Vietnam, including on the question of the right to freedom of religion.
      2. Please provide information on whether the Vietnamese government monitors all forms of public assembly, including religious activities.
  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International: 
    • Pursuit of Civil Space, Amnesty International: Submission to the 46th Session of the UPR Working Group, 29 April - Oct. 2023
    • Death Sentences and Executions - 2020
  • Human Rights Watch -  2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 
  • Human Rights Watch
    • No Country for Human Rights Activists - Assaults on Bloggers and Democracy Campaigners in Vietnam - June 2017
    • The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam - Sept 2011
    • Not Yet a Worker's Paradise: Vietnam's Suppression of the Independent Workers Movement - May 2009
  • Freedom House - Transnational Repression Report - 2020

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Justice System

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • VNM101948.E - Vietnam: Arrest warrants, including procedures followed when the person sought is out of the country - February 2007
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM38290 - March 2011
      1. Please provide information on whether there is information to suggest that authorities in Vietnam would arrest and imprison a debtor’s daughter for debts incurred by the debtor in operating an "illegal business".
      2. Please provide information on the effectiveness and fairness of the Vietnamese police. Please provide information on whether there is any evidence to suggest the police in Vietnam may be corrupt or that it might be discriminatory or fail to protect a Vietnamese citizen for reasons of the citizen’s race, nationality, religion, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.
    • VNM31658 - June 2007
      1. Under the laws of Vietnam is a sentence of 10 years imprisonment for the offence of sabotaging the telecommunications system of a province provided for/proportionate to the offence?
      2. If not, is it likely that a person has been more severely penalised than another perpetrator would be, because of his known anti-government political and religious views and activities?
  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023

Return to the Top of the Page

Law

US Government Reports

  • Library of Congress - Law Library of Congress (LLOC)
    • Family Reunification Laws in Selected Jurisdictions - July 2014

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM33819 - October 2008
      1. Please provide information on Vietnam’s Law of Residence (implemented in mid 2007) and how it is applied in practice.
      2. Is there any information available that would indicate that household registration has been withheld from Vietnamese citizens who have returned to the country after a long absence (ie above two years)? Specifically, is there information in this regard pertaining to the treatment of persons who have returned to Vietnam after seeking asylum overseas?
      3. Is there any information available that would indicate that household registration has been withheld from Vietnamese citizens whose political views are known to oppose Vietnam’s Communist government? Specifically, is there information in this regard pertaining to the treatment of persons whose family members may have been associated with the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)?

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch
    • HUMAN RIGHTS IN A SEASON OF TRANSITION: Law and Dissent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - Aug. 1995

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Maps

 

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Medical Availability

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM35043 - 2009
      1. Could I please have an update on the status of HIV+ and/or Hep B sufferers (if there is any recent information), particularly in non-urban localities?
      2. Could I please have any information in relation to the success or failure of the new anti-discrimination law which took effect on 1/1/07 referred to in VNM33616?

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Political Figures and Parties

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Refugees

None Available

Return to the Top of the Page

Religion

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Policy and Information Note
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023
    • Vietnam: Hoa Hao Buddhism - Feb. 2020
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • VNM41310.E - Vietnam: Treatment of members of the Theravada Sangha Buddhist sect belonging to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam - March 2003
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM38078 - Feb. 2011
      1. Please provide information on whether most of the farmlands are owned by the Provincial district government and that they enforce very strict control on rent and participation in "protection money". Is there information to suggest that followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism are treated any differently to the general population in this respect?
      2. Is there any information that in June 2009 at Ho Chi Minh airport, a pastor with the Hoa Hao Buddhist group was prevented from travelling to the USA?
      3. Is there any information that in April 2009, the local leader of the Hoa Hao Buddhist group in Kien Giang was fined for illegal preaching?
      4. Is there information that the local police in Vietnam enter the homes of Hoa Hao Buddhists or of other followers of unofficial religions and warn them to dissociate from their leaders and stop practising their religion?
      5. Is there any information to suggest that the Vietnamese government may be planning a crackdown on the Hoa Hao Buddhist religion?
    • VNM38054 - Feb 2011
      1. Please provide background information on the Hoa Hao branch of Buddhism, including its history, establishment, core tenets, and philosophy.
      2. How does Hoa Hao Buddhism differ from other branches of Buddhism?
      3. Please provide information on the demographics of Hoa Hao Buddhism in Vietnam, including total numbers, percentages, location, and predominance.
      4. Please provide information on the Ancestral Temple.
      5. In what sense are there official as compared to unofficial religious groups in Vietnam? Was Hoa Hao Buddhism officially recognised in Vietnam in 1999?
      6. Please provide information on the Hoa Hao Central Buddhist Church (HHCBC).
      7. Please provide information on the Hoa Hao Administrative Council, including when and why it was formed, its purpose, and its major achievements.
      8. Is there any information about the Hoa Hao Buddhists splitting into 2 groups following suppression of the religion, and were leaders detained?
      9. Is the Hoa Hao Buddhist branch seen as a political opposition force to the ruling regime in Vietnam?
      10. Do Hoa Hao Buddhists experience any societal discrimination as a result of their religion?
      11. Please provide current information on whether Hoa Hao Buddhists have been arrested, detained, or otherwise mistreated by the ruling regime in Vietnam.
      12. Is there information on what the local police attitude is towards followers of Hoa Hao? Is there information that government authorities from Ho Chi Minh City will harm/mistreat followers, please provide information on the distinction between the local and the national authorities which might take an interest in the religion.
      13. Is there information on authorities seizing or confiscating Hoa Hao properties since the end of the Vietnam War?
      14. Is there information to confirm or deny that a government document dated 18 February 1979 laid out a 15-year campaign to exterminate the Hoa Hao Buddhist religion?
      15. Is there information to show that the Vietnamese authorities banned the celebration of the Founder’s Day Festival (the founder being Huynh Phu So) in 1999 or so?
      16. Please provide information on the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Hoa Hao at the Ancestral Temple in 1999, whether it was sought to be banned but attracted 1 million attendees.
      17. Is there information on two Hoa Hao Buddhists self-immolating in 2005?
      18. Is there any information of a court in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap sentencing four Hoa Hao followers to between 4 and 6 years imprisonment for creating public disorder? Is so, please provide information on this.
      19. Is there information of a hunger strike in 2006 which relates to the Hoa Hao religion?
    • VNM36044 - Feb. 2010
      1. Please provide up-to-date information on the treatment of Buddhists generally in Vietnam.
      2. Please provide any information on the treatment of Buddhists in Quang Ngai.
      3. Please provide any information on protests by Buddhists in Lam Dong Province and on the police response.
      4. Are there any reports of the Vietnamese authorities cutting water or power supplies to Buddhist communities or monasteries?
      5. Please provide information on the UBCV, its structure, activities and office holders.
      6. Please provide information on the authorities’ treatment of members of the UBCV.

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Sexual Orientation

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch Profile - “My Teacher Said I Had a Disease” Barriers to the Right to Education for LGBT Youth in Vietnam - Feb. 2020

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM32852 - January 2008
      • Please provide further information since October 2007 on the following:
        1. Are there any laws relating to discrimination or violence against homosexuals or lesbians?
        2. Do you have any more information about the willingness or otherwise of authorities to protect lesbian or homosexual victims of violence or discrimination?

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Specific Country Issues - Freedom of Movement

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM35043 - 2009
      1. Could I please have information in relation to whether a resident of Ca Mau would experience difficulties in registering to live in Ho Chi Minh City?
    • VNM32207 - 2007
      1. Please provide some documentary evidence regarding Vietnamese law(s) against illegal departure by Vietnamese in the late 1970s to early 1980s (before 1985) to indicate whether people were punished for illegal departure in 1979.

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Specific Country Issues - Treatment of Returnees

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • VNM41980.E - Vietnam: Consequences for a Vietnamese citizen who returns to Vietnam without having previously received official permission to leave the country (2003) - February 2004
  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM32395 - October 2007
      1. Are there any reports of people with Australian criminal records (such as drug dealing) are being harmed, arrested or imprisoned on their return to Vietnam?
    • VNM33819 - July 2007
      1. Is there any evidence that refugees who were repatriated to Vietnam in the 1990s were, and continue to be, discriminated against as a social group? If so, what forms might this discrimination take?

Return to the Top of the Page

Speech / Press / Internet

Foreign Government Reports

  • Austrailian Migration Review Tribunal - Refugee Review Tribunal
    • VNM35437 - September 2009
      1. Please provide information on the authorities’ treatment of cartoonists and others who produce drawings critical of the government.
      2. Are there any reports indicating that people are targeted by the authorities for producing, possessing or selling symbols associated with the US?
  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Opposition to the state - Aug. 2023

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Pursuit of Civil Space, Amnesty International: Submission to the 46th Session of the UPR Working Group, 29 April - Oct. 2023
  • Freedom House

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Timeline

Media

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Trafficking

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • UK Home Office Country Information and Guidance
    • Country Policy and Information Note Vietnam: Trafficking - Dec. 2023

Return to the Top of the Page

 

Terrorism

None Available

Updated February 1, 2024