Vietnam welcomes 2022 burdened with the baggage of prior years, with its lauded COVID-19 pandemic measures buckling under the strain of the new Delta and Omicron variants coupled with mounting international pressure from the United Nations and other concerned organizations.

The country’s downward decline in 2021, in terms of its commitment to protecting the universal human rights of its citizens, was underscored by the imprisonment of land rights activists Trinh Ba Phuong, Nguyen Thi Tam, Do Nam Trung, Le Trong Hung, and Pham Doan Trang during the final weeks of the year. However, the plight of these five people is just the latest in a long line of suppressions committed by the Vietnamese government against its own citizens.