Privacy, Correspondence, Residence, and Personal Secrets – Legal Provisions
In one article, the author raised the question: Is it lawful to hire a private detective to monitor another person’s life, residence, or private matters? The answer is clear: in Việt Nam, private detective services have not been legally recognized. More importantly, personal privacy, private correspondence, family secrets, and the inviolability of one’s home are rights strictly protected by law. Specifically:
1. The 2013 Constitution
As the highest legal instrument, the Constitution enshrines human rights in Chapter II and affirms that they must be respected and guaranteed.
“Everyone has the right to bodily inviolability and to have their health, honor, and dignity protected by law; no one shall be subjected to torture, violence, coercion, corporal punishment, or any other form of treatment that infringes upon the body, health, or degrades honor and dignity.”
(Clause 1, Article 20)
“Everyone has the right to the inviolability of private life, personal secrets, and family secrets; the right to protect their honor and reputation.”
“Information concerning private life, personal secrets, and family secrets is protected by law.”
“Everyone has the right to secrecy of correspondence, telephone, telegraph, and other forms of private communication.”
“No one shall unlawfully open, control, or seize another person’s correspondence, telephone, telegraph, or other forms of private communication.”
(Clauses 1 and 2, Article 21)
“Citizens have the right to lawful residence.”
“Everyone has the right to the inviolability of their residence. No one may arbitrarily enter another’s home without the latter’s consent.”
(Clauses 1 and 2, Article 22)
2. The 2015 Civil Code
In Section 2, Chapter III, the Civil Code provides for personal rights, specifically:
Right to one’s image: “An individual has the right to their own image; the use of an image must be consented to by that person.”
“If an image is used in violation of this Article, the person concerned may request the court to order the violator, relevant organizations, or individuals to withdraw, destroy, cease using the image, compensate for damages, and apply other remedies in accordance with law.”
(Clauses 1 and 3, Article 32)
Honor, dignity, and reputation: “The honor, dignity, and reputation of an individual are inviolable and protected by law.”
Even if the infringed person has died, their parents, adult children, or relatives may request that defamatory information be refuted.”
“Information adversely affecting the honor, dignity, and reputation of an individual published in mass media must be removed or corrected by that very medium. If stored by any organization or individual, such information must be deleted.”
“An individual whose honor, dignity, or reputation is harmed has, in addition to the right to request refutation, the right to demand a public apology, correction, and compensation for damages.”
(Clauses 1, 3, and 5, Article 34)
Privacy, personal and family secrets: “Private life, personal secrets, and family secrets are inviolable and protected by law.”
“The collection, storage, use, or publication of information relating to private life or personal secrets must have the consent of the person concerned; information relating to family secrets must have the consent of all family members.”
“Correspondence, telephone, telegraph, electronic databases, and other forms of private communication are secured and kept confidential.”
“The opening, control, or seizure of correspondence, telephone, telegraph, electronic databases, or other forms of private communication of others may only be conducted in cases prescribed by law.”
(Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 38)
3. Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control 2022
The Law stipulates one of the acts constituting domestic violence as follows:
“Disclosing or disseminating information about the private life, personal secrets, or family secrets of a family member with the intent to insult his or her honor and dignity.”
(Point h, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control 2022)
This provision shall be understood as applying not only to persons who are still in a marital relationship, but also to those who are divorced; persons cohabiting as husband and wife; and the father, mother, stepchildren, siblings of the divorced person or of the person cohabiting as husband and wife.
4. The above provision in Article 3 is further elaborated in Decree No. 76/2023/NĐ-CP, detailing certain provisions of the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control. The act is specifically described as:
“Disclosing or disseminating information about the private life, personal secrets, or family secrets with the intent to insult honor and dignity.”
(Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 2, and Clause 6, Article 3 of Decree No. 76/2023/NĐ-CP)
5. Law on Marriage and Family 2014
“Husband and wife have the obligation to respect, preserve, and protect each other’s honor, dignity, and reputation.”
(Article 21, Law on Marriage and Family 2014)
“The personal rights and obligations of husband and wife as prescribed in this Law, the Civil Code, and other relevant laws shall be respected and protected.”
(Article 18, Law on Marriage and Family 2014)
Thus, inviolable personal rights are also recognized under the Civil Code and the above-mentioned provisions.
6. Criminal Code 2015 (as amended by the 2017 Law on Amendments)
Chapter XV stipulates crimes infringing upon human freedoms, including:
Article 158 – Offense of Infringing upon the Dwelling of Another Person:
“Any person who commits one of the following acts infringing upon another person’s dwelling shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to two years or imprisonment from three months to two years:
a) Conducting unlawful searches of another person’s dwelling;
b) Unlawfully intruding into another person’s dwelling.”
(Clause 31, Article 1 of the 2017 Law Amending the Criminal Code)
“If the offense falls under one of the following circumstances, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment from one year to five years:
c) Committing the offense twice or more;
d) Driving the victim to commit suicide;
đ) Causing adverse impacts on security, order, and social safety.
In addition, the offender may also be prohibited from holding certain positions for one to five years.”
Article 159 – Penal Code 2015 – Offense of Infringement upon the Secrecy or Safety of Correspondence, Telephone, Telegrams, or Other Forms of Private Information Exchange of Another Person
1. Any person who commits one of the following acts, having already been subject to disciplinary measures or administrative sanctions for such conduct but continues to re-offend, shall be subject to a warning, a fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, or non-custodial reform of up to 03 years:
a) Appropriating letters, telegrams, telexes, faxes, or other documents of another person transmitted via postal or telecommunication networks by any means;
b) Intentionally damaging, causing loss, or deliberately extracting information and contents of letters, telegrams, telexes, faxes, or other documents of another person transmitted via postal or telecommunication networks;
c) Illegally listening to or recording conversations;
d) Illegally searching or seizing letters, telegrams;
đ) Other acts infringing upon the secrecy or safety of correspondence, telephone, telegrams, telexes, faxes, or other forms of private information exchange of another person.
2. Any person who commits the offense under one of the following circumstances shall be subject to imprisonment from 01 year to 03 years:
a) The offense is committed two or more times;
b) Disclosure of appropriated information that damages the honor, reputation, or dignity of another person;
c) Causing the victim to commit suicide.
3. The offender may also be subject to a fine of between VND 5,000,000 and VND 20,000,000, and/or prohibition from holding certain positions for a period of 01 year to 05 years.”
We often hear about thieves – yet theft is not only of money, property, or tangible assets. Infringement upon privacy is also an act of “stealing information.”
7. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
This international instrument affirms the inherent dignity of every human being and condemns the disregard and contempt of human rights. Every individual is entitled to human rights and personal security, and all acts of human rights violations shall be punished by law.
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”
(Article 12, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948)
The above are both international and Vietnamese legal bases relating to human rights, privacy, and the inviolability of correspondence, residence, personal safety, and life.
Imagine this: a grown child keeps a secret diary, yet family members repeatedly read it in secret and then spread its contents to neighbors. The child, resentful and unable to trust anymore, leaves home – perhaps not because of what was written, but because their “privacy” was not “respected.”
Today, in cyberspace, we see rampant acts of infringing upon others’ images, defaming reputations, and spreading private data. Such acts are unlawful. What some claim as “evidence” to humiliate another’s dignity, honor, and self-worth is, in fact, the very evidence of their own crime.
The bitter outcome: is only “pain” and “loss.”
In the old saying: “The stick one wields against another may yet strike back at one’s own spine.”
