Expectations and human rights protection: the case of Vietnam during COVID-19

<ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Background:</ns4:bold> A key part of the complexity of actual social life lies in the fact that it operates on a large web of not only prescribed norms and rules, but also explicit and especially implicit expectations which constantly interact with each other. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Methods:</ns4:bold> This paper offers the first in-depth study on ‘expectations’ in bioethical and health law studies, taking Vietnamese human rights issues in response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as illustrations. It defines ‘expectations’ as normative imaginaries that can induce or guide actions and inactions at individual and collective levels. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Results:</ns4:bold> The study suggests that ‘expectations’ is a fruitful concept for bioethical and health law studies because it helps better understand the complexity of interactions in society and patterns of thinking and acting of actors in real-world contexts. Studying expectations also has implications for how human rights and other ethical norms can be better realized in practice. From applying the concept of ‘expectations’ to study human rights issues in Vietnam, this paper also argues that for better protection of human rights, there must be changes concerning expectations of involved parties. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Conclusions:</ns4:bold> Changes in expectations in turn call for changes in stimulus, knowledge, praxis, polices, laws and institutions. Meanwhile, checks and balances mechanisms must effectively constrain the materialization of undue expectations. </ns4:p>