Vietnam: Make Rights a Priority on EU Visit
Stress Need to Free
Dissidents, Respect Religious Freedom, End Forced Labor
Human
Rights Watch
October 29, 2012
(New York) – European
Union President Herman Van Rompuy should publicly press Vietnam to release all
political prisoners and detainees, respect freedom of religion, and abolish
forced labor in drug detention centers during his visit from October 31 to
November 2, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today.
Earlier in October Human Rights Watch sent a memo, summarized below, to the
European Union outlining key recommendations on each of these issues. The memo
includes the names of some political prisoners who should be immediately and
unconditionally released.
“While Europe sees Vietnam as an important trading partner, President Van Rompuy
should not relegate human rights to a secondary issue,” said Brad Adams, Asia
director at Human Right Watch. “Vietnam regularly imprisons its citizens for
asking for democracy and the same freedoms that Europeans take for granted. Van
Rompuy has an ethical obligation to make clear to the Vietnamese government that
it cannot operate a repressive dictatorship without consequences for its
relations with the EU.”
Human Rights Watch
Recommendations to European Union President Van Rompuy
The Vietnamese government
continues to systematically suppress freedom of expression, association, and
peaceful assembly. Independent writers, bloggers, and rights activists who
question government policies, expose official corruption, or call for democratic
alternatives to one-party rule are routinely placed under intrusive police
surveillance.
Critics face multiple forms of police harassment, including intimidation of
family members, arbitrary prohibitions on travel within Vietnam or abroad, and
fines. Authorities also arbitrarily detain critics incommunicado for long
periods without access to legal counsel or family visits. Many are sentenced to
long terms in prison for violating vague national security or other draconian
laws. Police frequently torture suspects to elicit confessions and respond to
public protests over evictions, confiscation of land, and police brutality with
excessive use of force.
While there is a plethora of serious human rights problems in Vietnam, Human
Rights Watch recommends that President Van Rompuy focus on the following three
key areas in his trip to Vietnam from October 31-November 2. These areas are
political prisoners and detainees and lack of basic freedoms; repression of the
right to freely practice religion; and forced labor in drug detention centers.
1. Political prisoners and detainees
and lack of basic freedoms
Vietnam continues to suppress peaceful dissent and punish dissenters for forming
organizations that the government views as hostile to its interests. During the
first nine months of 2012 alone, the government sentenced at least 31 peaceful
dissidents and activists to prison for exercising their rights to freedom of
speech and freedom or organization enshrined in the Vietnam Constitution.
The government bans all political parties, unions, and human rights
organizations that are independent of the government or the Vietnamese Communist
Party. Decree 45 (2010) provides for strict government control of associations,
which effectively serve as agencies of government ministries or the party.
Vietnamese workers are forbidden from organizing unions independent of the
government-controlled labor confederation. Government regulations impose fines
on workers who participate in “illegal” strikes not approved by the government
and enable local officials to force striking workers back to work.
Activists who announce the formation of independent trade unions in Vietnam are
arrested, imprisoned, harassed, intimidated, beaten, and in some cases
“disappeared.” Le Tri Tue, one of the founders of the Independent Workers’
Union, has been forcibly disappeared since May 2007. Labor activists are
punished with harsh prison sentences, such as
Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, Do Thi Minh Hanh and Doan Huy Chuong, who were
imprisoned in 2010. On August 2012, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced the
rights advocate Le Thanh Tung to five years in prison for defending workers and
land petitioners.
Vietnam frequently uses vaguely worded and loosely interpreted national security
and other crimes in Vietnam’s penal code and other laws to imprison peaceful
political and religious dissidents. These include “activities aiming to
overthrow the people’s administration” (penal code article 79, penalty up to
death sentence); “undermining national unity policy” (article 87, penalty up to
15 years in prison); “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam” (article 88, penalty up to 20 years in prison); “disrupting
security” (article 89, penalty up to 15 years in prison); “fleeing abroad or
stay abroad to oppose the people’s government” (article 91, penalty up to life
sentence); “supplemental punishment” which strips former prisoners convicted of
“national security” crimes of certain rights, puts them on probation up to five
years and allows confiscation of part or all of their property (article 92); and
“abusing rights to democracy and freedom to infringe upon the interests of the
State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens”
(article 258, penalty up to 7 years in prison).
Discrimination against ethnic minority groups that are culturally and, in many
cases, linguistically different can significantly worsen the already horrific
prison conditions for ethnic minority prisoners.
Political prisoners include: 1) Tran
Huynh Duy Thuc(sentenced to 16 years in prison); 2)
Nguyen Van Hai(a.k.a Dieu Cay;
12 years); 3)Nguyen Cong Chinh
(11 years); 4) Pham Thi Phuong(11
years); 5) Ta Phong Tan
(10 years); 6) Nguyen Hoang
Quoc Hung(9 years); 7)
Tran Thi Thuy(8 years); 8)
Phung Lam(7 years); 9)
Do Thi Minh Hanh(7 years); 10)
Doan Huy Chuong(7
years); 11) Cu Huy Ha Vu(7
years); 12) Nguyen Tien Trung
(7 years); 13) Pham Van Thong(7
years); 14) Nguyen Ngoc Cuong(7
years); 15) Dinh Dang Dinh(6
years); 16) Nguyen Xuan Nghia(6
years); 17) Nguyen Kim Nhan(5
years and six months); 18) Ho Thi Bich
Khuong(5 years); 19) Le
Thanh Tung(5 years); and 20)
Phan Ngoc Tuan (5 years).
Ethnic minority prisoners include: 1)
Rmah Hlach (a.k.a. Ama Blut; sentenced to 12 years); 2)
Siu Hlom (12 years); 3)
Siu Ben (12 years); 4)
Noh (12 years); 5)
Siu Nheo (10 years); 6)
Siu Wiu (10 years); 7)
Siu Brom (10 years); 5)
Siu Thai (a.k.a. Ama Thuong; 10
years); 6) Nhi (a.k.a.
Ba Tiem; 10 years); 7) Roh (10
years); 8) Rah Lan Mlih (9
years); 9) Ro Mah Pro (9
years); 10) Rah Lan Blom (9
years); 11) Siu Koch (a.k.a.
Ama Lien; 9 years); 12) Kpuil Mel (9
years); 13) Ro Lan Ju (a.k.a.
Ama Suit; 9 years); 14) Pinh (9
years); 15) Kpuil Le (8
years); 16) Kpa Sinh (8
years); 17) Ro Mah Klit (8
years); 18) Am Linh
(a.k.a. Ba Blung; 8 years); 19) Yưh (a.k.a.
Ba Nar; 8 years); and 20) Rơ Mah Then (8
years).
Recommendations:
President Van Rompuy should call on the
Vietnamese government to:
· Release all
political prisoners and detainees, including those imprisoned or detained for
exercising their rights to free expression, assembly, movement, or political or
religious activity.
· Amend or repeal
provisions in the penal code and other laws that criminalize peaceful dissent on
the basis of imprecisely defined “national security” crimes, including penal
code articles 79, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, and 258.
· As an immediate
confidence-building measure, allow access to prisoners or detainees by families,
legal counsel, and outside observers from the EU, European embassies and
international humanitarian and human rights groups.
· Provide
information about the situation of ethnic minority prisoners who have been
convicted for “undermining national unity policy” (article 87) or “disrupting
security” (article 89).
· Bring media and
other laws into compliance with article 19 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
· Authorize the
publication of uncensored, independent, privately run newspapers and magazines.
· Remove filtering,
surveillance, and other restrictions on Internet usage and release people
imprisoned for peaceful dissemination of their views over the Internet.
Van Rompuy should also
call for the immediate release of political prisoners or detainees who have
serious health problems so that they can receive proper medical treatment. In
July and September 2011, Nguyen Van Trai and Truong Van Suong died in prison.
Some of the most urgent cases for immediate release are:
·
Father Nguyen Van Ly, 65, who
was sentenced on March 30, 2007, by the People’s Court of Thua Thien – Hue for
“conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” according to
article 88 of the penal code. He suffered multiple strokes in prison in 2009, as
a result of which his right arm and leg are paralyzed. In 2010, he was released
on medical parole for 16 months and kept under house arrest. In
July 2011 Father Nguyen Van Ly was sent back to prisonto serve the rest of
his eight-year prison term.
· The poet and
anti-corruption campaigner Nguyen Huu
Cau, 65, who has served a total of 34 years in prison since
1975. His first term in prison was from 1975 to 1980 in a re-education camp; the
second term has been from 1982 until the present for exposing corruption of
local authorities. Authorities convicted him of “destruction,” a very serious
charge in the early 1980s when Vietnam was a largely closed country. The
prosecutor in his trial was one of the officials whom Nguyen Huu Cau had accused
of corruption. Authorities used songs and poems he wrote as evidence of his
“reactionary” activities. Originally sentenced to death,
Nguyen Huu Cau is now serving a life term. He has lost most of his vision
and is almost completely deaf.
· The Hoa Hao
Buddhist activist Mai Thi Dung, 43, who
is currently serving an 11-year prison term. During the crackdown on independent
Hoa Hao Buddhist groups in 2005, the government convicted Mai Thi Dung of
disrupting public order according to article 245 of the penal code and sentenced
her to five years in prison. In 2007, while she was in prison, the People’s
Court of Vinh Long tried her for involvement in a protest by independent Hoa Hao
Buddhist groups in 2001 and sentenced her to an additional six years in prison,
again for violating article 245. She is now reportedly gravely ill, with both of
her feet paralyzed, and suffering from gallstones and various diseases.
· The Hoa Hao
Buddhist activist Nguyen Van Lia, 71, formerly
a religious prisoner,
who was sentenced to five years in prisonon December 13, 2011, for “abusing
rights to democracy and freedom to infringe upon the interests of states and the
legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens” according to
article 258 of the penal code. His sentence was reduced to four years and six
months on appeal in March 2012. He has reportedly by family members lost most of
his hearing, has several broken ribs from previous injuries, resulting from
assaults by anonymous thugs, and suffers from high blood pressure.
2. Repression of
freedom of religion
Vietnam continues to closely monitor, systematically harass, and sometimes
violently crack down on independent religious groups that remain outside of
official, government-registered-and -controlled religious institutions.
Religious organizations that faced such actions by the authorities include
unrecognized branches of the Cao Dai church, the Hoa Hao Buddhist church,
independent Protestant house churches in the central highlands and elsewhere,
Khmer Krom Buddhist temples, and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV).
On March 26, 2012, the
Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh was sentenced to 11 years in prison for
“undermining national unity” under article 87 of the penal code for his
religious activities. From March to September 2012, the authorities sent 17
other religious activists to prison. At least 32 other religious activists are
currently in detention awaiting trial. Religious leaders including the UBCV
supreme patriarch, Thich Quang Do, and independent Hoa Hao Buddhist leaders Le
Quang Liem and Vo Van Thanh Liem are under house arrest and face continuous,
sometimes intrusive, surveillance.
In June and July, 2012,
local authorities harassed, intimidated, and tried to prevent Catholic priests
from performing masses at the house of a Catholic follower in Yen Khe commune,
Con Cuong district, Nghe An province. Also in June, local government authorities
harassed and prevented priests from performing prayer sessions at the house of a
Catholic follower in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district, Nghe An province. In
both cases, local Catholics have filed multiple requests to concerned
authorities to form new parishes, but the authorities have not granted
permission.
Recommendations
Van Rompuy should press the Vietnamese
government to:
-
Allow independent religious organizations to freely conduct peaceful
religious activities in accordance with international legal standards.
-
End restrictions on peaceful gatherings or activities by religious groups
that are not registered with the government, such as unsanctioned
organizations of Hoa Hao Buddhists, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam,
and Cao Dai, Protestant and Catholic groups.
-
Stop pressuring these groups to join government-authorized churches.
-
End abusive police surveillance and harassment of religious leaders and
followers.
-
Allow so-far unrecognized religious organizations to obtain legal status and
operate independently of already-registered religious organizations if they
choose to do so.
-
End its longstanding discrimination against ethnic minority Christians in
the Northern and Central Highlands and ethnic Khmer Buddhists in the Mekong
Delta and allow independent NGOs, UN agencies, diplomats, and the media to
freely monitor conditions in these remote and difficult to reach areas.
3. Forced labor
in drug rehabilitation centers
People dependent on drugs
may be held in government detention centers, where they are forced to perform
menial work in the name of “labor therapy,” the mainstay of Vietnam’s approach
to drug treatment. In early 2011 there were 123 centers across the country
holding some 40,000 people. Their detention is not subject to any form of due
process or judicial oversight and routinely lasts for as long as four years.
Infringing center rules – including the requirement to work – is punished by
beatings with truncheons, shocks with electrical batons, and being locked in
disciplinary rooms, where detainees are deprived of food and water. Children who
use drugs are also held in these centers, where they must also perform “labor
therapy,” and are beaten and abused. Former detainees reported being forced to
work in cashew processing and other forms of agricultural production (including
potato or coffee farming), garment manufacturing, construction work, and other
forms of manufacturing (such as making bamboo and rattan products). Under
Vietnamese law, companies that source products from these centers are eligible
for tax exemptions. Some of the products produced as a result of forced labor
made their way into the supply chain of companies who sell goods abroad,
including to the US and Europe.
Recommendations
Van Rompuy should publicly call on the
Vietnam government to:
-
Close all drug detention centers.
-
Release all detainees in drug detention centers and allow them to access
treatment in the community.
-
Instruct the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) to
abolish forced labor in all centers under its authority, including drug
detention centers.
-
Carry out prompt, independent, and thorough investigations into the labor
conditions in drug detention and others types of centers, as they amount to
forced labor in violation of Vietnamese and international law. Follow up
abuses and crimes with appropriate legal actions (including criminal
prosecution) against those who have committed crimes or other offences
against detainees in violation of Vietnamese law.
-
Publish a list of all forms of work in which detainees in the centers are
involved, which products are processed using detainee labor in the centers,
and the companies whose products are processed using detainee labor in the
centers.
-
Instruct the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) to
provide adequate compensation to detainees and former detainees for the
forced labor they performed while in detention.
-
Promptly ratify and effectively implement ILO Convention No. 105 (Abolition
of Forced Labor).
-
Meet the government’s obligations under ILO Convention 29 by immediately
revising the Penal Code to establish a specific criminal offense applicable
to forced labor.
In the context of the EU's existing preferential trade programs with Vietnam,
the EU should initiate an ongoing review of Vietnam’s eligibility, in light of
Vietnam's failure to protect of the rights of people who use drugs. The EU
currently grants Vietnam preferential trade benefits under its own system of
Generalized System of Preferences. The European Council Regulation governing
this system allows for “the suspension of preferential arrangements, regarding
all or certain products originating in a beneficiary country, where it considers
that there is sufficient evidence that temporary withdrawal would be justified,”
including where there are “serious and systematic violations of principles” laid
down in certain international human rights and labor rights conventions, on the
basis of the conclusions of the relevant monitoring bodies.