{"id":35951,"date":"2017-07-06T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/en\/?p=35951"},"modified":"2018-11-12T17:11:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T17:11:54","slug":"g20-vchr-calls-vietnamese-pm-release-prisoners-conscience-thich-quang-do-nguyen-van-dai-do-thi-hong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/g20-vchr-calls-vietnamese-pm-release-prisoners-conscience-thich-quang-do-nguyen-van-dai-do-thi-hong\/","title":{"rendered":"At G20 Summit: VCHR calls on Vietnamese Prime Minister to release prisoners of conscience Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 6th<\/sup> July 2017 (VCHR) \u2013 As Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguy\u1ec5n Xu\u00e2n Ph\u00fac arrives in Hamburg for the 12th<\/sup> meeting of the G20 Summit from 7-8 July, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) and over 40 personalities and civil society organizations from all over the world call on Vietnam to release three prominent prisoners of conscience, Buddhist dissident Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, human rights lawyer Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and Buddhist environmentalist \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In an Open Letter to the Vietnamese Prime Minister made public today, the organizations expressed \u201cdeep concern about the continued detention and ill-treatment of <\/em>prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. We highlight the cases of three prominent human rights defenders from three different religious communities: <\/em>the Most Venerable Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Mr. Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and Ms. \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng have been arbitrarily detained, without the due process protections afforded to them under international law. We consider them to have been deprived of liberty solely for exercising their human rights peacefully, and therefore request their immediate and unconditional release, and the release of all other prisoners of conscience detained in Vietnam\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i, VCHR President and one of the Open Letter\u2019s initiators, regretted that \u201cwhilst Vietnam attends this high-level meeting on global economic development, it is stifling its own people\u2019s human development by suppressing civil society and silencing independent religious and political voices. Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng are deprived of their freedom today simply for seeking to build a better life for the people of Vietnam\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Th\u00edchMost Venerable Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9,<\/strong> 89 year-old Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), and \u201cVietnam\u2019s longest-detained human rights defender… is being detained under extreme restrictions at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City\u201d, <\/em>the Open Letter said.<\/em> When he expressed his wish to move to Hue in May this year, the Vietnamese authorities placed his assistant L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u under house arrest and said that Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 was \u201cnot welcome\u201d in the ancient Vietnamese capital.<\/p>\n

\"Nguy\u1ec5nHuman rights lawyer Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i,<\/strong> 49, \u201c<\/em>has been held incommunicado<\/em>, without access to lawyers of his choosing\u201d<\/em> since his arrest in December 2015 for holding a workshop on human rights. He previously spent four years in prison because he \u201c<\/em>offered pro bono legal advice to religious communities,<\/em> fellow human rights defenders<\/em>, political groups<\/em>,<\/em> and independent <\/em>labour<\/em> unions\u201d.<\/em> Lawyer \u0110\u00e0i was awarded the 2017 Human Rights Prize by the German Association of Judges. Vietnam prevented his wife from traveling to Germany to receive the award on his behalf.<\/p>\n

\"\u0110\u1ed7Environmental activist Ms \u0110\u1ed9 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng,<\/strong> 60, a member of the Buddhist sect \u00c2n \u0110\u00e0n \u0110\u1ea1i \u0110\u1ea1o is in very poor health. She is serving a 13-year sentence for \u201cplotting to overthrow the government\u201d on the basis of \u201cincriminating <\/em>evidence\u201d <\/em>including \u201c<\/em>excerpts from a sermon by the founder which referenced human rights, <\/em>protection of the environment<\/em>,<\/em> and international law\u201d. <\/em>22 members of her group were sentenced to a total of 299 years in prison and 105 years house arrest at a closed trial in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cPressing issues at this G20 Summit include climate change and the protection of the environment\u201d<\/em><\/strong> said V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i \u201cIn Vietnam, economic liberalization without democratic safeguards has led to serious, negative impacts on the environment. Civil society voices are crucial to warn against these dangers and call for preventive action. Yet those who dare speak out are imprisoned for \u201cplotting to overthrow the government\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The signatories of the Open Letter, which include former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi<\/strong>, former UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance Asma Jahangir<\/strong> and international organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, FIDH, Frontline Defenders, Freedom House, the Rafto Foundation and the World Movement for Democracy, stressed that \u201cl<\/em>awyers, activists, and religious or community leaders play a vital role in protecting and promoting human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief. State-sponsored human rights abuses limit peaceful exercise of civil and political rights, restrict the space for civil society groups to operate, and leave religious and other minorities vulnerable to violations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As well as calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i, and \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng, the signatories \u201cstrongly urge the authorities in Vietnam revoke articles of the Penal Code under which the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of religious leaders and human rights defenders have been authorized, and amend the Law on Belief and Religion and other relevant legislation to bring them into line with international human rights law.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

The G20 consists of 19 countries plus the European Union. The countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. It members account for 85% of the world\u2019s GDP and two thirds of its population.<\/p>\n

Vietnam is not a member of the G20, but the Prime Minister is invited to this year\u2019s Summit in his capacity as President of APEC 2017, which will be held in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

See Open Letter<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

30 June 2017<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Nguy\u1ec5n Xu\u00e2n Ph\u00fac
\nGovernment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
\nBa Dinh District
\nHanoi
\nS.R. Vietnam<\/p>\n

Re: Open Letter: calling on <\/strong>the government of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Prime Minister,<\/p>\n

As you prepare to join other world leaders at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, we, the undersigned individuals and civil society organisations, write to express our deep concern about the continued detention and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. We highlight the cases of three prominent human rights defenders from three different religious communities: the Most Venerable Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Mr. Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and Ms. \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng have been arbitrarily detained, without the due process protections afforded to them under international law. We consider them to have been deprived of liberty solely for exercising their human rights peacefully, and therefore request their immediate and unconditional release, and the release of all other prisoners of conscience detained in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9<\/strong>, an 89 year-old Buddhist monk and leader of the independent Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), is Vietnam\u2019s longest-detained human rights defender, having been deprived of liberty in various forms for over 30 years. He is currently under house arrest without charge. He is confined to his room and is being held under extreme restrictions in the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City. He has no key to the iron gate that blocks the staircase to his upper-floor room, his communications are closely monitored and he is under constant police surveillance. He is not even allowed to preach in the monastery. Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 nevertheless continues to speak out for human rights and in particular religious freedom, but these long years of isolation and lack of adequate medical care have taken a heavy toll on his health.<\/p>\n

In May 2017, Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 expressed his wish to move to the UBCV\u2019s Long Quang Pagoda in Hue so he can live beside his followers and receive the care and treatment that he badly needs. On 14 May 2017, he asked the UBCV\u2019s secretary-general L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u to accompany him there. However, police intercepted the call and immediately placed L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u under house arrest. They told C\u1ea7u that Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 was \u201cnot welcome\u201d in Hue, and forbade him to assist the UBCV leader in any way. L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u held a hunger strike to protest this arbitrary police action. We urge you to ensure that Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 be allowed to travel to Hue and reside there, without interference by the authorities.<\/p>\n

Police arrested 49-year-old human rights lawyer Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i<\/strong> in Hanoi on 16 December 2015, on the charge of \u201cconducting propaganda against the Socialist State of Vietnam.\u201d Since then he has been held incommunicado, without access to lawyers of his choosing. His commitment to human rights started in 2000 when he took on the defense of a Christian who was detained after she opposed the authorities\u2019 attempts to dissolve her worship service. Lawyer Dai offered pro bono legal advice to religious communities, fellow human rights defenders, political groups, and independent labour unions until police arrested him in 2007. In that same year, authorities sentenced him to four years in prison. After his release in 2011, he was placed under house arrest until March 2015. Despite these restrictions, he has continued his advocacy for human rights. On 5 April 2017, the German Association of Judges awarded him its Human Rights Prize for 2017. Dai\u2019s wife was stopped by authorities at the airport and prevented from travelling to Germany to receive the prize on his behalf. The authorities should drop all charges against Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i, and release him immediately.<\/p>\n

Ms. \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng<\/strong>, 60 years old, is one of the leaders of the Buddhist sect \u00c2n \u0110\u00e0n \u0110\u1ea1i \u0110\u1ea1o that was founded in what was then South Vietnam in 1969 and outlawed after Communist forces took power in 1975. Police arrested Ms. H\u1ed3ng in 2012 on the charge of \u201cplotting to overthrow the government\u201d and subsequently sentenced her to 13 years in prison, to be followed by 5 years of house arrest. She suffers from poor health in prison. In a closed trial in 2013, the sect\u2019s founder Phan V\u0103n Thu was given a life sentence and 21 other leaders were sentenced to a collective total of 299 years in prison and 105 years of house arrest. The authorities provided as \u201cincriminating\u201d evidence excerpts from a sermon by the founder which referenced human rights, protection of the environment, and international law. The government also confiscated an ecological tourism park of 48 hectares with temples and assets which the community had built. The Vietnamese government should immediately and unconditionally release \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng, and other imprisoned members of the \u00c2n \u0110\u00e0n \u0110\u1ea1i \u0110\u1ea1o sect, return confiscated property, and end harassment of the group.<\/p>\n

Concerns about these three human rights defenders have been repeatedly raised by international organisations, governments, and bodies. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein raised the case of Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i in a statement of concern<\/a> about the Vietnamese government\u2019s crackdown on human rights defenders in 2016. In addition, 73 parliamentarians from 14 countries issued a call<\/a> for his release. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian parliament, who also signed the letter, said that the continued detention of Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and his assistant L\u00ea Thu H\u00e0 \u201cconstitutes a black mark on Vietnam\u2019s human rights record and its international credibility.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Ninety international personalities, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates, religious leaders and parliamentarians called for the release of Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 in a joint letter<\/a> on 12 November 2015. More recently, the European Union (EU) called for the release of Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9 and Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i during the 6th<\/sup> EU-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue<\/a> in December 2016, emphasizing that \u201call persons detained for peacefully exercising their freedom of expression should be released\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Moreover, we are also extremely concerned that these persons have been deprived of liberty under vaguely-worded \u201cnational security\u201d clauses in Vietnam\u2019s Penal Code that are clearly inconsistent with international human rights treaties ratified by Vietnam. This includes Articles 79, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code. These articles contradict provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam is a state party, including Article 9 (1), which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of liberty; Article 18, which provides for the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and Article 19, which provides for freedom of expression, respectively. While under the ICCPR the latter rights may be restricted, such restrictions are narrowly defined. The overbroad and vague \u201cnational security\u201d clauses in Vietnam\u2019s Penal Code, and the arbitrary way by which they are applied, clearly do not meet the requirements for restrictions under these Articles.<\/p>\n

Despite recommendations by the international community, including at the Universal Periodic Review session on Vietnam in 2014, the government has not only failed to review these restrictive \u201cnational security\u201d clauses, but has incorporated similar language into the newly-adopted Law on Belief and Religion that will come into force in January 2018.<\/p>\n

Lawyers, activists, and religious or community leaders play a vital role in protecting and promoting human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief. State-sponsored human rights abuses limit peaceful exercise of civil and political rights, restrict the space for civil society groups to operate, and leave religious and other minorities vulnerable to violations.<\/p>\n

We call on the government of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i, and \u0110\u1ed7 Th\u1ecb H\u1ed3ng and all other prisoners of conscience. Furthermore, we strongly urge the authorities in Vietnam revoke articles of the Penal Code under which the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of religious leaders and human rights defenders have been authorized, and amend the Law on Belief and Religion and other relevant legislation to bring them into line with international human rights law.<\/p>\n

We look forward to receiving your reply on these important matters. Please reply to Penelope Faulkner at Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, who can be reached at pfaulkner.vchr@gmail.com<\/a> and fax number (+33.1.) 45 98 32 61.<\/p>\n

Sincerely and respectfully yours,<\/p>\n

Amnesty International
\nASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
\nChristian Solidarity Worldwide
\nFront Line Defenders
\nHuman Rights Watch
\nFIDH
\nQu\u00ea Me: Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
\nVETO! Human Rights Defenders\u2019 Network – Germany<\/p>\n

Additional signatories:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Asma Jahangir, former UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance
\nGiulio Terzi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy
\nAgir Ensemble pour les Droits de l\u2019Homme (AEDH)
\nALTSEAN, Burma
\nAmnesty International USA, Group 524, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
\nAmnesty International USA, Group 56, Lexington, Massachusetts
\nArmanshahr\/OPEN ASIA, Afghanistan
\nBoat People SOS
\nBuddhist Youth Movement of Vietnam (G\u0110PTVN), Vietnam
\nCambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
\nCambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
\nCenter for Prisoners\u2019 Rights, Japan
\nCentre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4CENTER), Malaysia
\nChinaAid
\nCommonwealth Human Rights Initiative, India
\nFreedom House, USA
\nGerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief
\nGlobal Committee for the Rule of Law \u2013 \u201cMarco Pannella\u201d
\nHuman Rights Commission of Pakistan
\nHuman Rights in China (HRIC)
\nHuman Rights Without Frontiers International
\nHudson Institute, Center for Religious Freedom
\nInternational Buddhist Information Bureau, Paris
\nInternet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw), Thailand
\nJubilee Campaign, USA
\nLeague for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI)
\nMouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme
\nOdhikar, Bangladesh
\nPhilippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
\nRafto Foundation for Human Rights, Norway
\nStefanus Alliance International
\nTaiwan Association for Human Rights
\nUnified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Vi\u1ec7n H\u00f3a \u0110\u1ea1o, Vietnam
\nUnified Buddhist Church of Vietnam Overseas in the USA
\nWorld Movement for Democracy, USA<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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