Approval of the EVFTA marks an important milestone in the 30-year partnership between Vietnam and the European Union. Vietnam has become the first developing country in the Asia Pacific region to reach a free trade agreement with the EU despite a late start in international economic integration.

Irrelevant voices of descent

The benefits that the EVFTA will bring are clear. It will promote growth, expand markets and preferential tariffs, create investment opportunities, generate jobs, and boost people’s incomes, and improve their lives. While the two sides were working to finalize the deal, hostile forces, political opportunists, and reactionaries worked to sabotage it. They called it an opportunity for NGOs to take action on human rights in Vietnam and used all possible means to distort Vietnam’s socio-economic situation.

Human rights and people’s rights issues in the EVFTA are perceived broadly to include first-generation rights (civil and political rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech, and freedom of belief), second-generation rights (economic, social, and cultural rights such as work, social security, education, demonstration, relaxation, and entertainment) and third-generation rights (rights related to environment, security and development). The EU’s approval of the EVFTA reflects its acknowledgement of Vietnam’s achievements in ensuring human rights. Doctor Cao Duc Thai, an expert on human rights, said: “Reasons given for opposing the deal are groundless theoretically and practically. Opponents called on the EU not to approve the EVFTA for human rights reasons. They denied the goodwill of the regime. Their ultimate goal is to damage the prestige of the Communist Party of Vietnam.”

Distortions have not prevented Vietnam’s international integration

Facts show that Vietnamese guidelines and policies are in line with international conventions and the UN declaration on human rights. Other countries, international organizations, and NGOs have praised Vietnam’s achievements in ensuring human rights. The EVFTA is a trade deal which will promote economic cooperation and create an environment in which both sides can grow. In the name of democracy and human rights, certain organizations and individuals have conflated political issues with trade issues in an attempt to defeat the agreement. Associate Professor Doctor Tuong Duy Kien, Director of the Institute for Human Rights of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said: “Distorting human rights issues in Vietnam ignores Vietnam’s achievements in human rights over the past 30 years of renewal and integration. Vietnam’s considerable achievements in protecting and ensuring human rights have received international acknowledgement.”

Under the Party leadership and State management, the people’s right of mastery and Vietnam’s renewal have made remarkable progress. Vietnam accomplished all of its Millennium Development Goals for 2015, ahead of schedule. The 2019 National Report on Human Rights, part of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Right Council, praised Vietnam’s achievements in ensuring civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.