Clinton Is Urged to Confront Vietnam on Human Rights [-Repression in Vietnam]

Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton spoke with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, center, and his wife, Tran Thanh Kiem. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

October 29, 2010
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times

“In a country where the state controls all traditional media outlets, independent bloggers have emerged as important sources of news, information and social commentary” - Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

BANGKOK — The Vietnamese government has arrested or convicted a half-dozen dissidents and bloggers in the days before a visit to Hanoi by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to the United States Embassy and human rights groups.

Washington has often voiced its concern over human rights issues in Vietnam, and the latest actions drew sharp criticism from some members of Congress as well as a statement from the United States Embassy in Hanoi urging their release.

Congress members and human rights groups are urging Mrs. Clinton to speak out for human rights while she is in Hanoi on Friday and Saturday for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders.

Three dissidents have been convicted on charges of causing public disorder, and three bloggers have been arrested at a time of increased pressure on critics. Many analysts say the clampdown is intended to silence debate before a Communist Party congress in January.

In addition, six Roman Catholics were tried and convicted Wednesday in a case the Catholic News Agency said stemmed from violent clashes with the police over a parish’s attempt in May to bury a woman in a cemetery that the local government had seized for a tourist resort.

The arrests and trials “contradict Vietnam’s own commitment to internationally accepted standards of human rights,” the United States Embassy said in its statement. “We urge the government of Vietnam to release these individuals.”

According to the rights group Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding at least 30 people on political charges, including members and supporters of banned political groups, independent trade unionists, bloggers, businessmen, journalists and writers.

This week, Representative Loretta Sanchez, a California Democrat, wrote a letter signed by three other House representatives that urged Mrs. Clinton to raise several concerns with the Vietnamese, including “use of the legal code to criminalize peaceful political activities” and the repression of Internet freedoms.

In a separate statement, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, listed cases of arrests and harassment over the past year and said, “It is clear that the Vietnamese government is failing to afford its citizens fundamental human rights.”

The Vietnamese government, like China, Myanmar and other nations that curb dissent in the courts, says these are not political arrests and that all the accusations involve criminal activity.

The recent case against the three labor activists, Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, Do Thi Minh Hanh and Doan Huy Chuong, involved charges of disrupting public order for distributing leaflets supporting workers’ rights at a factory, according Amnesty International. Their sentences were not officially announced.

The bloggers are Le Nguyen Huong Tra, Phan Thanh Hai and Nguyen Van Hai. Mr. Hai was rearrested after completing an earlier sentence for tax evasion.

The government is particularly sensitive to blogs that touch on official corruption, relations with China and a Chinese-run bauxite mine that has prompted widespread controversy.

“In a country where the state controls all traditional media outlets, independent bloggers have emerged as important sources of news, information and social commentary,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The group urged Mrs. Clinton to speak out against what it called “an intensifying campaign of harassment, arrest, beatings in custody, unfair trials and long prison terms” against bloggers and activists.

Burma brags it is still arresting dissidents

Singapore (dpa) - Burma is looking for "understanding" from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, other countries and the United Nations, Deputy Defence Minister Aye Myint said Wednesday.

He described his homeland as "stable," but acknowledged arrests were still being made after the military-ruled country's crackdown in September on pro-democracy protests triggered an international outcry.

Major-General Aye Myint is among the ministers participating in the three-day Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Singapore.

"The situation is stable," he told a news conference after meeting with the participants from the other nine Asean countries.

"We control the situation," he said of the ruling junta. "We take in some people for questioning, but most are released."

Although Asean has sharply criticised Burma, the grouping has made it clear it was not expelling or suspending the country as many human rights groups would like.

"Nobody can understand Myanmar better than the government," Aye Myint said, using the military regime's name for Burma.

"We are looking for understanding from Asean, other countries and the United Nations," he added.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo reiterated that Asean "provides the channel for exchanges of views" and that the defence ministers received an update on Burma during their closed-door meeting.

"We hope that Myanmar will progress speedily toward a situation where all the parties come together," said Yeo. "We all want to see a stable Myanmar, a prosperous Myanmar." Asean has agreed to use the military regime's name for Burma.

The defence ministers were urged earlier to take part in the "exciting changes" sweeping the grouping.

With the landmark Asean charter scheduled to be signed November 20 at the leaders' summit, Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) "also needs to respond to the evolving strategic developments in the wider region."

"Asean's future is increasingly intertwined with the fate of the larger Asia-Pacific region," he noted.

Teo, in his opening remarks, said the ADMM provides a "platform for constructive dialogue on strategic issues" as well as a platform to promote practical cooperation among the Asean armed forces.

"This is especially crucial in view of the fluid regional security situation and the range of transnational security issues that the region faces," he said, citing terrorism, piracy, natural disasters and infectious diseases.

Asean includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as Burma, the last country to join.

Prior to the start of the three-day meeting, the ministers called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The charter, billed as Asean's constitution, gives the grouping a legal identity after 40 years of existence and enables Asean to facilitate negotiations regionally and globally.