Dr. Nguyen is an associate professor at the Institute of Human rights at the Ho Chi Minh Academy of Politics in Vietnam, where she in recent years has conducted several researches related to business and human rights. In light of the recent national legal developments in various European countries on the area of due diligence and business responsibility, Dr. Nguyen’s research at the NCHR has focused on the implications of these legal developments for contemporary Vietnam as a host-country of enterprises.
Is Vietnam ready for the implementation of the new laws and regulations?
According to Dr. Nguyen, the passing of mandatory human rights due diligence laws in European countries has a direct impact on Vietnamese companies that have business relationship with countries such as France, Germany, Norway etc..
Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) Laws have brought a new mindset for the business sector in Vietnam, from responding to outside social auditing to a continuous and internal process to meet the requirements by these laws. These changes have contributed to the protection of the environmental rights, labor rights, and other human rights for employees in Vietnam. In recent years, there is an increasing concern about human rights and business responsibility among the Vietnamese government and some business sectors. However, there is still a long way to go before Vietnam is ready for the implementation of the new laws and regulations.
Challenges for enforcement of human rights due diligence laws
There are barriers from domestic political, legal and human rights environment the possibility to fully enforce these laws and regulations in Vietnam. The low awareness about the influence of the due diligence laws, the gaps in policy and law and the shrinking civil space for human rights may slow down their implementation. In addition, the existing due diligence laws are recently developed and have different focuses in different countries. The fragmented composition of existing HRDD is another challenge faced by Vietnam.
During her stay at NCHR, Dr. Nguyen has had the chance to discuss her research with experts from NCHR and accessed all the resources at the library of the faculty of law. Her presentation was well received by all.
Tags: Human rights due diligence laws, Vietnam, NCHR