First came the media mergers and closures. Now, Việt Nam’s civil associations are next on the chopping block of the Communist Party.
The Latest: On July 20, the Communist Party’s Politburo issued Directive No. 11, ordering authorities to “reorganize, suspend, or dissolve” civil associations and their affiliated organizations that “operate inefficiently, deviate from their stated principles and purposes, no longer meet practical needs, or violate the law.”
- The Communist Party’s top leadership body also ordered authorities to “strengthen inspections, supervision, audits, and examinations” of associations and their activities, as well as to “rectify and strictly punish violations” that affect “national interests and the prestige of the Party and state.”
Public Reaction: The directive has prompted debate and analysis across social media.
Responding to concerns that the Vietnam Bar Federation could be dissolved, Atty. Hoàng Hà said that there was no basis for such speculation. He wrote on Facebook:
“What lawyers should be concerned about is not panicking over claims that the federation is about to be abolished, but monitoring the process of institutionalizing Directive No. 11…
…The most important issue is that, when mass associations are reorganized, the law must preserve lawyers’ professional independence and self-governance, as well as their ability to represent and protect their legitimate interests.”
Journalist Mai Phan Lợi, also known as Bút Lông, warned that tighter controls over associations could extend to their publications because many magazines currently operate under mass associations. He wrote on Facebook:
“If an association is dissolved, its magazine automatically loses its governing organization…
…If the association is suspended, the magazine no longer has a legal foundation to exist. And if the association is found to have deviated from its stated purpose, a magazine already accused of ‘newspaperization’ will have little chance of explaining that it is operating in accordance with its mandate.”
The Background: In Việt Nam, “mass associations” are social and professional organizations. Government figures show that Việt Nam had 70,096 such associations at the end of 2024, down from 93,425 at the end of 2021.
There are two primary categories:
- Associations “assigned tasks by the Party and state”: This category consists of 29 organizations whose operating expenses are funded by the state, including the Vietnam Bar Federation, the Vietnam Writers’ Association, and the Vietnam Journalists Association.
- Other mass associations: These are licensed organizations that operate under government oversight but finance their own activities.
Mass associations are generally subject to tight Communist Party control or are treated as extensions of the Party for managing different segments of society, and they operate under the broader supervision of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
- Political organizations directly led by the Communist Party—such as the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Youth Union, Vietnam Women’s Union, Farmers’ Union, Veterans’ Association, and trade union systems—are not classified as mass associations.
Vietnamese authorities do not recognize independent associations.
Why It Matters: Việt Nam currently has no formal Law on Associations. While the legislation was heavily debated during the previous decade, experts opposed the 2016 draft law because it included numerous provisions restricting freedom of association.
- The highest-level legal instrument governing the organization, operation, and oversight of associations in the country remains Decree No. 126/2024/NĐ-CP, which was issued by the government on Oct. 8, 2024.
Hoàng Nam wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on August 5, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
