Human Rights in Vietnam

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House Concurrent Resolution 295 IH on Human Rights in Vietnam

Text: House Resolution Urges Vietnam to Respect Rights
(H. Con. Res. 295 cites Hanoi's human rights violations) (1100)

The House Committee on International Relations passed by voice vote April 13 a resolution calling on Vietnam to release all prisoners of conscience and set a time for free and fair elections in that country.

House Concurrent Resolution 295, introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California) March 29, will now go to the House floor for debate and a vote.

The resolution, which also urges Hanoi to repeal all laws restricting freedom of expression, had six co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans.

On the Democratic side were Representatives Tom Lantos and Loretta Sanchez of California.

Republicans included Representatives Edward Royce of California, Thomas Davis of Virginia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, as well as Representative Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, who is chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Hanoi, the resolution says, "continues to violate the liberties and civil rights of its own citizens through arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, and the censorship of peaceful expressions of political and religious beliefs."

Following is the text of House Concurrent Resolution 295 from the Congressional Record:

(begin text)

Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.

(Introduced in the House)

HCON 295 IH

106th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. CON. RES. 295

Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 29, 2000

Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. ROYCE, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.

Whereas 25 years after the Vietnam War ended, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-party state ruled and controlled by the Vietnamese Communist Party;

Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to violate the liberties and civil rights of its own citizens through arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, and the censorship of peaceful expressions of political and religious beliefs;

Whereas the Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 notes that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam `continued to repress basic political and some religious freedoms and to commit numerous abuses';

Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam still retains Article 4 in its Constitution that ensures the supremacy of the Vietnamese Communist Party as the only political party in the country while continuing to enforce an extra-legal administrative decree to detain or place under house arrest any dissidents or civilians for up to two years, without trial, under the pretext of `endangering national security';

Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of the most repressive and poorest countries in the world, with an average per capita income of $330, despite the Vietnamese Communist party's claims of political and economic reforms, or `Doi Moi', since 1986, and the subsequent lifting of the trade embargo and the provision of economic assistance and credits by the United States since 1995;

Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to restrict unregistered religious activities and persecutes its citizens on the basis of their religious affiliation through arbitrary arrests and detention, harassment, physical abuse, censorship, and the denial of the rights of free association and religious worship;

Whereas the Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999 on Vietnam estimates that `there are from 30 to 50 religious prisoners' but `the number is difficult to verify with any precision because of the secrecy surrounding the arrest, detention, and release process';

Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to prevent human rights organizations from unfettered and open investigations of allegations of state-sponsored oppression of the right to worship by its citizens, and has prevented the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, from meeting with various religious leaders during his visit to Vietnam in October 1998;

Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam systematically violates the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in contravention to its standing as a signatory to those agreements and as a member nation of the United Nations;

Whereas April 30, 2000, marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to Communist forces of North Vietnam; and

Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to promote political, religious, and economic freedom throughout the world: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress--

(1) requests the President to restate and make clear to the leadership of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam--

(A) the firm commitment of the American people to political, religious, and economic freedom for the citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and

(B) the United States fully expects equal protection under law with all Vietnamese citizens, regardless of religious belief, political philosophy, or socio-political association;

(2) urges the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam--

(A) to implement provisions called for under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 relating to conditions in Vietnam;

(B) to release all religious, political prisoners, and prisoners of conscience, and immediately ceases the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment of Vietnamese citizens who have exercised their legitimate rights to freedom of belief, expression, and association;

(C) to abolish article 4 of the Vietnamese Constitution and repeal any and all regulations, codes, and decrees prohibiting citizens rights to free expression, freedom of association, freedom of the press, and religious worship; and

(D) to formally commit to a framework and a set timetable for open and fair elections that will facilitate the ability of Vietnamese citizens to peacefully choose their own local and national leaders, free from fear and intimidation; and

(3) commends the Vietnamese-American community for initiating an international memorial to American and South Vietnamese soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom during the Vietnam War, which is under development and will be located in Westminster, California.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State --

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Vietnam

Vietnam: New Documents Reveal Escalating Repression
Vietnam's campaign of persecution against ethnic minorities known as Montagnards is increasing, Human Rights Watch said today, making public new documents smuggled out of the country's Central Highland region.
April 21, 2003 Press Release

Vietnam: New Documents Reveal Escalating Repression
A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper
Human Rights Watch has received credible first-hand reports of an escalation of repression by Vietnamese authorities against the ethnic minorities known as Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Human rights violations have continued unabated since protests for land rights and religious freedom began in February 2001.
April 18, 2003 Background Briefing

Internet Dissident: Dr. Nguyen Dan Que
Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, a sixty-one year-old endocrinologist who is one of Vietnam?s best-known democracy activists, was arrested on March 17, 2003, four days after he sent documents to a relative in the U.S. from an internet cafe, which called for human rights and political reform in Vietnam. Only on March 22 was the arrest made public in a small column in an official newspaper. Television and radio, the two most popular means of propaganda in Vietnam, have not mentioned the case.
April 3, 2003 Campaign Document

Internet Dissident: Li Chi Quang
On February 21, 2002, Li Chi Quang, a young lawyer and computer teacher whose essay "Beware of Imperialist China" was distributed on the Internet, was arrested at an Internet caf? in Hanoi. His house was searched and documents confiscated. In October 2002, Quang was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of house arrest after a half-day closed trial in Hanoi on charges of disseminating propaganda against the state.
April 3, 2003 Campaign Document

Internet Dissident: Nguyen Khac Toan
Former North Vietnamese army officer and businessman Nguyen Khac Toan, forty-seven, was arrested on January 8, 2002, a day after meeting prominent dissident Nguyen Thanh Giang. Mr. Toan, an outgoing entrepreneur, was known to have assisted persons whose property had been confiscated by local authorities petition the government for redress. He was charged with having ?collected complaints, information, documents and illegal articles spread by opposition figures in the country in order to put out information distorting the political situation? in Vietnam, according to the Communist party newspaper, Nhan Dan.
April 3, 2003 Campaign Document

Internet Dissident: Pham Hong Son
On March 27, 2002, police arrested thirty-four year-old Pham Hong Son. Son had translated an article from the website of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, titled "What is Democracy," and sent it to his friends and senior Vietnamese officials. In addition, he had written an open letter, which was published on the Internet, protesting the fact that his house had been searched and his computer and documents confiscated.
April 3, 2003 Campaign Document

Vietnam: UN Delegates Should Condemn Internet Arrests
Vietnam's use of espionage charges against peaceful dissidents clearly violates Vietnam's international human rights obligations and this practice should be strongly condemned by delegates at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights now meeting in Geneva, Human Rights Watch said today.
March 31, 2003 Press Release

Vietnam: New Assault on Rights in Central Highlands
Crackdown on Indigenous Montagnards Intensifies
The Vietnamese government has intensified its suppression of indigenous highlanders in the country's Central Highlands, targeting in particular evangelical Christians, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.
January 21, 2003 Press Release

New Survey Documents Global Repression
U.S. Human Rights Leadership Faulted
Global support for the war on terrorism is diminishing partly because the United States too often neglects human rights in its conduct of the war, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2003.
January 14, 2003 Press Release

Vietnam Escalates Crackdown on Democracy Advocates
Human Rights Watch today condemned a fresh wave of arrests and trials of peaceful critics of the Vietnamese government in Hanoi and the northern port city of Hai Phong.
December 20, 2002 Press Release

Vietnam: New Threats to Free Expression
A new round of arrests and harassment of prominent dissidents in Vietnam threatens the right of free expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Vietnam should cease the persecution of government critics and release all those who are in custody or under house arrest for non-violent expression of their beliefs.
October 9, 2002 Press Release

Letter to Vietnamese President regarding Nguyen Vu Binh and Nguyen Dan Que
We are writing to express our concern about recent actions against Vietnamese citizens in violation of Vietnam's commitment to respect internationally recognized human rights of free expression and association.
October 4, 2002 Letter

Cambodia: Protect Montagnard Refugees Fleeing Vietnam
Human Rights Watch today criticized the Cambodian government for sealing its borders and deporting hundreds of indigenous Montagnard refugees back to Vietnam, despite a fresh crackdown against Montagnards and ongoing mistreatment of returnees by Vietnamese authorities. The latest round of deportations began in April of this year.
September 25, 2002 Press Release

New Crackdown on Montagnards in Vietnam
The government of Vietnam has stepped up its campaign of repression of indigenous Montagnard Christians, Human Rights Watch said today. The rights organization called on Vietnam to cease arrests, harassment and arbitrary detentions of individuals based on their religious or political views.
September 20, 2002 Press Release

Vietnam's Repression of Montagnards
Vietnam should cease its persecution of indigenous Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and Cambodia should continue to offer sanctuary to those fleeing across the border, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
April 23, 2002 Press Release

http://www.hrw.org/asia/vietnam.php

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From ape to man, the process took millions of years
From man to ape, how many years?
World, please come and visit
The concentration camps in the heart of the far-off jungles!
Naked prisoners, taking baths together in herds
Living in ill-smelling darkness with lice and mosquitoes.
Fighting with each other for a piece of manioc or sweet potato
Chained, shot, dragged, slit up at the will of their captors
Thrown away for the rats to bite without anyone's notice!
This kind of ape is not fast but very slow in action indeed
Quite different from that of the remote prehistory
They are hungry, they are thin as toothpicks
And yet they produce the nation's wealth all year long
World, please come and visit!

Poem of Nguyen Chi Thien written in 1967. Translated by Nguyen Huu Hieu. A long time prisoner of conscience in northern Vietnam, Thien was allowed to emigrate from Vietnam a few years ago for health reasons and is now living in the United States).

Contents

• Introduction Introductory remarks about this web page.
• Asian Values and Democracy Message by President Vaclav Havel on the presentation of Letters from Prison by Wei Jingsheng
• Buddhism and Communism A letter by Ven. Thich Quang Do, Secretary General of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. After the war ended the government proceeded to suppress Buddhism and arrested the most prominent monks, including Ven. Quang Do.
• Fr. Chan Tin Letter by Father Chan Tin to Cardinal Pham Dinh Tung of the Vietnamese Catholic Church, commenting on the recent Politburo's Directive on Religions and the problems the Church is facing under the communist regime.
• Ginetta Sagan Honored Clinton's statement when he presented the USA's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Ginetta Sagan, who was one of the first people to systematically investigate reports of mistreatment of re-education camp prisoners in Vietnam
• Human Rights in Vietnam Speech on Human Rights in Vietnam, 1998.
• Monk Protests Repression Thich Huyen Quang Protests Religious Repression in Vietnam. Thich Huyen Quang is one of the most prominent monks in Vietnam, with the An Quang Buddhists. He has spent most of the last 24 years under house arrest or in prison for his protests against religious repression and other human rights violations.
• The Paris Agreements and Human Rights in Vietnam Today. On the 180-degree reversal on this issue by the NLF and Democratic Republic of Vietnam, after 1975.
• Human rights and daily life in Vietnam, 1990. On how political discrimination has been exercised against Vietnamese for their family background.
• Religion and Communism in Vietnam, 1975-1992
• The official policy of repression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 1982. Vietnam's official press commentaries on the issue of human rights and political repression.
• Cultur e and Revolution Official policy of repression: Part II. On the campaign to wipe out "reactionary and decadent" culture in the South; a campaign that eventually failed.
• Vietnamese Communist Party Statute Promulgated
• Vietnam: Tran Duc Luong Orders Tighter Security
• State Department Report on Human Rights Practices in Vietnam for 1997. The annual State Department report, released on Jan. 30, 1998.
• Re-e ducation camps in Vietnam. Written in 1982.



http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sdenney/vietnam.htm

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Testimony of Nguyen Vu Binh
Vietnamese Resident Journalist Submitted to the CHRC & the CDV
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 The Human Rights Conditions in Vietnam
Hanoi, I very much appreciate the invitation to testify before the US Congress. I sincerely thank the Honorable Loretta Sanchez and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus for this precious opportunity to present my views on the condition of human rights in Vietnam. On the situation of human rights violations, we, the democracy activists and relatives of those arrested senselessly and illegally, have signed the July 6, 2002 joint statement to raise [public awareness] for the many cases of human rights violations, typified by the following incidents:

[*]1. On April 25, 2001, two days after the ascension of Mr. Nong Duc Manh to the position of General Secretary, Public Security of Hai Phong city arrested Mr. Vu Cao Quan and held him in prison for nine days for interrogations on his and other intellectuals' writings.

[*]2. On July 12, 2001, Public Security of Ho Chi Minh City stopped and robbed retired General Tran Do of the manuscripts containing his views on the Ninth Congress [of the Vietnamese Communist Party].

[*]3. On September 5, 2001, thanks to the application to form the "People's Association to Support the State Fighting Corruption," Messrs. Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue, Hoang Minh Chinh and almost 20 other people were arrested or harassed.

[*]4. Throughout September and October 2001, the State re-established neighborhood prosecution sessions to denounce Messrs. Hoang Minh Chinh, Pham Que Duong, Nguyen Thanh Giang, and Le Chi Quang.



[*]5. In late 2001, Public Security apprehended poet Bui Minh Quoc after he undertook a fact-finding trip along the Vietnam-China border. He is currently serving two years of house arrest. Also placed under house arrest are sociologist Tran Khue and biologist Ha Si Phu.

[*]6. In January, 2002 Deputy Minister for Culture and Information Phan Khac Hai issued a directive, ordering a search-and-destroy campaign of books written by democracy activists. This Directive is a blatant violation of freedom of thought and freedom of expression.

[*]7. In the last few months, the authorities have arrested rows of young [democracy activists] like Nguyen Khac Toan, Le Chi Quang, and Pham Hong Son without justifiable reasons.

[*]8. [The authorities] have cut off the phone lines to the families of Hoang Minh Chinh, Pham Que Duong, Hoang Tien, Tran Khue, Tran Dung Tien, Ha Si Phu, Nguyen Dan Que, Bui Minh Quoc, Nguyen Thanh Giang, Nguyen Vu Binh, and so on.

[*]9. [The authorities] harassed and imprisoned many lay-people and officials of various religions. From these and many other cases, I have some conclusions on the condition of human rights in Vietnam as follows:

[*]- The Vietnamese authorities have violated human rights on a frequent, continuous, and systematic basis. Thanks to the opening [to the outside world] and better information, the collective knowledge of Vietnamese people has been raised considerably. That automatically leads to more and stronger voices demanding freedom, democracy, religious rights, and so forth. Rising alongside that development is the government's oppression, resorting to all kinds of sophisticated and treacherous tactics. Such oppression violates the people's fundamental rights which are defined in the constitution itself and in various covenants on human rights signed by the Vietnamese government. In recent years, given the upsurge of more democratic voices and their ability to link up, the violation of fundamental human rights have increased both in severity and brazenness. This trend is expected to continue in the future.

[*]- The Vietnamese authorities' record of human rights violations fluctuates over time, with some improvement at times and rising severity at others. The condemnations and interventions of democratic governments and human rights organizations have brought about some limited results but most of the time, have been reactive in nature. The current situation comes from two causes: the domestic democratic force is not strong enough to protect itself and international pressure on the Vietnamese government remains scattered and inconsistent.

After studying, monitoring, and researching the human rights violations problem and the democratic movement, I would like to propose a few measures that might be able to reduce, prevent, or gradually stop human rights violations.

First and foremost, individuals and groups whose fundamental rights are frequently violated must have a way to protect themselves. The ultimate goal of the Vietnamese government is to isolate, separate, and divide the democracy advocates to stop their association at all cost. They achieve this goal through tactics carefully devised and applied to each target. To deal with this situation, therefore, people whose ideals are to fight for democracy have no other choice but to join and lean on one another. This coalition must take into account the real condition inside the country and around the world as well as the current state of the democratic movement itself.

In my opinion, such alliance should be public and based on the common goals supported by most people [in Vietnam]. The coalition of courageous people advocating for human rights in a country where rights only exist on paper not only generates self-defending power but also provides an entity that democratic governments and human rights organizations can help protect much more effectively.

Furthermore, such coalition, with its perceived promised future, could very well induce even more pressure and interventions [from the world community].

As for the democratic governments and human rights organizations, it is imperative to find the Vietnamese Communists' Achilles' heel and the most effective way of applying pressure to defend human rights.

This is, indeed, not easy because too many contradictions exist in Vietnam, enough to confuse countless analysts. However, logically speaking, given that the country is going through the process of industrialization and modernization and beyond, with a giant number of cadres in the Party, government, administration, and associations from the central to local level to pay, what they need the most must be dollars. It is very important for the regime to spend money on these systems (and not on the projects they borrowed the money for) to remain alive.

However, given its stubbornness and its ability to do whatever to survive, this communist government will only compromise or make concessions when international pressure is assured to be consistent and determined. I understand the US House of Representatives passed the Vietnam Human Rights Act by a 410-1 vote.

Democracy activists in Vietnam are highly encouraged by this action and would like to express their appreciation toward the representatives who supported this legislation. The Vietnamese Communist Party has vehemently protested and is applying pressure to throw out the bill. I think this is the right time for the US to express its determination to stand with the Vietnamese people by officially passing this bill [in the Senate]. I believe this legislation will help improve the human rights condition in Vietnam.

Honorable Members of the Caucus, The current condition in Vietnam is relatively favorable to achieve a breakthrough in the effort to defend human rights and campaign for democracy. The credibility of the Vietnamese Communist Party has sunk to a pathetic level following the fallout of the court case involving Truong Van Cam and accomplices (a.k.a. the Nam Cam case); The reduction of tariffs on imported goods under AFTA will soon begin; And finally, I always believe that when we can successfully stop and prevent human rights violations across the country we have also succeeded in democratizing this nation. Any measures to fight for human rights, therefore, should also aim for the ultimate goals aspired for so long by the Vietnamese people: Individual liberty and a democratic society.

Thank you very much!

Nguyen Vu Binh
Hanoi, Vietnam




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[MORTARDUDE]

No matter how wonderful a "worker's paradise" like Vietnam may appear on the surface, we must never forget that just below the surface lurk the agents of persecution, repression, and those who want to "be more equal than all the others". It just amazes the shit out of me how folks of the leftist persuasion can just sweep under the rug the 60,000,000+ people slaughtered by the socialist regimes of Russia, Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, China, Korea,
East Germany, Vietnam and on and on in the 20th century.....but then some people have a "selective conscience" I suppose...


Larry

[Jerry D]

And Tim Robbins has the gall to claim his 1st Amendment rights are being taken away, I bet Mr.Pham Hong Son would enjoy the rights Mr. Robbins is always claiming are being taken from Him.