Although details were not always available, there were reports indicating that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including reports of nine deaths of persons in custody during the year as well as abuses of lethal force. The Bureau of Investigation of the Supreme People’s Procuracy examines allegations of abuse by security forces.

On January 29, Nguyen Quoc Tuan died in police custody in Gia Lai Province after two months’ detention for alleged theft. Tuan’s family challenged the authorities’ ruling of death by natural causes, pointing to significant bruising and wounds on Tuan’s body. There was no further public information on Tuan’s death or the family’s request for an investigation.

According to official reports, Tran Van Hien died of brain injury on April 11, after police took him into custody in Binh Tan District. Ho Chi Minh City, after he threatened to film traffic police as they seized his motorbike. Police officers Le Thanh Bang and Le Van Tong later confessed that they beat him. The case remained under police investigation as of November.

There was one new report of a politically motivated disappearance: On August 21, police reportedly detained blogger Nguyen Van Dung, also known as Aduku Adk, on a street in downtown Hanoi after he participated in a meeting of the politically oriented “Network of Vietnamese Bloggers.” Shortly after his detention, local police searched his house. At year’s end, his whereabouts were unknown, and authorities had not filed official charges.

There continued to be no information on the whereabouts of both Thich Tri Khai, a monk from the unregistered Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam whom authorities arrested in 2008, and Le Tri Tue, a founder of the Independent Workers’ Union whom authorities placed in custody in 2007.

On January 28, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances reported that it resubmitted a query regarding the one outstanding case that it had on record but received no response from the government.

The law prohibits physical abuse, but police commonly mistreated suspects during arrest or detention, and drug detention-center personnel abused detainees as well. Security officials attacked journalists (see section 2.a.). The government signed the Convention Against Torture on November 7.

There were reports of medical abuse during the year. On January 24, security officers detained blogger Le Anh Hung in a mental institution against his will. He was released on February 5. He had frequently denounced corruption by senior officials in his blogs.

In May blogger Nguyen Hoang Vi, her sister Nguyen Thao Chi, and her mother Nguyen Thi Cuc alleged that police harassed and beat them when they tried to recover a cell phone and computer that police confiscated from Nguyen Hoang Vi the day before.

Land-rights protesters in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and several provinces in the Mekong Delta continued to report instances of physical harassment and intimidation by local authorities. For example, on September 17, land-rights demonstrators claimed that police and local authorities in Ho Chi Minh City pushed them into the street and injured them in front of a government office building. (Most incidents between local authorities and ethnic minorities involved land, money, or domestic disputes.)

In May the People’s Procuracy of Tuy Hoa City found Major Nguyen Minh Quyen, Major Nguyen Tan Quang, Senior Lieutenant Pham Ngoc Man, and police officers Nguyen Than Thao Thanh and Do Nho guilty of using corporal punishment during the interrogation of Ngo Thanh Kieu, who was detained on burglary charges in May 2012. Ngo died from his injuries. The procuracy recommended disciplinary action for 10 other police officers of Tuy Hoa City, including Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Duc Hoa. The case was pending trial.

Prison conditions were austere but generally not life threatening. Overcrowding, insufficient diet, lack of access to potable water, and poor sanitation remained serious problems. State control of the media restricted reporting on living conditions.

Physical Conditions: The number of prisoners and detainees was not publicly available, but the nongovernmental organization (NGO) International Center for Prison Studies reported that the prison population as of mid-2012, including pretrial detainees, totaled 130,180, of whom 12.6 percent were women. Authorities generally hold men and women separately, with some reported exceptions in local detention centers where space is often limited. Authorities generally held juveniles in prison separately from adults, but on rare occasions, they held juveniles in detention with adults for short periods due to the unavailability of space.

Authorities typically sent political prisoners to specially designated prisons that also held regular criminals and, in most cases, kept political prisoners separate from nonpolitical prisoners. Authorities completely isolated some high-profile political prisoners.

Prisoners had access to basic health care, although in many cases officials prevented family members from providing medication to prisoners. In addition, family members of imprisoned activists who experienced health problems claimed medical treatment was inadequate and resulted in greater long-term health complications. In June Cu Huy Ha Vu refused to accept prison food in protest over prison conditions, which included the complaint that conditions had exacerbated his chronic heart condition. In September Dinh Dang Dinh, a high school teacher in Dak Nong Province arrested for his online postings in 2011 and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in August 2012, was allowed to have stomach cancer surgery in Ho Chi Minh City after a long and extensive application process for appropriate medical treatment.

Deaths in prison were mostly related to serious health conditions, exacerbated by poor or delayed medical care, poor sanitation, and malnutrition. Some family members of prisoners alleged that death resulted from lethal force by authorities (see section 1.a.).

Prisoners generally were required to work but received no wages. Authorities sometimes placed prisoners in solitary confinement and deprived them of reading and writing materials for periods of up to several months. Family members continued to make credible claims that prisoners received benefits by paying bribes to prison officials or undertaking hunger strikes.

Administration: While prison sentences could be extremely lengthy, authorities did not force prisoners to serve beyond the maximum sentence for their charged offenses. There were no prison ombudsmen and no consideration of alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. Prison administrators did not keep adequate records, and at times statistics were contradictory.

Authorities limited prisoners to one 30-minute family visit per month and generally permitted family members to give supplemental food and bedding to prisoners. Family members of political prisoners continued to report increased government surveillance and harassment by security officials as well as interference with their work, school, and financial activities. In addition, authorities generally prevented foreign diplomats from meeting with prisoners but did allow foreign diplomats to make one limited prison visit during the year to meet with one prominent prisoner.

Authorities routinely transferred prisoners, making it difficult for family members to visit. In February police transferred Nguyen Van Hai (also known by his pen name, Dieu Cay) to a prison in Ba Ria-Vung, Tau Province, without informing his family. Hai claimed that prison authorities forced him to give up all personal belongings, including newspapers, books, notebooks, and pens, and locked him in isolation for more than two months. In April authorities transferred Hai to a prison in Nghe An Province and placed him in solitary confinement, after which he began a hunger strike.

In May authorities transferred Ta Phong Tan, a 2013 International Women of Courage Award winner serving a 10-year prison sentence for antistate propaganda (Article 88), from a prison in Dong Nai Province to one in Thanh Hoa Province. She claimed the transfer would exacerbate her health conditions.

Independent Monitoring: Although permitted, the International Committee of the Red Cross neither requested nor carried out prison visits during the year.

The law allows the government to detain persons without charge indefinitely under vague “national security” provisions. The government continued to arrest and detain individuals indefinitely under other legal provisions and subjected several activists throughout the country to administrative detention or house arrest.

The law provides for the independence of judges and lay assessors, but the CPV controlled the courts at all levels through its effective control of judicial appointments and other mechanisms and in many cases, determined verdicts. As in past years, political influence, endemic corruption, and inefficiency strongly distorted the judicial system. Most, if not all, judges were members of the CPV and chosen at least in part for their political views. The party’s influence was particularly notable in high-profile cases and other instances in which authorities charged a person with challenging or harming the party or state.

There continued to be a shortage of trained lawyers and judges. The Vietnam Bar Federation falls under the supervision of the CPV’s Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), an umbrella group that monitors the country’s government-sponsored social organizations, and is closely coordinated with the Ministry of Justice and the Vietnam Lawyers Association.

The law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, but the government did not respect these prohibitions.

Public prosecutorial orders are required for forced entry into homes, although security forces seldom followed procedures to obtain such orders and instead asked permission to enter homes with an implied threat of repercussions for failure to cooperate. Political dissidents, including Truong Duy Nhat, Pham Viet Dao, and Dinh Nhat Uy, reported that police illegally removed personal computers, cell phones, and other material from their respective homes and/or offices.

On September 25, between 20 and 30 uniformed and plainclothes police entered the residence of blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy in Hanoi without a legal warrant and detained nine individuals, including Nguyen Phuong Uyen, her mother, former prisoner Pham Ba Hai, Duong Thi Tan (Dieu Cay’s former wife), Le Quoc Quyet (Le Quoc Quan’s brother), and others. Several witnesses reported that Ministry of Public Security officials took the group to a Hanoi police station, interrogated them, and assaulted some. Police released the detainees within five hours. Both Nguyen Phuong Uyen and Le Quoc Quyet displayed noticeable facial bruising in the days after the incident.

During the year authorities occasionally physically prevented political activists and family members of political prisoners from meeting with foreign diplomats. Tactics included setting up barriers or guards outside diplomats’ and activists’ residences and calling individuals into local police stations for random and repetitive questioning. During the April visit of a senior foreign official who had traveled to the country to assess and discuss human rights conditions, the government detained one prominent activist and blocked the home of another. Consequently, the senior official was unable to meet with the activists as planned. Authorities again prevented another senior foreign official from meeting with one of the two activists in October.

Authorities continued to open and censor targeted persons’ mail; confiscate packages and letters; and monitor telephone conversations, e-mail, text messages, blogs, and fax transmissions. The government continued cutting the telephone lines and interrupting the cell phone and internet services of a number of political activists and their family members.

The Ministry of Public Security maintains a system of household registration and block wardens to monitor the population. While this system was less intrusive than in the past, the Ministry of Public Security continued to monitor individuals suspected of engaging, or being likely to engage, in unauthorized political activities. Credible reports suggested that local police continued to use contract thugs and citizen brigades to harass and beat political activists and others, including religious worshippers, perceived as undesirable or a threat to public security. For example, on July 3, plainclothes individuals reportedly attacked the independent Cao Dai Vinh Long Temple in Tien Gang Province and injured 12 followers. Authorities continued to harass persons suspected of being involved in unauthorized political or religious activities.

The government continued to pursue a population and reproductive health strategy that set a target average number of children per couple (see section 6, Women).

Incidents of physical harassment, intimidation, and the questioning of family members by security authorities were reported in several locations, including but not limited to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nghe An Province. Le Quoc Quyet reported that plainclothes police attacked him on several occasions. Activist Bui Thi Minh Hang alleged that plainclothes police surrounded her residence for several days, and that police followed her and some family members and assaulted her son.

CPV membership remained a prerequisite to career advancement for all government and government-linked organizations and businesses. Nevertheless, economic diversification continued to make membership in the CPV and CPV-controlled mass organizations less essential to financial and social advancement.

During the year there were a number of land disputes and related demonstrations involving the government.

On September 11, in Thai Binh City, Dang Ngoc Viet killed local land official Vo Ngoc Dung, the deputy director of Thai Binh City’s Land Fund Development Center, and injured four other officials at the municipal people’s committee. He killed himself several hours later. The shooting allegedly occurred over a disagreement regarding compensation for site clearance.

On April 3, the Hai Phong People’s Court in Tien Lang, Hai Phong, sentenced Doan Van Vuon to five years in prison. Along with several family members, the court found Doan guilty of planting mines and firing homemade guns at police. The charges stemmed from a January 2012 incident whereby authorities tried to evict the family from the land where they ran a shrimp business. On July 31, an appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence.

According to NGO sources, the high level of public concern over land tenure and its links to political and social stability led to widespread calls for revision of the 2003 Land Law. Citizens have acted to defend their land rights through both formal and informal methods. The number of complaints filed over land disputes has increased dramatically in the last decade, constituting 70 percent to 90 percent of all petitions and complaints. In the first 10 months of 2012, NGO sources reported that more than 97 percent of the 3,193 petitions to the government concerned land issues; only 1,106 received responses. The head of the Government Inspectorate, Huynh Phong Tranh, estimated during the year that there were at least 500 formal, unresolved land-dispute cases.

Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech, including for members of the press, the government continued to use broad national security and antidefamation provisions to restrict these freedoms. The law defines the crimes of “sabotaging the infrastructure of socialism,” “sowing divisions between religious and nonreligious people,” and “propagandizing against the state” as serious offenses against national security. It also expressly forbids “taking advantage of democratic freedoms and rights to violate the interests of the state and social organizations.”

Freedom of Speech: The government continued to restrict speech that criticized individual government leaders; promoted political pluralism or multi-party democracy; or questioned policies on sensitive matters, such as human rights, religious freedom, or sovereignty disputes with China. The government also sought to impede criticism by monitoring meetings and communications of political activists.

On June 15, police arrested Dinh Nhat Uy for “abusing democratic freedoms”(Article 258) for his online postings calling for the release of his brother, Dinh Nguyen Kha, who was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in May. A court convicted Dinh Nhat Uy on October 29 and released him with a sentence of 15 months’ house arrest.

The government tolerated some debate about sensitive political topics. From January 2 through September 30, the government solicited comments from the public on a published draft of proposed changes to the constitution. The comment period was originally slated to end March 31, but the government extended the comment period through September 30 to accommodate the high volume of comments from citizens. The government reported that it received more than 26 million comments during the nine-month comment period. Lively public discussions online and in state-owned media attracted the participation of intellectuals and retired government officials. While the National Assembly approved and the president implemented what some democracy advocates described as only minor changes to the constitution, disregarding recommendations to reduce the primacy of the CPV and allow for multi-party democracy, the comment period served to expand the range of public political discussion the government permitted during the year. Nevertheless, although for the most part authorities tolerated political discussion during the comment period, on February 26, owners of the state-run newspaper Family and Society dismissed journalist Nguyen Dac Kien immediately after he posted a blog entry criticizing CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Kien had called for the elimination of Article 4 of the constitution, which affirms the primacy of the CPV.

Press Freedoms: The CPV, government, and party-controlled mass organizations controlled all print, broadcast, and electronic media. The government exercised oversight through the Ministry of Information and Communications, under the overall guidance of the CPV Propaganda and Education Commission. Private ownership of any media outlet remained prohibited, as were media outlets run by private citizens. The government permitted foreign-based outlets (including, but not limited to, BBC and CNN), although the law requires foreign television broadcasts to run on a 30-minute delay in order to monitor their content.

Foreign journalists noted that they continued to be required to notify authorities about travel outside Hanoi when it involved a story that the government might consider sensitive or was in an area considered sensitive, such as the Northwest or Central Highlands.

The law limits satellite television access to senior officials, foreigners, luxury hotels, and the press, but persons throughout the country continued to be able to access foreign programming via home satellite equipment or cable. Cable television, including foreign-origin channels, was widely available to urban-area subscribers.

On May 15, Decision 20 went into effect after repeated delays. Among other provisions, this decision requires foreign broadcasters to obtain licenses from the Ministry of Information and Communications and to agree to have a government-approved agency translate the content before a program is broadcast. In some cases, the broadcast channels bear the translation costs. Only 16 channels had licenses when the decision went into effect. In response to the decision, one provider immediately pulled all its foreign channels, and several others cut networks, such as BBC and CNN. Soon afterward, all foreign channels were again available through television providers due to the government’s apparent relaxation of implementation of the decision after a public outcry. Observers heavily criticized the decision for its potential to restrict freedom of speech and limit access to independent, outside media sources. At year’s end, although the decision remained in effect, the government was not enforcing it strictly.

Violence and Harassment: Security officials attacked or threatened several journalists reportedly because of their coverage of sensitive stories.

On April 24, journalists Hoang Ngoc and Nam Phong of the website Nguoiduatin reported that a traffic police officer confiscated their camera while they were filming police soliciting bribes and that two unknown assailants threatened them with a knife later the same day.

Multiple foreign journalists reported harassment by security officials, including threats not to renew their visas if they continued to publish stories on “sensitive” topics.

Censorship or Content Restrictions: The Ministry of Information and Communications and the Propaganda and Education Commission frequently intervened directly to dictate or censor a story. More often, however, the party and government maintained control over media content through pervasive self-censorship backed by the threat of dismissal and possible arrest.

Authorities continued efforts to suppress press freedom. Decree 2 stipulates fines of VND 1 million to VND 42 million ($47 to $1,990) for journalists, newspapers, and online media that fail to provide “honest domestic and international news in accordance with the interests of the country and the people.” The decree also authorizes the government to fine journalists and newspapers for infringing content at any time, based on nontransparent determinations by various ministries and officials. Furthermore, the decree establishes fines ranging from VND 10.5 million to VND 21 million ($497 to $994) for journalists who fail to publish their sources of information and for journalists and newspapers that “use documents and materials from organizations and personal letters and materials from individuals.”

Under government regulations, the Ministry of Information and Communications has the authority to revoke licenses for foreign publishers, and each foreign publisher must reapply annually to maintain its license. Nonetheless, street peddlers and shops oriented to tourists openly sold foreign-language editions of some banned books. Foreign-language periodicals were widely available in cities, although the government occasionally censored articles.

Libel Laws/National Security: The law requires journalists to pay monetary damages to individuals or organizations whose reputations were harmed by reporting, even if the reports were accurate. Independent observers noted that the law severely limited investigative reporting. Although there were some press reports during the year on topics that generally were considered sensitive, such as the prosecution of high-ranking CPV and government officials on corruption charges as well as occasional criticism of officials and official associations, the freedom to criticize the CPV and its senior leadership remained restricted.

On June 15, police arrested Pham Viet Dao, a writer and blogger who had become increasingly critical of government officials in the blog he published under the pen name of Phu Loc Tho. Dao is a member of the Association of Vietnamese Writers and the Association of Vietnamese Journalists and former head of the Press and Publications Inspection Bureau.

In August the Ministry of Information and Communication’s Publishing Department banned the two-volume novel Dai Gia (Tycoons) by Nguyen Xuan Hoang (also known as Thien Son). The novel details hidden connections between corrupt government officials and state-run corporations.

See the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/rpt/.

The constitution provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, but the government imposed some limits on the movement of certain individuals. The government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern.

Local government authorities did not hinder the UNHCR fact-finding and monitoring visits to the Mekong Delta, Hue, Da Nang, and the Northwest Highlands. Provincial governments generally continued to honor their obligations to reintegrate peacefully ethnic minority returnees from Cambodia.

In-country Movement: Several political dissidents, amnestied with probation or under house arrest, were officially restricted in their movements. These included Le Cong Dinh, Pham Hong Son, Nguyen Van Dai, Nguyen Phuong Uyen, and Dinh Nhat Uy.

A government restriction regarding travel to certain areas requires citizens and resident foreigners to obtain a permit to visit border areas; defense facilities; industrial zones involved in national defense; areas of “national strategic storage”; and “works of extreme importance for political, economic, cultural, and social purposes.”

Local police require citizens to register when staying overnight in any location outside of their own homes; the government appeared to enforce these requirements more strictly in some Central and Northern Highlands districts. Foreign passport holders must also register to stay in private homes, although there were no known cases of local authorities refusing to allow foreign visitors to stay with friends and family.

Authorities did not broadly implement this residence law, and migration from rural areas to cities continued unabated. Moving without permission, however, hampered persons seeking legal residence permits, public education, and health-care benefits.

Foreign Travel: Officials occasionally continued to delay citizens’ access to passports to extort bribes. Prospective emigrants occasionally encountered difficulties obtaining a passport.

Foreign travel prohibitions–apparently aimed at punishing the exercise of free speech–continued.

In September authorities prevented Dang Huu Hoang Gia, a member of the Vietnamese Friendship Association of Former Political and Religious Prisoners, from travelling to Manila to attend a civil society course held by the Vietnamese Observers Initiative for Conscience Empowerment.

Although their probation ended years earlier, the government continued to prohibit dissidents Nguyen Khac Toan, Pham Hong Son, Le Thi Kim Thu, Vu Quoc Tu, Le Tran Luat, and others from receiving a passport and traveling overseas.

Emigration and Repatriation: The government generally permitted citizens who had emigrated to return to visit, although it refused to allow certain activists or other individuals living abroad to return. Police denied entry visas to, or detained, and sometimes deported, some known Vietnamese political activists after they entered or re-entered the country.

The government continued to honor a tripartite memorandum of understanding signed with Cambodia and the UNHCR to facilitate the return from Cambodia of all ethnic Vietnamese who did not qualify for third-country resettlement.

Recent Elections: The most recent elections–in 2011 to select members of the National Assembly–were neither free nor fair. The VFF chose and vetted all candidates. The ratio of “independent” candidates (those not linked to a certain organization or group) to other candidates was lower than that of the 2007 election. The CPV allowed 15 “self-nominated” candidates who did not have official government backing to run. There were credible reports that party officials pressured many other self-nominated candidates to withdraw or found such candidates “ineligible” to run.

According to the government, more than 99 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2011 election, a figure that international observers considered improbably high. (Voters may cast ballots by proxy, and local authorities are charged with assuring that all eligible voters cast ballots by organizing group voting and assuring all voters within their jurisdiction are recorded as having voted.) CPV candidates won 458 of the 500 seats. Four of the 15 self-nominated candidates won.

The National Assembly, although subject to CPV control (all of its senior leaders and more than 90 percent of its members are party members), continued to take incremental steps to assert itself as a legislative body.

For example, under a law effective January 1, the president, prime minister, cabinet members, Supreme People’s Court justices, and the National Assembly president must submit to an annual vote of support in the National Assembly. On June 11, during the first confidence vote, 160 of the 500 members voted against the prime minister, with other top officials also scoring poorly. Many observers commented that the “low-confidence” votes were merely an attempt to deflect growing public criticism against the CPV and the government, noting the lack of a “no-confidence” option.

Political Parties: The constitution vests all authority and political power in one party, the CPV, and recognizes the leadership of the CPV. The CPV Politburo functions as the supreme decision-making body in the country, although technically it reports to the CPV Central Committee. Political opposition movements and other political parties are illegal.

The government continued to restrict severely public debate and criticism of the one-party state. In contrast with previous years, the government tolerated some criticism of the one-party state during the January 1 to September 30 comment period on the draft constitution. Some groups and individuals openly called for amending Article 4 and permitting multi-party democracy.

There were instances during the year of unsanctioned public letters from private citizens critical of government policy. Members of Bloc 8406 and other political activist groups that call for the creation of a multi-party state continued to face harassment and imprisonment.

In May approximately 70 individuals, including former political prisoner Nguyen Van Dai, established a political organizations called “The Brotherhood for Democracy” to facilitate collective democratic action.

In August state media launched a campaign against the credibility of Le Hieu Dang, a 45-year member of the CPV, after he formed the Social Democratic Party, a political organization that he called an “opposition party.”

Participation of Women and Minorities: The law provides the opportunity for equal participation in politics by women and minority groups. There were 122 women (approximately 24 percent) in the National Assembly, two female ministers in the 28-member cabinet, one woman in the 14-member Politburo, and no women in the 17-member Supreme People’s Court.

Ethnic minorities held 78 seats (approximately 16 percent) in the National Assembly.

Rape and Domestic Violence: The law prohibits using or threatening violence against women or taking advantage of a person who cannot act in self-defense. It also criminalizes rape, including spousal rape. Rapists are subject to two to seven years’ imprisonment. In severe cases of rape, including organized rape, a repeat offense, or extreme harm to the victim, sentences may range from seven to 15 years in prison. Authorities reportedly prosecuted rape cases fully, but the government did not release arrest, prosecution, conviction, or punishment statistics.

Domestic violence against women was common. A special 2010 UN report found that 58 percent of married women had been victims of physical, sexual, or emotional domestic violence. Authorities treated domestic violence cases as civil ones, unless the victim suffered injuries involving more than 11 percent of her body. The law specifies acts constituting domestic violence, assigns specific portfolio responsibilities to different government agencies and ministries, and stipulates punishments for perpetrators ranging from warnings and probation for up to three years to imprisonment for three months to three years. NGO and survivor advocates considered many of the provisions weak, and the government did not release arrest, prosecution, conviction, or punishment statistics. Officials acknowledged domestic violence as a significant social concern, and the media discussed it openly during the year.

While the police and legal system generally remained unequipped to deal with cases of domestic violence, the government, with the help of international and domestic NGOs, continued to train police, lawyers, and legal system officials in the law.

According to a March report by the Vietnamese Central Women’s Union and the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, authorities recorded 178,847 domestic violence cases between 2009 and mid-2012, of which more than 16,000 cases involved elders and 23,300 involved children, with the majority of the rest involving spouses, mostly wives.

Several domestic and international NGOs worked to address domestic violence. Domestic NGOs operated hotlines for victims in major cities. The Center for Women and Development, supported by the Women’s Union, also operated a nationwide hotline, although it was not widely advertised in rural areas. Although rural areas often lacked the financial resources to provide crisis centers and hotlines, a law establishes “reliable residences” to allow women to turn to another family while local authorities and community leaders attempt to confront the abuser and resolve complaints. There were 300 such residences in the country, all established through the Women’s Union at the commune level. Many women remained in abusive marriages rather than confront social and family stigma as well as economic uncertainty.

The government, with the help of international NGOs, continued to support workshops and seminars aimed at educating women and men about domestic violence and women’s rights in general and highlighted the problem through public awareness campaigns. Local NGOs affiliated with the Women’s Union remained engaged in women’s concerns, particularly violence against women and trafficking of women and children.

Sexual Harassment: No law prohibits sexual harassment of adults, and no law protects employees from sexual harassment in the workplace, although the law does prohibit employers from discriminating against female workers or offending their dignity and honor. A labor code prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace. Publications and training on ethical regulations for government and other public servants do not mention the problem, although it existed.

Victims of sexual harassment may contact social associations such as the Women’s Union to request their involvement. Victims with access to a labor union representative may lodge complaints with union officers. In serious cases, victims may sue offenders under a provision that deals with “humiliating other persons” and specifies punishments that include a warning, noncustodial reform for up to two years, or a prison term ranging from three months to two years. Nevertheless, there were no known prosecutions or sexual harassment lawsuits during the year, and most victims were unwilling to denounce offenders publicly.

Reproductive Rights: The constitution obliges society, families, and all citizens to implement “the population and family planning program.” The law affirms an individual’s right to choose contraceptive methods; access gynecological diagnosis, treatment, and health check-ups during pregnancy; and obtain medical services when giving birth at health facilities, and the government generally enforced these provisions. Nonetheless, unmarried women of reproductive ages continued to have limited or no access to subsidized contraceptives due to a lack of available government-approved contraceptives throughout the country. The social stigma attached to unmarried women who seek contraceptives further limited access. The government allocated additional resources for family planning services in 2010 with a goal of increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate to 80 percent by 2015.

The Population and Reproductive Health Strategy for 2011-20 applies to all citizens and strives to maintain the average number of children per reproductive-age couple at 1.8. The government, primarily through broad media campaigns, maintained its strong encouragement of family planning. A decree issued by the Politburo subjects CPV members to reprimand if they have three children, removal from a ranking position if they have four children, and expulsion from the CPV if they have five children. Violating the decree also increased the likelihood of job termination and decreased the likelihood of promotion.

Discrimination: The law provides for gender equality in all aspects of life, but women continued to face societal discrimination. Despite the large body of law and regulation devoted to the protection of women’s rights in marriage and the workplace, as well as provisions that call for preferential treatment, women did not always receive equal treatment. They continued to experience discrimination since they were not allowed to work in all the same industries or for the same hours as men (due to pregnancy or nursing). Moreover, no laws prohibit employers from asking about family status during job interviews. Women are expected to retire at age 55, compared with age 60 for men.

Although the law provides for equal inheritance rights for men and women, women continued to face cultural discrimination: A son is more likely to inherit property than a daughter is, unless otherwise specified by a legal document. A 2012 UN Development Program (UNDP)-funded study on land rights concluded that the law and cultural stereotypes limited women’s access to land ownership and inheritance. The law also prohibits gender-based preferential hiring for jobs, and while NGOs assumed that such discrimination occurred, allegations were hard to prove.

The Women’s Union and the government’s National Committee for the Advancement of Women continued to promote women’s rights, including political, economic, and legal equality, and protection from spousal abuse. The Women’s Union also operated microcredit consumer-finance programs and other programs to promote the advancement of women. The government’s National Strategy Plan for Gender Equality 2011-20 asserted that substantive equality between men and women should be provided in opportunity, participation, and benefits in the political, economic, cultural, and social domains to contribute to fast, sustainable national development.

During a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City in August to review the 30-year implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and to discuss other measures related to gender equality and women’s rights, the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs reported that women accounted for 48 percent of an estimated 1.5 million workers. The law requires equal pay for equal work in principle, but many women complained about receiving lower pay than male counterparts do.

Gender-based Sex Selection: According to the UNDP, the national average male-female sex ratio at birth in 2012 was 112.3 to 100. The imbalanced ratio of newborn boys to girls continued to increase during the year, particularly in some wealthier areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The government acknowledged the problem (reduction of the ratio was a highlighted goal in the National Program on Gender Equality) and continued to take steps to address it. The Ministry of Health received additional funds and resources to address the imbalance.

Birth Registration: By law, the government considers anyone born to at least one Vietnamese citizen parent to be a citizen, although persons born to non-Vietnamese parents may also acquire citizenship under certain circumstances. Not all births were registered immediately, sometimes reportedly due to a lack of incentive or knowledge among the populace. A birth certificate is required for public services, such as education and health care, and the choice by some parents, especially ethnic minorities, not to register their children affected the ability to enroll them in school and receive government-sponsored health care.

Education: Education is compulsory, free, and universal through age 14. Nevertheless, authorities did not always enforce the requirement, or enforce it equally between boys and girls, especially in rural areas, where government and family budgets for education were limited and children’s contributions as agricultural laborers were valuable.

Child Abuse: The UN and the General Statistics Office reported in 2011 that 25 percent of children were victims of child abuse, as indicated by their mothers during a 2006 study on domestic violence. According to a newspaper report, the Ministries of Public Security and of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reported in May 2012 that approximately 1,000 children were sexually abused per year. NGOs noted the difficulty of obtaining accurate data on the prevalence of child and adolescent sexual abuse, which indicated the possibility of underreported abuse. The government made no information available on the extent of the problem or its efforts to combat it.

Forced and Early Marriage: The legal minimum age of marriage is 18 for girls and 20 for boys, and the law criminalizes organizing marriage for, or entering into marriage with, an underage person. Possible punishments for arranging early marriages range from administrative sanctions to prison terms of between three months and two years. The rate of marriage under age 18 was approximately 16 percent in the Northwest Highlands and approximately 11 percent in the Central Highlands–both poor and remote rural areas–according to the 2009 census, but additional government data were not available. Provincial authorities and the Women’s Union are responsible for raising popular awareness of the consequences of early marriage.

Sexual Exploitation of Children: Sexual harassment of children under age 16 is illegal. The law criminalizes all acts of sale, fraudulent exchange, or control of children as well as all acts related to child prostitution and forced child labor. Sentences range from three years’ to life imprisonment, and fines range from VND 5 million to VND 50 million ($237 to $2,370). The law also specifies prison sentences for acts related to child prostitution, including harboring prostitution (12 to 20 years), brokering prostitution (seven to 15 years), and buying sex with minors (three to 15 years). Similarly, the law prohibits all acts of cruel treatment, humiliation, abduction, sale, and coercion of children into any activities harmful to their healthy development and provides for the protection and care of disadvantaged children.

The minimum age of consensual sex is 18. Statutory rape is illegal and may result in life imprisonment or capital punishment. Penalties for sex with minors between the ages of 16 and 18, depending upon the circumstances, vary from five to 10 years in prison. The government enforced the law, and convicted rapists received harsh sentences. The production, distribution, dissemination, or selling of child pornography is illegal and carries a sentence of three to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Officials publicly cited an upward trend in sexual exploitation of children. A 2011 study conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in conjunction with MOLISA showed that children as young as 12 worked as prostitutes, with the most commonly observed ages being 14 to 15. Some minors entered into prostitution for economic reasons. The findings also highlighted an increased number of boys under the age of 16 who engaged in prostitution. UNICEF and local NGOs stated that provincial authorities severely underreported the actual occurrence of child prostitution.

Displaced Children: Independent NGOs estimated that 23,000-25,000 children lived on the streets and were sometimes abused or harassed by police.

Institutionalized Children: The government allocated VND 1.25 trillion ($59.2 million) to the National Program of Action for Children for the period 2012-20 and focused on assisting disadvantaged children in the 12 poorest provinces.

International Child Abductions: The country is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

There were small expatriate Jewish communities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.

See the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at www.state.gov/j/tip/.

The constitution provides for the protection of persons with physical disabilities. The law prohibits discrimination against or maltreatment of persons with physical and mental disabilities, encourages their employment, and requires equality for them in accommodation, access to education, employment, health care, rehabilitation, local transportation, and vocational training. There was no similar provision regarding persons with sensory or intellectual disabilities.

The provision of services to persons with disabilities, although limited, improved during the year. The Ministry of Transportation implemented accessibility codes for public transportation facilities, continued to train transportation agency officials and students on the use of the codes, and developed training materials for bus drivers to assist individuals on and off buses. The government also reduced the bus fares for 33,000 individuals with disabilities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The law requires construction and major renovations of new government and large public buildings to include access for persons with disabilities, but enforcement continued to be sporadic. New buildings and facilities in larger urban cities were built with ramps and accessible entries. The Ministry of Construction maintained enforcement units in the cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Hai Phong, and Ninh Binh to enforce barrier-free codes and provided training on construction codes for inspectors and architectural companies in more than 22 provinces during the year.

Access to education for children with disabilities, including blindness, deafness, and mobility restrictions, remained extremely limited. There was no information available on the attendance by children with disabilities at primary, secondary, and higher-education schools.

The law provides preferential treatment for companies that recruit persons with disabilities and fines on those that fail to meet minimum quotas that reserve 2 to 3 percent of the positions in the firm for workers with disabilities, but the government enforced these provisions unevenly. Companies with a workforce that is composed of at least 51 percent employees with disabilities may qualify for special government-subsidized loans.

The government assisted persons with disabilities to vote in 2011 by bringing ballot boxes to the homes of individuals unable to go to a polling station. There is no legal restriction on the right to vote for persons with disabilities, although many polling stations are not accessible, especially to persons with mobility disabilities.

The government supported the establishment of organizations aiding persons with disabilities and consulted them in the development or review of national programs, such as the national poverty reduction program, vocational laws, and various educational policies. The National Coordination Committee on Disabilities and its members from various ministries continued to work with domestic and foreign organizations to provide protection, support, physical access, education, and employment. The government operated a small network of rehabilitation centers to provide long-term, inpatient physical therapy. Several provinces, government agencies, and universities had specific programs for persons with disabilities.

The law prohibits discrimination against ethnic minorities, but there was no information available on government enforcement measures. Societal discrimination against ethnic minorities has been longstanding and persistent. Local officials in some provinces, notably in the highlands, acted in contravention of national laws to discriminate against members of ethnic and religious minority groups. Despite the country’s significant economic growth, some ethnic minority communities benefited little from improved economic conditions, even though ethnic minority group members formed a majority of the population in certain areas, including the Northwest and Central Highlands and portions of the Mekong Delta.

Some members of ethnic minority groups continued to leave for Cambodia and Thailand. Although some reportedly traveled to seek greater economic opportunities or shortcuts to migration to other countries, others departed because of local political conditions and harassment, including harassment stemming from religious belief. The government maintained increased security measures in the Central and Northwest Highlands because of its concerns with alleged ethnic minority separatist activity. The government also continued to monitor certain highland minorities closely, particularly several ethnic groups in the Central and Northwest Highlands, where it continued to claim that practicing a minority faith encouraged separatism. There continued to be reports that ethnic minority individuals who telephoned ethnic minority community members abroad were a special target of police attention. Authorities arrested and/or convicted several individuals allegedly connected to overseas organizations that the government claimed espoused separatist aims and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms during the year. In addition, an increased security presence was reported around sensitive occasions and holidays throughout the region. There continued to be reports that Vietnamese police operating on both sides of the border returned members of ethnic minorities seeking to enter Cambodia and sometimes beat and detained them.

In May authorities arrested four Khmer Krom activists in Soc Trang for “fleeing abroad to act against the Vietnamese government” and “organizing for other people to flee abroad,” as well as for their connections with Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation. In September a court sentenced each of the four to between two and six years’ imprisonment.

The government continued to attempt to address the causes of ethnic minority discontent through special programs to improve education and health facilities and expand road access and electrification of rural communities and villages. The government also continued to allocate land to ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands through a special program, but there were continued complaints that implementation was uneven.

The law provides for universal education for children regardless of religion or ethnicity, and members of ethnic minority groups are not required to pay regular school fees. The government operated special schools for ethnic minority children, and there were 292 boarding schools for them in 50 provinces, mostly in the Northwest and Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta, including at middle- and high-school levels, plus special admission and preparatory programs as well as scholarships and preferential admissions at the university level. The government also worked with local officials to develop local language curricula, but it appeared to implement this program more comprehensively in the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta, and only in limited areas of the Northwest Highlands. During the year there were also a few government-subsidized technical and vocational schools for ethnic minorities. Nonetheless, there were some credible cases of educational discrimination against ethnic minorities.

The government broadcast radio and television programs in ethnic minority languages in some areas. The government also instructed ethnic-majority (Kinh) officials to learn the language of the locality in which they worked. Provincial governments continued initiatives designed to increase employment, reduce the income gap between ethnic minorities and ethnic Kinh, and make officials sensitive and receptive to ethnic minority cultures and traditions.

The government granted preferential treatment to domestic and foreign companies that invested in highland areas populated predominantly by ethnic minorities. The government also maintained infrastructure development programs that targeted poor, largely ethnic-minority areas and established agricultural extension programs for remote rural areas.

The National Assembly’s Ethnic Minority Council, along with provincial ethnic minority steering committees, continued to support infrastructure development and address some problems related to poverty reduction and an increase in literacy rates during the year.

The law does not address discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. There was no reported official discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but societal discrimination and stigma remained pervasive.

No laws criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct, although by decree individuals may not change their gender.

In May the Institute for Studies of Society, Economics, and Environment, a nonprofit organization working for the rights of minority groups, released statistics that reported approximately 1.65 million individuals in the country identified as LGBT. In August approximately 200 activists took part in “Viet Pride 2013,” a gay pride parade in Hanoi.

In November the National Assembly endorsed revisions to the law that would grant same-sex couples the same property, contractual, and child-custody protections afforded to heterosexual married couples.

The law states that employers may not fire individuals for having HIV/AIDS and doctors may not refuse to treat persons with HIV/AIDS. There was no evidence of official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS and no reported denial of medical treatment.

Societal discrimination, however, did exist. Individuals who tested positive for HIV reported latent social stigma, lost jobs, and suffered discrimination in the workplace or in finding housing, although the number of such reports decreased during the year. With the assistance of foreign donors, national and provincial authorities took steps, albeit inconsistently, to treat, assist, and accommodate persons with HIV/AIDS and thereby decrease societal stigma and discrimination. Faith-based charities could sometimes provide HIV-prevention and home-based care services to persons with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The government reported in 2012 that approximately 5,100 school-age children had HIV/AIDS. In several cases, pressure from other parents barred HIV/AIDS-positive children or orphans from schools.

The law does not allow workers to organize and join independent unions of their choice. While workers may choose whether to join a union and at which level (local, provincial, or national) they wish to participate, every union must register with the country’s only trade union confederation, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL), in order to be legally recognized. The VGCL, a union umbrella organization controlled by the CPV, approves and manages a range of subsidiary labor unions organized according to location and industry.

In January the revised Trade Union Act took effect. Among other provisions, the act eliminated the requirement that enterprises with more than 20 workers create a trade union within six months of establishment. While the act charges unions with the responsibility to “disseminate information to persuade and guide workers to establish and/or join unions,” the VGCL may now only represent workers in nonunionized enterprises where the workers request it. Neither the act nor related regulations specify the process for workers to request such representation, or the minimum number of workers required to make such a request.

Under the act, the VGCL also has the responsibility for educating workers on their rights and obligations; representing workers (the “labor collective”) in collective bargaining and individual worker’s disputes; holding and leading legal strikes; and working with state agencies on labor relations, occupational health and safety, and other matters. The VGCL is no longer required to focus on establishing “grassroots unions.” Union dues are mandatory under law for union members and domestic and foreign employers. In an effort to improve accountability of union dues, the act clarified proper use of mandatory union dues for union members and domestic and foreign employers. It also eliminated the provision naming the VGCL as the sole entity to manage the finances of the entire trade union system.

The law provides VGCL-affiliated unions the right to bargain collectively on behalf of workers. Collective labor disputes over rights must go through a conciliation council and, if the council cannot resolve the matter, to the chair of the district-level people’s committee.

In May the revised Labor Code entered into effect. The code allows trade unions and employer organizations to facilitate and support collective bargaining and requires companies to establish a mechanism to enable management and the workforce to exchange information and consult on subjects that affect working conditions. The code also protects “labor subleasing” as a new pattern of employment and thus protects part-time and domestic workers.

The law permits strikes under certain prescribed circumstances and stipulates an extensive and cumbersome process of mediation and arbitration before a lawful strike may occur. The law prohibits strikes in businesses that serve the public or that the government considers essential to the national economy and defense, defined as strikes in enterprises involved in electricity production; post and telecommunications; maritime and air transportation, navigation, and management; public works; and oil and gas. The law defines “essential services” more broadly than international standards. The law also grants the prime minister the right to suspend a strike considered detrimental to the national economy or public safety.

Strikes that do not arise from a collective labor dispute or do not adhere to the process outlined by law are illegal. Before workers may hold a strike, they must take their claims through a process involving a conciliation council (or a district-level labor conciliator where no union is present). If the two parties cannot reach a resolution, unions must submit claims to a provincial arbitration council. Unions (or workers’ representatives where no union is present) have the right either to appeal decisions of provincial arbitration councils to provincial people’s courts or to strike. The law also stipulates that strikers cannot be paid wages while they are not at work. The law prohibits retribution against strikers. By law, individuals participating in strikes declared illegal by a people’s court and found to have caused damage to their employer are liable for damages. Individual workers may take cases directly to the people’s court system, but in most cases they may do so only after conciliation has been attempted and failed.

VGCL leaders influenced key decisions by drafting, amending, or commenting on labor legislation; developing social safety nets; and setting health, safety, and minimum wage standards. Labor activists and representatives of independent (non-VGCL) worker organizations faced antiunion discrimination.

The VGCL reported 178 strikes from January through May. An estimated 71 percent of these strikes occurred in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces in foreign-invested enterprises (mainly South Korean and Taiwanese companies) and were due to wage disagreements. None of the strikes followed the authorized conciliation and arbitration process, and thus authorities considered them illegal “wildcat” strikes. The government took no action against the strikers and on occasion actively mediated agreements in the workers’ favor. In some cases, the government imposed heavy fines on those employers, especially with foreign-owned companies, who engaged in illegal practices that led to strikes.

There were some anecdotal reports of employers retaliating against strike participants by limiting future employment prospects.

There were also credible reports that employers tended to use short-term or probationary contracts to avoid certain legally mandated worker benefits, such as unemployment insurance, or to inhibit workers from joining unions. Many employers would not let union leaders meet with workers unless management was present.

The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor, except as defined by administrative or criminal penalties. Nonetheless, the government and NGOs continued to report the occurrence of forced labor of adults.

Labor recruitment firms, most of which were affiliated with state-owned enterprises, and unlicensed middlemen brokers reportedly charged workers seeking international employment higher fees than the law allows, with impunity. Those workers incurred high debts and were thus more vulnerable to forced labor, including debt bondage.

Prisoners convicted by courts routinely were required to work for little or no pay. Authorities routinely required individuals, not convicted of crimes but detained under administrative decree in re-education centers and detention centers for sex workers and drug users, to work for little or no pay under administrative and legislative regulations. They produced food and other goods used directly in prisons or sold on local markets, reportedly to purchase items for their personal use. There continued to be credible reports that private companies hired individuals in drug detention centers.

In 2011 and 2012, an international human rights organization reported that authorities forced individuals in the detention centers for drug users to engage in unpaid or underpaid work as part of their treatment. In response, MOLISA officials confirmed that “therapeutic labor” was one part of the treatment for individuals in these centers but asserted that it was not required of all individuals and was remunerated.

Also see the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at www.state.gov/j/tip/.

The law sets the minimum age for employment at 18, but enterprises may hire children between ages 15 and 18 if firms obtain permission from parents and MOLISA. Enterprises hiring children ages 15 to 18 must provide special considerations concerning working hours, annual leave, and working environment. These children may work a maximum of eight hours per day and 40 hours per week and must receive special health care.

The law permits children to register at trade training centers, a form of vocational training, from age 14 without parental consent. By law, an employer must ensure that workers under age 18 do not undertake hazardous work or work that would harm their physical or mental development. The law prohibits children from doing work that requires compressed working posture, direct contact with harmful chemicals, contact with radioactive substances, work with various types of furnaces or hot metal, driving motor vehicles, operating stone-grinding machines, and operating machines for starching cloth and cotton yarns, among others.

MOLISA is responsible for enforcing child labor laws and policies. Government officials may fine and, in cases of criminal violations, prosecute employers who violate child labor laws. Generally, the government committed insufficient resources to enforce effectively laws that provide for children’s safety, especially for children working in mines and as domestic servants. MOLISA maintained that more than 25,000 children worked in hazardous conditions countrywide; international observers believed the actual figure was higher.

There were several reports that the government detected some cases of children forced to do hazardous work, removed children from those workplaces, and prosecuted/fined employers during the year. According to government representatives, businesses often claimed they provided permitted “vocational training,” but unannounced government labor inspectors found children working nine to 12 hours per day for low pay in hazardous working conditions (including poor lighting, dusty environments, and the operation of heavy machinery) in small, privately owned garment factories in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. In 2012, the latest year for which such data were available, the government estimated that 1,450 children were working in that city in hazardous environments, such as garment factories, and near brick kilns (handling excessive weight, exposed to fire).

As part of its first five-year National Program on Child Protection, the government continued programs to eliminate persistent child labor, with a particular focus on needy families and orphans. A joint project with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to eliminate the worst forms of child labor continued; however, child labor remained a problem, particularly in rural areas, where two-thirds of the population resided.

In rural areas children worked primarily on family farms, in other agricultural activities and household responsibilities, or in mines. There were also reports of children working in brick kilns. Some parents did not permit children to attend school during harvest and planting seasons. Migration from rural to urban settings exacerbated the child labor problem because unauthorized migrants were unable to register their households in urban areas. Consequently, their children could not attend public schools. Officials commonly assigned work to juveniles in education and nourishment centers, which function similarly to reform schools or juvenile detention centers, for “educational purposes.”

In urban areas children worked in family-owned small businesses, including small, privately owned garment factories, or on the street shining shoes or selling articles, such as lottery tickets and newspapers. There were also reports of forced child labor in garment factories.

Beginning July 1, the monthly minimum wage for civil servants and state employees increased from VND 1.05 million ($50) to VND 1.150 million ($54.40). The government defined the poverty line for the period 2011-15 as VND 400,000 ($18.90) per month for rural households and VND 500,000 ($23.70) for urban households.

The law sets normal hours of work at eight hours per day, with a mandatory 24-hour break each week. Additional hours require overtime pay at one-and-one-half times the regular wage, two times the regular wage for working through the mandatory 24-hour rest period, and three times the regular wage for holidays and paid-leave days. The new labor code limits overtime to 50 percent of normal working hours per day, 30 hours per month, and 200 hours per year but provides for an exception in special cases, with a maximum of 300 overtime hours worked annually, subject to stipulation by the government after consulting with VGCL and employer representatives. The law also prescribes annual leave with full pay for the public and private sectors.

The government set the workweek for government employees and employees of companies in the state sector at 40 hours and encouraged the private business sector and foreign and international organizations that employed local workers to reduce the number of hours in the workweek to 40 hours, but compliance was not mandatory.

By law, an enterprise may not dismiss a female employee who is engaged to be married or is pregnant, on maternity leave, or caring for a child under one year of age, unless the enterprise closes. Female employees who are at least seven months pregnant or are caring for a child under one year of age may not be compelled to work overtime, at night, or in locations distant from their homes.

It was unclear how strictly the government enforced provisions for wages, hours, and benefits or the exceptions for certain female employees. MOLISA, in coordination with local people’s committees and labor unions, is responsible for enforcing the law, but enforcement was irregular for many reasons, including low funding and a shortage of trained enforcement personnel. The VGCL asserted that authorities did not always prosecute violations. MOLISA acknowledged shortcomings in its labor inspection system and emphasized that the number of labor inspectors countrywide was insufficient. According to MOLISA officials, there were approximately 150 full-time and 350 part-time labor inspectors. The VGCL stated, and MOLISA acknowledged, that low fines on firms for labor violations failed to act as an effective deterrent against violations. During 2012 the government expanded the inspection areas, covering topics ranging from labor regulations and persons with disabilities to social insurance and export-recruiting companies.

There continued to be credible reports that factories exceeded legal overtime thresholds and did not meet legal requirements for rest days. An April ILO report noted that 122 of 132 apparel factories did not comply with legal overtime limits.

Migrant workers, including internal economic migrants, continued to be among the most vulnerable workers and were routinely subjected to hazardous working conditions. Other workers who often work in the informal economy included members of ethnic minority groups.

The law requires the government to promulgate rules and regulations that provide for worker safety. On-the-job injuries due to poor health and safety conditions and inadequate employee training in the workplace remained a problem. The mining and construction sectors reported the greatest number of occupational injuries. In 2012, the latest year for which such data were available, there were 6,777 occupational accidents, a 14.9 percent increase from 2011.