Welcoming Speech
by
Dr Tung Nguyen, Secretary General of Vietnam Human Rights Network
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
On
behalf of the Vietnam Human Rights Network I would like to welcome you at this
International Human Rights Day commemoration and also the third Vietnam Human
Rights Award presentation. First of all, I want to thank everyone for
coming, especially the awardees’ family and friends, government elective
officials, representatives of religious, political and community-based
organizations.
Fifty-six
years ago, on December 10, 1948, by adopting the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the United Nations declared that human rights are “those rights which
are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings.”
The
growth in support for the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights over the past fifty-six years reaffirmed its
universality. All 197 members of the United Nations, including
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have
endorsed those rights.
However,
despite being a signatory to
several international human rights instruments, Vietnam communists
continues to show complete disrespect to basic civil and political social rights
of their citizens.
Today,
while celebrating the 56th anniversary of a testament to human
dignity, tolerance, and pluralism, we must denounce the Vietnamese
government’s continual use of violence and terror against its population’s
basic rights. We urge the international community to take strong stand with
regard to undermining human rights for the sake of national security and
economic development interests.
The
meeting today also provides an opportunity for the Vietnam Human Rights Network
to publicly commend the achievements and outstanding contribution of those who
have been defending
human rights at great costs: imprisonment, torture and even death. This
year the award has a particular
significance because it focuses on
the right to free speech, a fundamental building block of free society.
Two award recipients today, Dr Nguyen Dan Que and former Colonel Pham Que Duong,
are the best to embody this utmost value. Materially, the award doesn’t come
too much,
but it stands for Vietnamese people’s highest respect to those who have bravely
fought for human dignity and freedom.
Through
this public recognition of the valuable work of the awardees, the Vietnam Human
Rights Network also pays tribute to the thousands of anonymous human rights
advocates and defenders involved daily in the difficult and often perilous work
to promote and protect the Vietnamese people’s fundamental rights.
Lastly,
I would like to take this
opportunity to extend my most heartfelt appreciation to everyone
for supporting the Vietnam Human Rights Network, especially elective officials
in the US government at all levels and dear friends from partner human rights
organizations. Without your help, we could not have advanced those just causes.
Please help us to make the distant dream of a humane and peaceful Vietnam to be
a reality.
Thank
you all very much.
Vietnam
Human Rights Network
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