Vietnam arrested 56 activists, journalists, and dissidents in 2025 — the most in any single year since 2018 — according to a new report by Project88, a Bangkok-based human rights organisation focused on Vietnam. The group attributes the surge to the consolidation of power by To Lam, who became general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam in 2024 and was subsequently elected president, and under whose leadership the country has adopted an increasingly aggressive use of criminal law to suppress free expression. Of particular concern is the expanded use of Article 331, a vaguely worded provision criminalising the "abuse of democratic freedoms," which was invoked in 64 percent of this year's arrests and has been applied against a widening range of targets including land rights petitioners, minority advocates, and YouTube commentators.