{"id":41861,"date":"2019-10-24T17:29:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T17:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=41861"},"modified":"2019-10-27T18:31:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-27T18:31:56","slug":"fidh-40th-congress-in-taipei-condemns-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/fidh-40th-congress-in-taipei-condemns-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"FIDH condemns Vietnam\u2019s escalating repression of civil society and lack of environmental justice at its 40th Congress in Taipei"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"40th<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

TAIPEI\n(TAIWAN), 25 October 2019 (VCHR) \u2013 More than 400 human rights leaders,\nacademics and civil society representatives from all over the world gathered in\nTaipei (Taiwan) for the 40th<\/sup> Congress of the FIDH (International\nFederation of Human Rights)<\/strong> from 21 to 25 October 2019 on the theme of\n\u201cReclaiming the Universality of Human Rights\u201d. This is the first time in its\nhistory that the FIDH, a global human rights movement headquartered in Paris,\nhas held its Congress in Asia. The event was opened by the President of Taiwan,\nTsai Ing-wen, who expressed her firm support for human rights defenders\nworldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Taiwan
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mr. V\u00f5 Tr\u1ea7n Nh\u1eadt, representing the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), a member league of the FIDH<\/a>, alerted the Congress to the escalating repression against bloggers, human rights defenders and civil society activists in Vietnam, and tabled an \u201cUrgent Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in Vietnam<\/strong>\u201d<\/a>, which was unanimously adopted by the FIDH leagues.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nResolution expressed concern on rising tension in the territorial conflict in\nthe South China sea following recent incursions by China which \u201cthreatens\npeace in the region and beyond\u201d <\/em>and has sparked off deep indignation in\nVietnam. It denounced the Vietnamese government\u2019s systematic suppression of all\ncriticism and peaceful protests on this and other human rights issues, with a\nsurge in arrests and lengthy prison sentences of civil society activists,\ncriminalization of free expression by restrictive legislation and an overall\npolicy aimed to \u201ccreate a climate of fear amongst all those seeking to\nparticipate in public affairs\u201d.<\/em> The FIDH called on the European Union not\nto sign the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) unless it contained\nindependent monitoring and complaint mechanisms to effectively guarantee the\nVietnamese people\u2019s fundamental rights (full text below).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis Resolution is deeply meaningful for human\nrights defenders in Vietnam\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>said V\u00f5 Tr\u1ea7n Nh\u1eadt. \u201cWhilst the\ngovernment deploys its vast machinery of repression, censorship, intimidation\nand imprisonment to suppress their voices, this statement shows that\ninternational civil society stands with them in their struggle, and will not be\nsilenced\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"V\u00f5
V\u00f5 Tr\u1ea7n Nh\u1eadt speaks on the human rights situation in Vietnam<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A resolution on \u201c<\/strong>Environmental Justice in Vietnam\u201d tabled by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR<\/a>), was also adopted unanimously by FIDH. Recalling the disastrous marine pollution caused by the Taiwanese Formosa Steel Corporation in Central Vietnam in 2016, it deplored Vietnam\u2019s lack of action to support the victims and address serious human rights concerns including \u201cthe right to a clean environment, the right to food and health, the right to work, the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, the right to information and the right to an effective remedy\u201d.<\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regretting\nthat a transnational lawsuit submitted by 7,785 Vietnamese victims against the\nFormosa Plastics group at the Taipei District Court in June 2019 was rejected on\n5th<\/sup> October on the grounds that Taiwan lacked jurisdiction over the\ncase, FIDH members called on Taiwan to review the case on\nappeal, and urged Vietnam to allow a transparent and independent investigation\ninto the disaster, punish those responsible and guarantee adequate compensation\nto the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the\n5-day conference, participants discussed strategies to strengthen human rights protection\nat this critical time when <\/strong>the universality of human rights is\nincreasingly compromised in countries all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FIDH\nwas founded in 1922 and has 184 affiliated leagues in 112 countries across the\nfive continents. It holds a Congress every three years to examine new challenges\nfacing human rights promotion, define strategies and elect a new leadership for\nthe coming next three-year term. FIDH\u2019s has a long history of supporting human\nrights defenders in Vietnam. In the 1920s, it succeeded in abrogating the\nprison sentences of two renowned Vietnamese patriots, Phan B\u1ed9i Ch\u00e2u and Phan\nChu Trinh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Full text of the Resolution:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resolution on the situation of Human Rights in Vietnam<\/h3>\n\n\n\n


The FIDH and its member leagues, gathered at its 40th<\/sup> Congress in Taipei, Taiwan,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering\n<\/strong>thatthe\nterritorial conflict in the South China Sea (known by Vietnamese as the East\nSea), which involves Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,\nTaiwan and Vietnam, has become increasingly tense following aggressive\ninitiatives by the People\u2019s Republic of China, including incursions,\nmilitarisation and unilateral occupation of disputed islands and reefs, and\nattacks on Vietnamese fishermen ;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas<\/strong>, given the position and strategic\nimportance of this waterway, through which transits over one third of\ninternational maritime trade, this issue threatens peace in the region and\nbeyond;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas<\/strong> the incursion of the Chinese ship\nHaiyang Dizhi 8 and escort ships in July 2019 to Vanguard Bank in the Spratly\nIslands within Vietnam\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone sparked off deep indignation,\nyet the Vietnamese people were unable to express their protests; two small\ndemonstrations held outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi on 6 August 2019 and\nthe Chinese Consulate in Saigon on 10 August 2019 were rapidly disbanded by the\nauthorities;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas<\/strong> the Vietnamese population and civil\nsociety have been prevented from expressing their protests because of a fierce\ncrackdown by the authorities; the number of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam\nrose by one third over the past year (now over 130 prisoners) and peaceful\ndemonstrations have been systematically repressed; arrests and harsh prison\nsentences against those who dare speak out are taking place at this very moment\n;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas<\/strong>, in order to stifle the voices of\ncivil society, the Communist Party of Vietnam is increasingly invoking Article\n109 of the Criminal Code on \u201cactivities aimed at overthrowing the\ngovernment\u201d,<\/em> which carries the death penalty as maximum sentence, as well\nas other \u201cnational security\u201d offences to sanction the peaceful exercise of\nfreedom of expression ;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denounce\n<\/strong>the use of vague\nand broadly-defined laws that criminalize the Vietnamese people\u2019s exercise of\ntheir fundamental rights and endow the authorities with exorbitant, arbitrary\npowers to repress human rights defenders and all those seeking to enjoy these\nrights;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regret <\/strong>that at its third Universal Periodic\nReview Vietnam once again rejected recommendations to amend provisions on\n\u201cnational security\u201d in the 2015 Criminal Code to bring them into line with international\nnorms;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denounce\n<\/strong>the Vietnamese\ngovernment\u2019s policy of censorship and clamp-down on information, and its use of\ndiverse forms of repression (police brutality and harassments, unfair trials,\nrestrictive legislation) to create a climate of fear amongst all those seeking\nto participate in public affairs;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call\nupon<\/strong> Vietnam to\ncease this ongoing crackdown and immediately and unconditionally release all\npersons detained for the legitimate and peaceful exercise of their fundamental\nfreedoms and rights;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calls\nupon <\/strong>the European\nUnion not to sign the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) until it ensures\nthe agreement guarantees the Vietnamese people\u2019s fundamental rights, notably by\nincluding independent monitoring and\ncomplaint mechanisms, and to insist that Vietnam upholds its binding\nhuman rights obligations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAIPEI (TAIWAN), 25 October 2019 (VCHR) \u2013 More than 400 human rights leaders, academics and civil society representatives from all over the world gathered in Taipei (Taiwan) for the 40th Congress of the FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights) from 21 to 25 October 2019 on the theme of \u201cReclaiming the Universality of Human Rights\u201d. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":41881,"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":[137,113,98,1,64],"tags":[953,867],"class_list":["post-41861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-uncategorized","category-vchr","tag-tahr","tag-taiwan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41861","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=41861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}