International Mechanism Submissions

This report suggests questions that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women should consider posing to the Government of Viet Nam in its List of Issues, particularly with respect to the administration of the death penalty against women. Viet Nam has not abolished the death penalty or implemented a moratorium on executions, nor has it limited the application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes.

Viet Nam classifies the death penalty as a state secret, so little to no information is available about various aspects of the application of the death penalty to women. The absence of data about women on death row may obscure the ways that Viet Nam's death penalty practices discriminates against women.

Despite the secrecy, it is apparent that Viet Nam is an active executioner, conducting executions in 2023. Women remain at risk of sentence of death and execution, and Viet Nam's retention of the death penalty and its secretive practices regarding the death penalty present an ongoing risk of discrimination against women. This report suggests that the Committee: (1) ask what steps Viet Nam has taken to abolish the death penalty; (2) request official data about the number of women charged with capital crimes, sentenced to death, currently under sentence of death, or executed, disaggregated by age, nationality, profession, crime, age of any dependent children, relationship to any codefendants or victims, date of sentence, date of execution (if applicable), and current location (if applicable); (3) request information about how prison infrastructure has been designed to accommodate women's specific needs, including their need for privacy; and (4) ask what systems are in place to provide training on gender sensitivity and gender-based violence to judicial authorities, law enforcement, prosecutors and defense counsel, and prison authorities.