Embassy Hanoi and Consulate General Ho Chi Minh - OIG - US ...

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points of contention elusive. Hanoi’s consular chief uses about half of her time
monitoring and reporting on this matter. After much unstinting effort, it appears
that an agreement may be reached by mid-year 2005.
Consular District
Consular districts are geographic descriptions of areas wherein consular officers
have personal jurisdiction. The government of Vietnam currently recognizes the
consular district of all consulates in Ho Chi Minh City to be simply Ho Chi Minh
City and its environs. The government of Vietnam thus interprets Embassy
Hanoi’s consular district as the entire country, with Embassy Hanoi responsible for
consular services throughout Vietnam except Ho Chi Minh City. The U.S. government
defines Embassy Hanoi’s consular district as roughly the northern half of
Vietnam and Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City’s district as the southern half of
the country.
Vietnamese authorities occasionally stop, question, or detain Consulate General
Ho Chi Minh City staff serving their consular district when they travel in southern
Vietnam outside Ho Chi Minh City and its environs - particularly in the Central
Highlands. The mission doggedly seeks redefinition of the government of
Vietnam’s consular district concept to conform to the U.S. government’s position
and has done so for the past seven years. The government of Vietnam stated it
conducted interagency meetings to draft amendments for a new law allowing for
expanded districts. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all government of
Vietnam Ministries and agencies agree, but Provincial authorities continue to
oppose the change. OIG made an informal recommendation to address this.
Access and Notification
Consular access to American citizen prisoners is slow and convoluted, usually
not complying with the 1994 Agreed Minute on Consular Relations stipulations.
Timely arrest notification is rare, particularly for Americans of Vietnamese origin.
Consular officers usually learn of an arrest from the detainees’ family members or
associates long before formal notification occurs. Notification may occur weeks or
even months after the arrest. Visit requests must be made by a diplomatic note and
can require at least three months for approval. Conversations generally must be in
Vietnamese, are monitored by prison guards, and cannot stray from a set agenda.
Sometimes when prisoners write letters to the consul they are not delivered. Last
year, three Americans of Vietnamese origin were forcefully detained by authorities
(in scenarios which resembled terrorist abductions) and questioned at length about
30 . OIG Report No. ISP-I-05-28A, Inspection of Embassy Hanoi and CG Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, September 2005
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