There is little information available about Viet Nam’s immigration detention practices though people on online chat rooms and social media platforms have an occasion expressed dismay at the country’s “harsh” treatment of overstayers. There have also been reports about periodic crackdowns on irregular Chinese migrants, who are detained, fined, and then deported back to China, as well as of harassment and […]
![Many inmates of Thu Duc prison worked as labourers, securing reductions in their sentences. But some are still in detention over alleged unpaid debts [Chris Humphrey/Al Jazeera]](https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vietnam-prison-hard-labour.jpg.webp)
Viet Nam: Covid-19 and Detention
As of 7 October, Viet Nam had detected 1,099 cases of COVID-19, out of a population of 21.5 million people. Although the country has been lauded for its efforts to contain the virus–including through early border closures and widespread quarantine and testing activities–some observers have questioned the government’s transparency in reporting COVID-19 statistics. The Law […]
Last updated: May 2024
Viet Nam: Immigration Detention as Debtors Prison (Immigration Detention Monitor, 24 May 2024)
There is little information available about Viet Nam’s immigration detention practices though people on online chat rooms and social media platforms have an occasion expressed dismay at the country’s “harsh” treatment of overstayers. There have also been reports about periodic crackdowns on irregular Chinese migrants, who are detained, fined, and then deported back to China, as well as of harassment and extortion by Vietnamese border guards of Chinese migrants.
Although the country’s Law on Foreigners does not appear to provide provisions on immigration detention, the country adopted a decree in 2020 that regulates the “stay”—a euphemism for “detention”—of people in deportation proceedings at “accommodation” facilities. According to Decree 65/2020/ND-CP, it is intended to “provide guidelines for the management of and regimes … for persons who are subject to the expulsion sentence, foreigners who face administrative penalty of deportation, and foreigners who have completely served imprisonment sentences at accommodation establishments of the Ministry of Public Security pending the completion of exit procedures (hereinafter referred to as persons in stay).”
In early 2023, Al Jazeera reported that this decree is often used to hold foreigners in indefinite detention when they are unable to pay fines related to administrative procedures or criminal cases. While the law stipulates procedures for resolving cases when a foreigner is unable to pay their fine, according to Al Jazeera in reality the law has created “a legal black hole that is hard to escape without the settlement of the alleged debt or the assistance of a foreign embassy.”
Al Jazeera cited the case of Tye Soon Hin, a 42-year-old Malaysian, who “was jailed for 12 years alongside two of his fellow citizens for using fake credit cards to steal money in 2014. Since completing their sentences more than three years ago — also with a reduction — they have been held in the detention centre owing a combined sum of $60,000. One of the trio, Teh Chee Wan, can afford to repay the money he owes but has been told he cannot be released until all three, who were tried together, have settled their debts.”
A key facility used for the detention of foreigners in these situations is Trại Giam Long Hòa, which according to Al Jazeera is a complex that “also includes prison and detention facilities for Vietnamese juvenile offenders and sex workers.” A former detainees told Al Jazeera that at least 16 foreign detainees were “being held long-term at the detention centre, which he says could hold as many as 100 people. Among the inmates are nationals from Malaysia, Cambodia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Korea, Nigeria, Taiwan, The Philippines, Hong Kong and a Bulgarian dual national. All are being detained until they can repay court fees and fines as well as provide compensation to victims they are deemed to owe as a result of their crimes.”
Al Jazeera reported that it had spoken “to seven other detainees in the detention centre, all of whom said they believe they will never be released due to difficulties in arranging payment of their alleged debts. One man from the Netherlands has been in the centre since it first opened in 2017.”
To date, human rights monitoring bodies have not expressed concerns regarding migration-related detention practices in Viet Nam. However, there appears to be growing concern about the status and treatment of trafficking victims, asylum seekers, and stateless persons.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in Concluding Observations about Viet Nam issued in December 2023, stated: “While the Committee welcomes the measures taken and planned to combat statelessness and to address the needs of migrants, it regrets the lack of information on measures in relation to refugees, asylum-seekers, children of returned migrant women with foreign nationalities and internally displaced persons, including the Christian Hmong people who fled from the northern provinces to the Central Highlands.”
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2015
2015
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2012
2012
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 9/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee against Torture
§ 39. The State party should: (a) Enact asylum legislation and establish a functioning national asylum system that provides for fair and effective refugee status determination procedures, in line with international standards; (b) Designate or establish a government agency responsible for receiving and processing claims from asylum seekers and other persons who may require international protection; (c) Request the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide training in relation to refugee law and on refugee status determination procedures; (d) Comply with its non- refoulement obligations under article 3 of the Convention by ensuring the proper assessment of persons before proceeding with their criminal or administrative expulsion or deportation in order to prevent them from returning to countries where they may risk being subjected to torture; (e) Thoroughly examine the merits of each individual case for deportation, including the overall situation with regard to torture in the country concerned.
2018
2018
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
As of 7 October, Viet Nam had detected 1,099 cases of COVID-19, out of a population of 21.5 million people. Although the country has been lauded for its efforts to contain the virus--including through early border closures and widespread quarantine and testing activities--some observers have questioned the government’s transparency in reporting COVID-19 statistics.
The Law On Foreigners’ Entry Into, Exit From, Transit Through and Residence in Viet Nam does not provide provisions on immigration detention, and there is little available information about the treatment of migrants or asylum seekers in immigration enforcement procedures in the country. Viet Nam is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention. As of December 2017, the government reported that the number of registered stateless persons and persons of undetermined nationality had increased to 29,522 from 11,000 at the end of 2016. It also reported that there had not been any asylum applications in Viet Nam since 2002.
According to the 2020 US Trafficking in Persons Report, the Vietnamese government has made efforts to protect victims of trafficking by providing them with the right to legal representation, shelter, and financial support; as well as operating awareness campaigns in communities vulnerable to trafficking. However, victim identification and assistance procedures reportedly remain ineffective.
