Viet Nam rejects Human Rights Watch annual report

 

VNS-15-01-2005

HA NOI — Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung strongly rejected what he called "wrong information" about human rights in the Human Rights Watch World Report 2005.

Dung said that the January 13 report was based on erroneous information on the situation in Viet Nam. Dung made the comments to Vietnamese and foreign media at a press briefing yesterday.

Over the past several years, Viet Nam has made significant achievements toward improving its citizens’ standard of living and ensuring human rights, including the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion, Dung said.

Among other assertions, Dung rejected the idea that the Vietnamese Government has subjugated dissent, limited free speech and media, and restricted religious freedom.

Viet Nam has demonstrated its commitment to the freedom of speech and freedom of the press through the development of a diversified media, the spokesman said.

Dung reacted to what the World Report 2005 called "strict control over the internet" on the part of the Government. The internet, he said, has also seen increased development. The Vietnamese Government has mapped out concrete policies and regulations to encourage widespread use of the internet.

However, like other countries, information that causes disorder, instability, discrimination, terrorism or which violates traditional morals and positive lifestyles, are not allowed in Viet Nam, said Dung.

The Vietnamese State respects and protects its citizens’ right to religious belief. Viet Nam permits any religion with guiding principles, purposes and an organisation which are conducive to Vietnamese laws.

There are neither political nor religious prisoners in Viet Nam. Those who break the laws will be punished with the full force of the legal system, Dung said.