VIETNAM is making a mockery of its obligations under the UN Human Rights Watch

VietCatholic News (29 Sep 2009 07:40)

More than 10 people have been arrested recently in Vietnam for spreading "propaganda against the state". HRW highlighted the case of Huynh Ba, a land rights activist and member of the Khmer Krom ethnic minority who led protests by farmers in the Mekong Delta over confiscation of their land who was arrested on May 30.

Hanoi | /September 26, 2009 -The communist country has rejected a raft of recommendations to improve its rights record raised during a periodic review by the UN Human Rights

Council that ended this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.

"Vietnam - a member of the UN Security Council - has made a mockery of its engagement at the UN Human Rights Council," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of the New York-based organisation.

"Vietnam rejected even the most benign recommendations based on the international covenants it has signed, such as allowing people to promote human rights or express their opinions."

Hanoi rejected 45 recommendations from UN member states, HRW said, including lifting internet and blogging controls on privately owned media, allowing groups and individuals to promote human rights, abolishing the death penalty and releasing peaceful prisoners of conscience.

Of the 93 recommendations accepted by the Vietnamese Government, many consisted only of broad statements of intent to "consider" proposals by member states, HRW said.

"Shockingly, Vietnam denied to the Human Rights Council that it has arrested and imprisoned hundreds of peaceful dissidents and independent religious activists," said Ms Pearson.

"Yet in just the four months since Vietnam's last appearance at the council, it has arrested scores more."

Vietnam said during the Human Rights Council review process that it had no "so-called 'prisoners of conscience'", that no one was arrested for criticising the Government and denied torturing offenders.

"Like China, Vietnam has rebuffed the Human Rights Council in an effort to sanitise its abysmal rights record," said Ms Pearson.

"The UN's rights review offers proof to the world that despite international concern, Vietnam has no real intention of improving its record."

The UN Human Rights Council made its recommendations after one of its regular examinations of a state's human rights records.

More than 10 people have been arrested recently in Vietnam for spreading "propaganda against the state". HRW highlighted the case of Huynh Ba, a land rights activist and member of the Khmer Krom ethnic minority who led protests by farmers in the Mekong Delta over confiscation of their land who was arrested on May 30.

More than 1000 members of the largely Christian Montagnards community fled to Cambodia after security forces put down demonstrations in the Central Highlands in 2001 against land confiscation and religious persecution.

Vietnam has strongly denied a 2006 accusation by Human Rights Watch that it detained and tortured Montagnards who returned home under a tripartite agreement after fleeing to Cambodia.

The Australian /AP

Khmer Krom and UNPO Protest Over Vietnam Human Rights Record

The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) in partnership with the UNPO will hold a two day demonstration on May 7 and May 8 in Geneva to draw attention to human rights abuses taking place in Vietnam, timed to coincide with the very first time that Vietnam will undergo U.N Human Rights Council examination.

Wednesday, 06 May 2009
UNPO

Human Rights in Viet Nam:
Indigenous Khmer Krom in Geneva to Call Upon
the International Community for Action

The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) in partnership with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) will hold a two day demonstration on May 7 and May 8 to draw attention to human rights abuses taking place in Vietnam. The demonstrations are timed to coincide with the very first time that Vietnam will undergo their Universal Periodic Review at the U.N Human Rights Council.

On 08 May 2009, as the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine Viet Nam's human rights record for the very first time, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom people will assemble in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva to denounce the distressing situation of ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.

In a country where a great number of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are only an abstract concept, ethnic minorities find themselves in a particularly difficult situation. Sharing the Vietnamese population's harsh fate, they must also carry the full burden of their differences. The 8 million indigenous Khmer Krom find themselves in this situation. An indigenous people having lived in the Mekong delta (in southern Viet Nam) for over 3000 years, they have since the country's independence been the target of organised discriminations and expropriations. These state policies have led to the marginalisation of this population.

In a country where religious practices are subject to severe restrictions, their special bond to therevada Buddhism (a minority branch of Buddhism in Viet Nam) catalysed tensions with the regime. The instauration of Vietnamese as the country's sole language combined with the restrictions imposed on Khmer Krom temples, the last remaining institutions passing on the Khmer culture and language, have contributed to exacerbate tensions between indigenous Khmer Krom people and the regime. The legacy of the Cambodia -Viet Nam war and the current rivalry between these two countries also weigh heavily on the Khmer Krom. As Khmers (the majority ethnic group in Cambodia), they are still often perceived by a fair share of the Vietnamese as "enemies from the inside" and the authorities see any affirmation of their identity as a threat to national integrity. Victims of colonialism and of the partition of territories in the former French Indochina, the Khmer Krom have been engaged in a non-violent struggle to assert their rights and protect their culture for sixty years now.

Gathering grassroots organisations as well as Khmer Krom in diaspora, secular and religious people, personalities of various political affiliations, the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) works to give the Khmer Krom a voice on the national and international levels. On 08 May 2009, as the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine for the first time Viet Nam's whole human rights record, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom will be present in Geneva, both inside and outside the UN buildings, to remind the international community of the situation faced by ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.

07 May 2009

• 16h00 – 18h00: Interview opportunities
• 18h00 – 20h30: Parc de l'Ariana, Mohandas K. Gandhi statue, Candleit Vigil and Moment of Silence in memory of the victims of the Vietnamese regime.

08 May 2009

• 08:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Place des Nations (facing the Palais des Nations). Demonstration for the rights of the Khmer Krom in Viet Nam.
• 10h00 Buddhist Rite, Visak Bochea, followed by traditionnal giving of alms to monks.
• 11h30 – 12h00: Solemn call to Viet Nam and the international community.
• 12:00 – 13h00: Reading of the history of Visak Bochea.
• 13h00 - 16h00: Interview opportunities at the United Nations

Press Contact

• M. Vien Thach, KKF, Tel: +33 6 2561 1961, Email: vf2k@free.frThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Languages:French and English
• Maggie Murphy (UNPO) Tel : +31 649 864 340 Email: mmurphy@unpo.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Languages, Français, Anglais
• M. Sinh Tra, Tel: +41(.76)592 7306 Email : sinh.tra@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Languages : Suisse- Allemand