Arbitrary arrest of prominent Vietnamese environmental defender Hoang Thi Minh Hong
14.6.2023
Question for written answer E-001927/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D), Delara Burkhardt (S&D), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Pascal Durand (S&D), Maria Arena (S&D), Miriam Lexmann (PPE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Isabel Santos (S&D), Bernard Guetta (Renew), Malte Gallée (Verts/ALE), Manon Aubry (The Left), Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE), Sylvie Guillaume (S&D), Javier Nart (Renew), Heidi Hautala (Verts/ALE), Aurore Lalucq (S&D), Damien Carême (Verts/ALE), Anna Cavazzini (Verts/ALE), Christophe Clergeau (S&D), Brando Benifei (S&D), Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE), Salima Yenbou (Renew), Nora Mebarek (S&D), Dietmar Köster (S&D), Marie Toussaint (Verts/ALE), Katalin Cseh (Renew)
Hoang Thi Minh Hong has been arrested by the Vietnamese authorities on charges of tax evasion. She is the fifth environmental defender to be arrested in Vietnam for alleged tax evasion, having already been forced to close her environmental organisation due to growing repression. This follows the imprisonment of Goldman Prize laureate Nguy Thi Khanh for her advocacy against increasing coal pollution.
Parliament has previously denounced the repression of defenders and journalists in Vietnam[1]. The silencing of civil society representatives, including those involved in monitoring the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), is a clear breach of Vietnam’s commitments under the EVFTA and the EU-Vietnam Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA).
- 1)Does the Commission consider that this arrest and the repression of civil society constitute a material breach of an essential element of the EU-Vietnam PCA?
- 2)Will the Commission take appropriate measures in accordance with Article 57 of the EU-Vietnam PCA?
- 3)Which actions is the Commission taking with respect to the Vietnamese authorities to ensure that Vietnam complies with its obligations under the EU-Vietnam PCA?
Submitted:14.6.2023
- [1] European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 on the human rights situation in Vietnam, in particular the case of human rights journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan (OJ C 456, 10.11.2021, p. 251).