{"id":41718,"date":"2019-07-04T11:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=41718"},"modified":"2019-07-04T11:51:07","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T11:51:07","slug":"vietnam-refuses-to-address-serious-human-rights-violations-at-upr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/vietnam-refuses-to-address-serious-human-rights-violations-at-upr\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam refuses to address serious human rights violations at UN Universal Periodic Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


GENEVA, 4 July 2019 (VCHR) \u2013 Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s 41st<\/sup> session in Geneva on behalf of FIDH <\/strong>and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights<\/strong> (VCHR) today, VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i <\/strong>deplored the \u201cwide gap<\/em>\u201d between Vietnam\u2019s reports and statements to the UN and the \u201cfrightening reality<\/em> faced by Vietnamese people in their daily lives\u201d. <\/em>He said Vietnam was abusing the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process to misinform the international community about serious human rights violations on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. \u00c1i was commenting on the report on the third UPR of Vietnam which was adopted today by the UN Human Rights Council. Out of 291 recommendations made by member states at Vietnam\u2019s UPR review in January 2019<\/a>, Vietnam announced it would accept 241 recommendations (nearly 83%), in whole or in part. However, 50 key recommendations for prompt and concrete action to improve human rights were categorically rejected by the communist state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA close reading of [Vietnam\u2019s]\nreservations and 50 non-accepted recommendations shows that Vietnam has no\npolitical will to address the serious violations of civil and political rights\nin the country\u201d,<\/em><\/strong> V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i told the UN Human\nRights Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, FIDH and VCHR issued a joint statement<\/a> analysing in detail Vietnam\u2019s responses to the UPR and condemning the government\u2019s refusal to commit to human rights reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 50 recommendations\nrejected by Vietnam included demands to release all human rights defenders,\nbloggers, political and religious activists detained for the peaceful\nexpression of their opinions and beliefs; to prosecute perpetrators of violence\nand intimidation against human rights defenders; to authorize independent\nmonitoring bodies to inspect conditions in Vietnam\u2019s prisons and camps; to lift\nall restrictions on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, both online\nand offline; and authorize the publication of independent newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also rejected\nrecommendations to amend the Cyber Security Law, Press Law, Law on Belief and\nReligion and the Criminal Code in order to guarantee freedom of expression and\nfreedom of religion or belief; to work with businesses and civil society on an\naction plan to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;\nto accept a visit by the Special Rapporteur on Torture; to initiate a\nmoratorium on the death penalty; to ratify ILO Convention 87 on freedom of\nassociation and the right to organize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. \u00c1i\nparticularly denounced Vietnam\u2019s refusal to accept the demands of many states to\nrevise or repeal the broadly-defined \u201cnational security\u201d provisions in the\nCriminal Code which he described as \u201cthe cornerstone of government\nrepression\u201d<\/em><\/strong> in Vietnam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justifying\nits refusal to amend the Cyber Security Law, the Law on Religion and Belief,\nVietnam claimed that the public had been \u201cconsulted\nextensively\u201d<\/em> before their adoption. In reality,\nthousands of people demonstrated in June 2018 to demand the withdrawal of the\ndraconian Cyber Security Law, which gravely restricts Internet freedom. The law\nwas adopted nevertheless, and hundreds of protesters were arrested and\nconvicted. Just last week, on 28th<\/sup> June, Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng H\u1eefu L\u1ed9c<\/strong> was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking\npart in the demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the government took no heed of\nstrong protests by religious communities on the Law on Belief and Religion. Since\nthe law came into effect in January 2018, repression against all religious\ncommunities in Vietnam has intensified, especially against non-recognized\ngroups such as the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), certain Protestant\nhouse churches, H\u00f2a H\u1ea3o, Cao \u0110\u00e0i, Khmer Krom Buddhists etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not\nsurprisingly, Vietnam rejected a recommendation by Czechia to \u201clay the ground\nfor political plurality and democracy\u201d <\/em>and guarantee its citizens \u201cthe\nfull enjoyment of the rights to vote, to be elected and to take part in the\nconduct of political affairs\u201d. <\/em>This was one of seven recommendations singled\nout by Vietnam as \u201ccontentious\u201d, \u201cinaccurate\u201d and \u201calien and improper\u201d in\nregards to the people\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does the government mean by self-determination?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> asked V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i. \u201cHow can Hanoi know what the Vietnamese people want when they refuse the very idea of letting the people express themselves freely and participate in public affairs?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Mr. \u00c1i dedicated his\nstatement to Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ed9<\/strong>, leader\nof the outlawed UBCV and to all human rights defenders in Vietnam. Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng\n\u0110\u1ed9, 92, has spent decades under detention for his engagement for human rights, democracy\nand freedom of religion or belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Oral Statement to the UN Human Rights Council
Point 6, Adoption of the UPR Report on Vietnam
read by VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. President,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIDH and its member organisation VCHR are\ndeeply disturbed by the wide gap between the Vietnamese government\u2019s rhetoric\nand the frightening reality faced by Vietnamese people in their daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that today Vietnam holds\nover 130 prisoners of conscience, one third more than those detained last year.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that large-scale repression\nof peaceful demonstrations, often by government-hired thugs, continues to\noccur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that persecution against\nreligious communities remains pervasive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that systematic harassment,\narrest, and lengthy prison sentences for human rights defenders is relentless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that more restrictive laws\nand regulations, such as the Law on Belief and Religion, the Cybersecurity Law,\nand the Press Law, have been adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this UPR cycle, Vietnam accepted, either\nwholly or in part, almost 83% of the recommendations it received. However, a\nclose reading of its reservations and 50 non-accepted recommendations shows\nthat Vietnam has no political will to address the serious violations of civil\nand political rights in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vietnamese government rejects\nreferences to \u201cnational security\u201d, which is the cornerstone of government\nrepression, as well as recommendations to protect human rights defenders or\namend laws that restrict human rights. It invokes \u201cVietnam\u2019s circumstances\u201d to\njustify the non-implementation of the UN Convention against Torture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It rejects very important recommendations\ndeemed to be, I quote, \u201ccontentious\u201d. In fact, the so-called \u201ccontentious\u201d\nterms rejected by Vietnam are \u201chuman rights defenders\u201d, \u201cParis Principles\u201d,\n\u201cabolishing censorship\u201d, \u201cindependent media\u201d, and \u201cpolitical plurality and\ndemocracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, contrary to Vietnam\u2019s claim that\nit cooperates with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, requests\nfor an in-country visit submitted by this mandate since 2002 have received no\nreply from Hanoi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dedicate this statement to Thich Quang Do\nand all human rights defenders in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you Mr. President,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GENEVA, 4 July 2019 (VCHR) \u2013 Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s 41st session in Geneva on behalf of FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) today, VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i deplored the \u201cwide gap\u201d between Vietnam\u2019s reports and statements to the UN and the \u201cfrightening reality faced by Vietnamese people …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":41732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,113,98,64],"tags":[353,912,251],"class_list":["post-41718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-human-rights-council","tag-truong-huu-loc","tag-upr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}