Vietnam, U.S.
resume human rights talks
Mon Feb 20, 2006 (AP News)
Barry F. Lowenkron, US Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and
Labor, listens to questions during a press conference held in Hanoi. Vietnam and
the United States resumed bilateral talks in Hanoi on human rights after a
three-year break
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam and the United States have resumed their human rights
dialogue after a three-year suspension, renewing links with "productive" talks,
a senior U.S. official said Monday.
Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor, said meetings with senior Vietnamese officials focused on areas of
cooperation and concern — "These were not discussions of throwing accusations at
each other."
"There has been an improvement in the religious freedom area. There's a greater
willingness on the part of the Vietnam government to sit down in a constructive
fashion with us and address a whole range of human rights concerns," Lowenkron
said.
He said he praised the January release of elderly democracy activist Nguyen Khac
Toan but also presented Vietnamese officials with a list of "prisoners of
concern" being held in Vietnam. U.S. officials also raised the issue of Internet
freedom since Vietnam has jailed a number of "cyber-dissidents" in recent years.
U.S. officials are particularly keen on achieving some breakthroughs before the
arrival of President George W. Bush to Hanoi in November for the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation summit.
Talks were suspended in 2002 after a series of major human rights violations by
Vietnam, including a brutal clampdown on ethnic minority Christians in the
Central Highlands after mass demonstrations over land rights and religion.
Vietnam was placed on the U.S. list of 'countries of particular concern' in 2004
— a designation for the worst violators of religious and human rights that
carried the possibility of economic sanctions. It has remained there for a
second year in a row.
Though Hanoi has repeatedly denied that it violates human rights, the government
has taken steps aimed at reversing its negative image, including releasing
dissidents and relaxing restrictions on public worship.
In addition to Toan, Vietnam has released two other high-profile dissidents —
Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly and Dr. Nguyen Dan Que.
Previously banned Protestant house churches have also been allowed to operate in
the Central Highlands, as long as they severed ties with an exile group that
Hanoi links to a separatist movement. As part of a broader liberalization plan,
the Vietnamese government has begun to register and permit the reopening of
previously closed churches.