Europe asks Hanoi to end "systematic violation" of human rights
AsiaNews /
10/23/2008
A resolution of the European
parliament also makes specific reference to religious freedom, and to the
actions of the authorities against "Catholic parishioners," Buddhist monks, and
highlanders
Strasbourg (AsiaNews)
- The European parliament is asking that, before the conclusion of the new
EU-Vietnam partnership and cooperation agreement, Hanoi put an end to the
systematic violation of democracy and human rights. The resolution was approved
yesterday by a wide majority - 479 votes in favor, 21 opposed, and 4 abstentions
- and calls upon the Commission and Council to ask Vietnam to "stop the current
systematic violation of democracy and human rights."
The European parliament
asks for the liberation of political and religious dissidents, guarantees of
freedom of expression, the press, and worship, the restitution of confiscated
ecclesiastical property, and, finally, that UN representatives be permitted to
meet with political and religious prisoners, including the highlanders. A
statement released from Strasbourg specifies that the country must "repeal
provisions in Vietnamese law that criminalise dissent and certain religious
activities on the basis of imprecisely defined ‘national security’ crimes, and
end the Vietnamese government’s censorship and control over the domestic media."
The parliament further
suggests asking the Vietnamese government "to release all people imprisoned or
detained for the peaceful expression of political or religious beliefs,"
including more than 300 Christian highlanders, in addition to Khmer Krom
Buddhist monks, human rights activists, authors of petitions on land ownership
rights, cyber dissidents, labor representatives, Catholic parishioners, and
followers of the Hoa Hoa Buddhist Church and of the Cao Dai religion.
Hanoi is also expected to
overturn immediately and completely the house arrests of Thich Quang Do, the
supreme patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and of Khmer Krom
monk Tim Sakhorn, and to permit independent religious organizations to carry out
their activities freely and without government interference, in addition to
giving back confiscated ecclesiastical properties and pagodas and restoring the
legal status of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
The parliament finally
asks the Vietnamese government to cooperate actively with UN agencies on human
rights, inviting the special relator on religious tolerance and the working
group on arbitrary detention to go to Vietnam and guaranteeing officials and
special relators of the United Nations unlimited access to all areas of the
country. This also includes the central and northern high plains, where they are
expected to be allowed to have private talks with political and religious
prisoners and detainees, in addition to the highlanders who have returned from
Cambodia to Vietnam and are asking for asylum.
Following is the full
text of the Resolution:
European
Parliament resolution on the new EU- Vietnam Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement and human rights
2008-10-22 | | European
Parliament
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions
on Vietnam,
- having regard to the 1995 Cooperation
Agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
- having regard to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Vietnam in 1982,
- having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules
of Procedure,
A. whereas the
second round of talks between the European Union and Vietnam is being held in
Hanoi on 20- 21 October 2008,
B. whereas a hearing
on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was held by its Subcommittee on Human Rights on 25
August 2008,
C. whereas the next
meeting of the Human Rights Dialogue between the EU Troika and Vietnam is
scheduled for December 2008,
D. whereas Article 1
of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam states that ‘respect for human rights and democratic
principles is the basis for the cooperation between the parties and for the
provision of the agreement and that it constitutes an essential element of the
agreement’,
E. whereas freedom
of assembly is severely restricted: in September 2008 the Vietnamese Government
launched its harshest crackdown in decades on peaceful Catholics protesters
participating in prayer vigils in Hanoi to demand the return of church
properties confiscated by the Vietnamese Government,
F. whereas press
freedom is severely restricted: in 2008, several Vietnamese journalists have
been arrested or sanctioned for reporting on official corruption, and, on 19
September 2008, the Associated Press Hanoi bureau chief Ben Stocking was
arrested and beaten by police for covering a peaceful rally of Vietnamese
Catholics in Hanoi,
G. whereas the
ethnic minorities of the Northern and Central Highlands are still subjected to
discrimination, confiscation of their land and violation of their religious and
cultural freedoms; whereas neither independent NGOs nor foreign journalists have
unfettered access to the Central Highlands in order to assess the real situation
of the Montagnards, and in particular those forcedly repatriated from Cambodia;
whereas more than 300 Montagnards have been sentenced to prison since 2001 for
peaceful political or religious activities,
H. whereas, in spite
of constant and repeated appeals from the international community, the leader of
the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do (79 years old), winner of
the 2006 Rafto Prize for human rights defenders, has been imprisoned numerous
times since 1982 and still remains under effective house arrest,
I. whereas the
Vietnamese Government has still not recognised the Unified Church of Buddhist of
Vietnam, the largest organisation of Buddhists in Vietnam,
J. whereas Vietnam
has implemented legislation to limit freedom of internet access, with filtering
and content controls, and has carried out arrests of numerous ‘cyber-
dissidents’ for using the internet to disseminate their views on human rights
and democracy or participating in online democracy discussions; whereas on 10
September 2008 internet writer and democracy activist Nguyen Hoang Hai, known by
his pen name Dieu Cay, was sentenced to prison,
K. whereas members
of the ethnic Khmer minority (Khmer Krom) in southern Vietnam have suffered
religious persecution and land confiscation; whereas the authorities defrocked
approximately 20 Khmer Krom Buddhist monks for their participation in a peaceful
protest in February 2007 calling for greater religious freedom, and sentenced
five to prison; whereas the Vietnamese authorities have placed Khmer Krom monk
Tim Sakhorn under house arrest after his release from prison in May 2008;
whereas the authorities have used excessive force against Khmer Krom farmers
petitioning for resolution of land conflicts,
1. Stresses that the
human rights dialogue between the European Union and Vietnam must lead to
tangible improvements in Vietnam; asks the Council and the Commission to
reassess cooperation policy with Vietnam, bearing in mind Article 1 of the 1995
Cooperation Agreement, which states that cooperation is based on respect for
democratic principles and fundamental rights;
2. Calls on the
Commission to establish clear benchmarks for the evaluation of the current
development projects in Vietnam in order to ensure their compliance with the
human rights and democracy clause;
3. Calls on the
Commission and the Council, in the framework of the ongoing negotiations for a
new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which will include a clear human
rights and democracy clause accompanied by an implementation mechanism for this
clause, to raise with the Vietnamese side the need to stop the current
systematic violation of democracy and human rights before the finalisation of
the agreement and, in particular, to ask the Vietnamese Government:
- as a member of the UN Security Council, to actively cooperate with UN human
rights mechanisms, by inviting the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance,
who last visited Vietnam in 1998, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,
which last visited Vietnam in 1994, to visit Vietnam; and to provide UN
officials and Special Rapporteurs with unrestricted access to all regions,
including the Central and Northern Highlands, where they should be allowed to
conduct confidential interviews with political and religious prisoners and
detainees, as well as with Montagnard asylum seekers returned to Vietnam from
Cambodia;
- to immediately release all people imprisoned or detained for the peaceful
expression of political or religious beliefs, including more than 300 Montagnard
Christians, as well as Khmer Krom Buddhist monks, democracy activists, land
rights petitioners, cyber- dissidents, trade union leaders, Catholic
parishioners, and followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism and the Cao Dai religion;
- to immediately provide full freedom from house arrest to Thich Quang Do,
supreme patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and Khmer Krom monk
Tim Sakhorn, who was released from prison in Vietnam in May 2008 but remains
under house arrest;
- to allow independent religious organisations to freely conduct religious
activities without government interference and allow these religious
organisations to independently register with the government if they choose to do
so; to return church properties and pagodas confiscated by the Vietnamese
Government and to re- establish the legal status of the Unified Buddhist Church
of Vietnam;
- to repeal provisions in Vietnamese law that criminalise dissent and certain
religious activities on the basis of imprecisely defined ‘national security’
crimes to ensure that these laws cannot be applied against those who have
exercised their basic rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association and
religious belief;
- to end the Vietnamese Government’s censorship and control over the domestic
media, including the internet and electronic communications, and authorise the
publication of independent, privately- run newspapers and magazines;
4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the governments of the ASEAN member countries, the United Nations
Secretary- General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the Government and Parliament of Vietnam.