What If You Get Arrested While In Vietnam?
By Đoàn Việt Trung
(VCA Federal President 2000-2001, 2002-2003)
Editor’s Note: Nhan Quyen would like to introduce a series of articles by author Doan Viet Trung dedicated to Nhan Quyen on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the search for freedom. Article 1 is about the Consular Agreement between Australia and Vietnam to protect Vietnamese Australians if they are detained in Vietnam. Article 2 is about a number of opinion articles by the Vietnamese community published in major Australian newspapers. Article 3 is about how the community convinced a publisher to revise its Australian high school textbooks that had provided a one-sided view of the Vietnam War. Article 4 is about one of the first Vietnamese newspapers in Australia, published on November 1, 1975. Articles 1, 2, and 3 are also published in the Yearbook that the Vietnamese Community in Australia/Queensland Chapter is about to publish (see attached front and back covers).
Article 1 of 4
Among the tasks carried out by the Federal Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Community in Australia during my three terms, there is one that hardly anyone knows about, yet it’s one that I’m particularly proud of.
When you travel to Vietnam, the chances of you being arrested are probably less than 1%, but it’s not 0%. If you’re unlucky, for instance, someone might attack you for no reason, you raise your hand to defend yourself, and the police arrest both of you (or, heaven forbid, you get hit by a reckless driver while crossing the street!).
From unwritten convention to Vienna Convention to Agreements
If you’re detained, you’ll definitely want the Australian Embassy to know so they can visit you, ease your concerns, and help you communicate with your family.
Long ago, countries had an unwritten understanding: If you arrest my citizen then you notify my embassy, and vice versa.
In 1963, the United Nations formalised this as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Although no longer unwritten, it was still just a convention, and conventions are followed only if countries choose to.
Therefore, some countries negotiate bilateral agreements and sign consular agreements. These bilateral agreements are based on the Vienna Convention but both parties commit to the terms.
The Australia-Vietnam Consular Agreement 2003
In 2001, my executive committee approached the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, requesting Australia to establish a consular agreement with Vietnam. I then flew from Melbourne to Canberra on behalf of the committee to meet with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs. They told me, “Your timing is perfect. In recent years, more and more Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested while traveling to Vietnam, so Australia sees the need for a consular agreement.”
What a relief! Most of the time, the things our community wants require hard-fought battles, and even then, success is rare. But this was an exception.
In 2002, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued a public notice inviting people to provide feedback, and my executive committee submitted a proposal on several issues (which later became Articles 10-13 below). In July 2003, Australia and Vietnam signed the consular agreement. The key articles of interest to our community are:
-Article 10 states that as long as a person has Australian citizenship, the Australian Embassy has the right to assist them, even if Vietnam claims they are Vietnamese citizens.
(I’ll pause here to share a story related to citizenship: In July 2024, I had the opportunity to meet Father Nguyễn Hữu Lễ during his visit to Australia. While chatting, Father Le mentioned that he still vividly remembers hearing, on Hanoi Radio in 1976, when the interviewer asked about the refugee wave, he heard then-Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng say: “Those people, all the men are pimps, all the women are prostitutes.” Later, when they sent money back to help their relatives, “those people” became “beloved overseas compatriots.” Then, when doing arrests, the regime suddenly wants “those people” to become Vietnamese citizens again.
Now, back to the consular agreement…)
-Article 11 states that within three working days of the arrest, Vietnam must notify the Australian Embassy, and within two days after that, embassy officials must be allowed to visit the detainee.
-Articles 12 and 13 state that if an Australian citizen dies, Vietnam must issue a death certificate to the Australian Embassy, and if there is a legal dispute over their property, the embassy has the right to represent them.
Since then, several Vietnamese Australians have been arrested for political reasons, and others for various other reasons. Whenever I hear about these cases, I think back to the consular agreement. This was something the Vietnamese Community in Australia quietly did to serve the interests of the community, though we hope no one ever has to use it.
-The End-
