The EU’s Dangerous Compromise: Human Rights, the CSP, and Việt Nam’s JETP 

On April 23, 2026, a coalition of international human rights and environmental organizations delivered a sobering joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

The letter emphasized an inconvenient truth amidst the European Union’s (EU) celebration of its newly minted Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with Việt Nam: the agreement’s ambitious climate and trade goals rest on a foundation of worsening human rights abuses. 

The coalition explicitly demanded that the EU establish binding human rights safeguards and secure the release of arbitrarily detained environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). 

While this demand is a reasonable expectation, it directly contrasts with the reality in Việt Nam, where civic space is actively deteriorating due to systematic crackdowns and the forced closures of civil society organizations.

The Dark Side of Việt Nam’s Green Rise 

Việt Nam has mastered the art of telling the international community exactly what it wants to hear. After pledging to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the government secured a massive $15.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) to phase out coal. 

The United Nations Development Programme enthusiastically championed this initiative, claiming that Việt Nam’s “green rise ensures a just transition for everyone.”

However, the term “everyone” excludes the very people who are trying to protect the environment. In a glaring display of irony, Việt Nam gladly accepts billions in green financing while systematically hunting down clean energy advocates.

Consider Đặng Đình Bách, an environmental lawyer whose coalition was instrumental in convincing the government to make its 2050 net-zero pledge. For all his efforts, Bách was graciously rewarded with five years in prison on fabricated “tax evasion” charges. He is now reportedly emaciated and on a hunger strike. 

Addressing his case, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that the charges were a mere pretext to shut down his environmental advocacy.

Despite these findings, the international financiers bankrolling this “just” transition have practically plugged their ears. Germany’s GIZ claimed its internal assessments found no “elevated risk” of human rights violations. Similarly, the Asian Development Bank callously stated that it only knew of Bách’s situation through “media sources,” despite receiving formal UN communications. 

Concurrently, Việt Nam’s Ministry of Public Security is also drafting legal revisions that exempt police officers from criminal liability while forcing defense lawyers to act as state informants against their clients. It appears that the only thing transitioning in Việt Nam is the government’s evolution into a more efficient police state.

The Betrayal of Việt Nam’s Working Class 

The hypocrisy of the JETP extends far beyond the silencing of lawyers, trickling down to the very workers the initiative is supposedly designed to protect. 

In Việt Nam’s traditional coal hub of Quảng Ninh, the concept of a “just transition” is little more than an empty and hollow promise. To meet international climate targets, coal production is slowing, leaving an estimated 77,000 to 111,000 workers facing the imminent threat of job losses and reduced incomes.

Despite securing $15.5 billion in funding, Việt Nam has failed to establish a dedicated financial mechanism for worker retraining or a comprehensive social safety framework for these affected households. As a result, local economies that previously relied on mining wages are shrinking, leaving families facing an uncertain future.

This economic uncertainty closely mirrors the plight of coastal villagers in south-central Việt Nam, who have spent years trapped in limbo awaiting a delayed nuclear power project. 

For both the coal miners and the displaced villagers, the CSP and the JETP function as government mandates that are completely disconnected from the harsh realities confronting working-class communities. 

Human Rights, Geopolitics, and the JETP

The glowing narrative surrounding the EU-Việt Nam CSP and the JETP requires a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the international community. 

Hà Nội has demonstrated a clear, undeniable pattern of deceiving international donors while actively suppressing its citizens. The government eagerly signs free trade agreements filled with sustainability clauses, yet it ruthlessly imprisons the very civil society leaders attempting to monitor those commitments. 

Việt Nam champions a green future on the global stage while leaving tens of thousands of its coal miners at home to fend for themselves. 

This is not the conduct of a trustworthy partner. 

By seeking a manufacturing alternative to China, the EU and international financial institutions are willingly sacrificing their foundational values to appease geopolitical anxieties over human rights. 

Until strict, binding safeguards are enforced and all arbitrarily detained political prisoners are freed, foreign partners must stop pretending this energy transition is “just.” In reality, they are simply bankrolling a masterclass in authoritarian greenwashing.