Quê Me Quê Me: Action for democracy in Vietnam & Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
PARIS, 12th March 2008 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – The US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2007, released on Tuesday in Washington D.C., condemned Vietnam’s “unsatisfactory” human rights record in a 52-page overview of the legal and extra-legal barriers to citizens’ enjoyment of human rights in Vietnam.
Describing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as “an authoritarian state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam”, the report noted that in 2007 “citizens could not change their government, and political opposition movements were prohibited. The government continued its crackdown on dissent, arresting a number of political activists and disrupting nascent opposition organizations…”. “Prison conditions were often severe. Individuals were arbitrarily detained for political activities and were denied the right to fair and expeditious trials. The government reinforced its controls over the press and the Internet and continued to limit citizens’ privacy rights and freedom of speech, assembly, movement, and association”. The Vietnamese government “persisted in placing restrictions on the political activities of religious groups [and] maintained its prohibition of independent human rights organizations. Violence and discrimination against women remained a problem. Trafficking in women and children for purposes of prostitution continued. Some ethnic minority groups suffered societal discrimination. The government limited workers’ rights, especially to organize independently, and arrested or harassed several labor activists”.
Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam and International Spokesman of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), welcomed the State Department’s 2007 Report as being “closer to reality” than some previous evaluations. “Vietnam has often escaped condemnation by making “cosmetic gestures” to placate the international community. This was the case in 2006, as Vietnam sought membership to the WTO and removal from the list of “Countries of Particular Concern” for religious freedom violations. In 2007, Vietnam showed its true face, mercilessly cracking down on citizens merely appealing for a process of non-violent political reform”. The crackdown continued in 2008, he said, totalling some 22 pro-democracy activists sentenced to over 90 years imprisonment, and many others awaiting trial or detained under extra-judicial forms of house arrest and administrative detention.
Vietnam’s human rights record has not improved, stressed Vo Van Ai, but as Hanoi’s leaders seek to integrate the international community, they have adopted more sophisticated methods. “Today, Vietnam employs “stealth repression” tactics such as house arrest, isolation and intimidation” he said. “Dissidents who dare speak out see their wives lose their jobs, their children barred from school. Buddhist monks see their followers threatened and harassed. They are ostracized from their own community and deprived of their basic means of survival”.
In 2008, warned Vo Van Ai, Vietnam would seek to make one more spectacular “cosmetic gesture” to “prove” its commitment to human rights and religious freedom by hosting the “United Nations Day of the Vesak” (Birth of Buddha, recognized by the UN since 2000 as an international religious celebration) in Hanoi on 13-17 May 2008. Over 4,000 international personalities are invited to attend this event, which will be hosted with great pomp and ceremony by the Communist Party and the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. “The Vesak celabrations in Hanoi will be held against a backdrop of fierce repression against Buddhism, the very faith it claims to celebrate”, said Vo Van Ai, adding that Vietnam’s traditional Buddhist body, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) remained outlawed by the Communist state, and its leaders Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do under house arrest. “If Vietnam sincerely wants to integrate the international community and move forward on religious freedom and human rights, it should re-establish the legal status of the banned UBCV and lift all restrictions on UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and his Deputy Thich Quang Do before the Vesak celebrations in Hanoi”, he said.
Whereas the State Department reported that “in March [2007] the government repealed Decree 31, a provision on administrative probation often used to punish perceived political dissidents. However… the government also used other decrees, ordinances, and measures, such as Article 88 [of the Criminal Code – “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”] to detain activists for the peaceful expression of opposing political views”, Vo Van Ai denounced Vietnam’s adoption of Ordinance 44 in 2002, an even more prohibitive act of legislation that authorises not only administrative detention without trial, as Decree 31/CP, but also permits the internment of dissidents in psychiatric hospitals or “Social Protection Centres” for bad elements of society. Vo Van Ai called on Vietnam to immediately repeal Ordinance 44.
In conclusion, Mr. Vo Van Ai lamented that “in Vietnam, not only the living are deprived of their human rights. Even the dead suffer abuse”. He deplored Police obstruction of dissidents wishing to pay their last respects to prominent dissident and VCP veteran Hoang Minh Chinh, who passed away in Hanoi in February 2008. UBCV monk Thich Khong Tanh, who was sent by UBCV Deputy leader Thich Quang Do to conduct the funeral ceremony was harassed by Security Police who said: “Hoang Minh Chinh’s funeral is an unlawful event”. A convinced atheist all his life, Hoang Minh Chinh died a Buddhist, converted to the banned UBCV under the Buddhist name “True Heart” given my his master in the faith, Venerable Thich Quang Do.
