"The Vietnam government also pressured neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Thailand to crack down on peaceful anti-Vietnam government activities such as distributing leaflets and holding a news conference."
January 26, 2011
Source: UNPOFreedom of religion in Vietnam is a clear example as police subjected members of independent religious groups to repeated harassment. The government targeted Khmer Krom Buddhist temples.
Below is an article published by Human Rights Watch:
The Vietnam government intensified its repression of activists and dissidents during 2010, and cracked down harshly on freedom of expression, association, and assembly, Human Rights Watch said yesterday in its World Report 2011.
The 649-page report, Human Rights Watch's 21st annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights developments in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. In Vietnam, bloggers, human rights defenders, workers rights activists, and democracy and anti-corruption campaigners faced intimidation, arrest, torture, and imprisonment, Human Rights Watch said.
"Peacefully expressing views should not be a crime, but the government apparently fears what these individuals have to say," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "What's needed now is for Vietnam's international donors to clearly tell the government to release all dissidents arrested for peaceful activities."
Throughout 2010, the government prosecuted peaceful dissidents and sentenced them to prison, including Le Cong Dinh, a prominent lawyer; Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Le Thang Long, and Nguyen Tien Trung, pro-democracy activists; Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a journalist; and Pham Thanh Nghien, an advocate for free expression. In October, the government sentenced three labor activists from the United Farmers and Workers Organization (UFWO) to long prison terms.
Continuing its crackdown, the government recently arrested but has not yet tried Phan Thanh Hai (Anhbasg), a blogger; Cu Huy Ha Vu, an outspoken legal activist; Vi Duc Hoi, a magazine editor; and Ho Thi Bich Khuong and Pastor Ho Trung Ton, land rights campaigners. Nguyen Van Hai (Dieu Cay), a blogger, completed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, but authorities refused to release him.
Freedom of religion in Vietnam fared little better as police subjected members of independent religious groups to repeated harassment. The government targeted unrecognized branches of the Cao Dai church, the Hoa Hao church, independent Protestant house churches, the Khmer Krom Buddhist temples, and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). A Mennonite pastor, Duong Kim Khai, is currently in detention awaiting trial. Religious leaders including the UBCV Supreme Patriarch, Thich Quang Do; Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly and a Khmer Krom Buddhist abbot, Thach Sophon, were held under house arrest.
"The United States should re-designate Vietnam a ‘country of particular concern' for its continuous violations of religious freedom," Robertson said. "Vietnam's crackdown on religion is systematic, severe, and getting worse by the day."
Police brutality, including torture in detention and deaths in custody, was a major problem throughout the year. Prisoners routinely face abuse and torture in prison, and those held in drug rehabilitation centers face inhumane treatment, including forced labor. In a number of cases, individuals arrested for misdemeanors, such as traffic violations, were beaten to death in police custody. The death in custody of Nguyen Van Khuong in Bac Giang province in July set off a protest by thousands of people demanding accountability.
Public protests against land confiscation by authorities and well-connected businessmen were sometimes dispersed by the police with excessive force, such as during a funeral procession that turned into a protest in Con Dau parish in Da Nang in May.
"The police in Vietnam violate rights with impunity, and the government too often looks the other way in the interest of maintaining order," Robertson said. "Police brutality was reported in all regions of Vietnam, but central government authorities responded with a deafening silence."
Vietnam extended its extensive regime of media and internet censorship with an internet firewall, and new onerous and restrictive regulations requiring monitoring by internet companies and internet café owners of internet use by Vietnamese citizens. The Vietnam government also pressured neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Thailand to crack down on peaceful anti-Vietnam government activities such as distributing leaflets and holding a news conference.
"To gag its own citizens in Vietnam for expressing their views is bad enough," Robertson said. "But the Vietnam government's efforts to extend censorship to other countries and the internet deserves severe condemnation from the international community."
7 comments:
What was the root cause of the conflict?
Southerners rebelled in 1955 against what they saw as domination from the north as the country neared independence. Nearly all jobs in the new national government went to northerners. The northern government later sought to impose sharia, or Islamic law, on the non-Muslim south. That further polarized the two sides. The war has had overtones of religious and racial conflict, but it's also a fight for power. One scholar has described it as a "clash of identities in competition over power and resources." The north-south conflict is separate from violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which has undergone its own tentative peace process.
What is the likely outcome of the referendum and what is at stake?
Since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, there has been a glimmer of hope that a permanent peace could be secured at the ballot box. A yes vote to secession, which many most analysts believe is the expected final result, could create Africa's newest nation.
Or it could plunge the country into renewed conflict if the Arab north Sudan refuses to abide by the results. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept the results of a referendum, which international donors have given $58 million to a U.N. fund to finance. At stake is most of the oil wealth in Sudan, which is primarily located in the south but which must run through pipelines in the north to reach a port for export. If the south chooses independence, both sides would negotiate a variety of issues, including how to share oil revenue.
Where will voting take place?
The United Nations says more than 4 million ballots have been delivered for distribution across Southern Sudan, and in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, for southerners living in the north. The ballots, which carry two pictures -- one hand signifies independence; two hands, a unified Sudan -- have been printed in Britain. Southern Sudanese also are eligible to vote in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Great Britain, Kenya, Uganda and the United States.
Do observers believe voting will be fair?
Many southerners fled to the north for safety in recent decades as one of Africa's longest running civil wars played out in their homeland. Khartoum itself has numerous voter registration facilities, and the deadline was extended by a week but southerners are wary, with many opting to leave town rather than sticking around to vote. A satellite surveillance project spearheaded by actor George Clooney's organization will monitor for violence in Sudan during the vote. The program will use satellite images to assess the situation on the ground for any signs of conflict, monitor hotspots in real time, and post the findings online, organizers said.
If the south does split, what are the dangers?
The main rebel force in the south, the Sudan People's Liberation Army has dominated politics in the south since the fighting ended in 2005. But the area is still awash with weapons, militias and mistrust. The whole process is precarious. Experts say a fresh conflict is a real possibility.
Alex Vines, of London-based think tank Chatham House, said: "The referendum is a risky affair. If it's managed wisely by leaderships of the south and north then maybe an amicable separation can take place. There's a lot of danger it could backfire spectacularly -- we could see a renewed civil war, which is nothing new for Sudan."
What is likely to happen in the rest of the country?
Bashir is already an international pariah -- he is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court -- for his alleged involvement in killings in Darfur, in the far west of the country. There, the Janjaweed militia, with government backing, has been engaged in a scorched earth policy, destroying villages, raping and killing, according to the United Nations, Western government and human-rights groups.
More than 300,000 people have been killed in the desolate region, the United Nations says, though Sudan says the toll is lower. Hopes for peace have gone up and down over the last few months. If the south does go it alone, it may embolden rebels in Darfur who oppose Bashir's government in distant Khartoum. The Darfur region would remain in Sudan, not be a part of Southern Sudan.
There are also other challenges, such as what to do with displaced people, according to Vines. "There's the issue of population that live along the border area. Some of them are migrant cattle herders. It's going to be quite difficult to define citizenship for them, so these are really difficult issues which need to be considered.
"There are lessons historically out of Africa elsewhere. For example when Eritrea become independent from Ethiopia ... some of these issues could be learned from the Eritrea example I think."
Will the referendum lead to a better standard of life for those who live in one of the poorest countries in the world?
If it is created Southern Sudan will be one of the poorest countries in the world despite its oil wealth and will face huge challenges. The charity World Vision says children in Southern Sudan are three times more likely to die than kids in the north, while 90 percent live on less than $1 a day. The future of the oil-rich Abyei area will be decided in a second referendum and the people in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile areas are to have a "popular consultation" on their future.
Because of these oppression that's why Khmer Krom wants to free themselves out of YUON in this near future.
UN is giving indigenous a chance to free themselves from the colonizer.
They want to live as free as other people on this planet.
Go Khmer Krom go!!
Dear Dr. Hun Sen and Ten Thousands stars Dr. Hun Manet,
Why do you and your relatives give Kos Trol, sea and lands to Vietnam? Why? and Why?
Why do you and all of your relatives involve alot of murder cases in Cambodia? Why? Why?
Why do you murder cambodian K5,1997events and so on and so on with lost count? Why?
If you are so good why do you and your families murder cambodians? Why? and Why?
If you are so good why do about 90%cambodians are so poor but you and your relatives are billionair and millinor? Why? Why?
Why do you try to kill people from telling the true? Why? Why?
What is the difference from Khmer Rough and you, Sir?
If you are so good Why do you block KI from cambodians?
Don't you and your families scare of hell for ethernity?
When you die can you bring all of your power and money with you?
Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Big ass lady and his belove Dr. Hun Manet Please don't put us in jail or kill us for this! We want to live like you and your families do!
Khmers victim of 1997 and K5
PS
If Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet remove the tablet it is show they are extremely coward and his star are just joy stars given by his daddy not by patriotism. Dr. Hun Manet is very coward as his daddy they only aim to kill innocent cambodians that all. Dr. Hun SEn and Dr. ten stars Hun Manet are very great at bullying cambodians and killing Cambodians but cowardly toward Thai and Viet.
Seriously where is the win win policy of Dr. Hun Sen represent. The country is getting smaller and shamer by Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet.
thank you KI Team
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