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Background Brief: Vietnam: Death by Lethal Injection Still a State Secret Carlyle A. Thayer June 4, 2012

[client name deleted] Q1- Why does Vietnam still classify death penalty statistics as a state secret? What effect does this have? ANSWER: In January 2006 Vietnam issued a decree classifying statistics on executions as a state secret. Vietnam did so in response to diplomatic pressures by the international community, the donor community in particular, and to unwanted publicity by international non-governmental human rights groups. Vietnam is acutely concerned about its international position and its national prestige. In February 2006 ,the Ministry of Public Security made a submission to the Central Judiciary Reform Steering Commission to reduce the number of capital offenses from 29 to 20. The Ministry also recommended that firing squads be replaced by lethal injection because it was a more humane form of execution. In July 2008, for example, the head of the Ministry of Public Securitys Legal Department stated that his ministry had sent a recommendation to the National Assembly to abolish the death penalty for twelve crimes (including smuggling, trade in counterfeit products and hijacking). According the head of the Law Department, Nguyen Ngoc An, the proposed amendment to the Penal/Criminal Code was drafted to bring Vietnam in compliance with world trends to humanize laws and completely abolish the death penalty. There was the celebrated case of Canadian drug smuggler Nguyen Thi Hiep who was executed in 2000 despite appeals for clemency by the Canadian Government. Canada suspended ministerial contact for several months in response. In November 2004, the European Union conducted a seminar in Hanoi for Vietnamese officials on the abolition of the dealt penalty. The seminar was coordinated by the Danish Institute for Human Rights. The British government contributed financially to this seminar. It was reported by diplomatic observers that Vietnam was undergoing an internal debate about capital punishment. While Vietnam does not publish figures on the number of death penalties and executions by firing squad, the state-controlled media publishes stories on individual state executions and partial figures on state executions. This publicity is designed to serve as a deterrent to criminals, particularly those who traffic in drugs. In 2006, the Vietnamese press reported that around 100 people are executed by firing squad each year. In 2007, the media reported that 104 persons were executed. In

2 November 2008, the media reported that 28 persons had been sentenced to death and three were executed that year. These figures are only partial and do not reflect the total number of executions which remain a state secret. Reportedly 58 death sentences were carried out in 2009. In the period from January-February 2010, the Vietnamese media reported that 11 death sentences were carried out. There appears to be no discernible effect on the number of drug addicts in Vietnam indicating that trafficking networks continue to ply their trade. Some observers report that the number of drug related executions has actually increased in recent years. Q2 - I suppose the introduction of lethal injection over firing squad should be considered a step in the right direction? ANSWER: The Vietnamese media has reported on the trauma suffered by police who are members of firing squads. Media reports place special emphasis on the stress caused by executing females. One report indicated that thirty per cent of bullets fired did not hit the victim being executed because of the stress on those in the firing squad. In 2004, there was even a proposal to replace firing squads with automated guns in order to carry out state executions. This proposal was revived in 2006 by the Ministry of Public Security but not accepted. Both former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and former President Nguyen Minh Triet are on record as personally expressing their objection to the use of the firing squad to carry out state executions for major crimes. Vietnam is ever trying to keep up with international trends. Its shift from firing squad to lethal injection in November 2011 (Law on Execution) is rationalized on the grounds that it is more humane to the victim and less stressful on the police involved. Q3.- However, what would you say that the planned building of at least 8 lethal injection facilities, with potentially many more to follow, says about Vietnam and its attitude to capital punishment? ANSWER: Over the years, responding to international pressure, Vietnam progressively has reduced the number of major crimes attracting the death penalty from 44 to 29 (1999) to 27 (2003) to 22 (2009). There is no indication, however, that Vietnam has ever seriously contemplated doing away with the death penalty. There appears to be strong public support for executing drug traffickers because they deal in death. In 1997 capital punishment was mandated for individuals found in possession of more than 100 grams of heroin or five kilograms of opium. It is estimated that 40% of all publicized death sentences are related to illicit drugs. Q4 - Is this a harbinger of continued human rights abuses when it comes to the death penalty in Vietnam? ANSWER: The adoption of lethal injection to death by firing squad is not so much a harbinger of continued human rights abuses but a continuation of past practice. In December 2007 Vietnam was lobbied to vote in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Vietnam took the politically expedient route of abstaining rather than voting against the protocol. Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, Vietnam: Death by Lethal Injection Still a State Secret, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, June 4, 2012.