(Washington D.C.) - U.S. President George W. Bush should vigorously press the Vietnamese government to improve its dismal human rights record when Vietnam’s prime minister visits the White House on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said today. Repression of religious groups, democracy activists and Internet dissidents should top the agenda.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai’s state visit to the United States next week will be the highest-level visit by a Vietnamese official since the end of the Vietnam War 30 years ago.
“President Bush needs to send a clear message to Hanoi that progress on human rights will affect other aspects of Vietnam’s evolving relationship with the United States,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Increasing bilateral trade, Vietnam’s bid to join the World Trade Organization, and military cooperation will likely be the main topics discussed by the two leaders. While in the United States, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai is expected to meet with business leaders, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Human Rights Watch said that highly publicized steps taken by Vietnam during recent years to liberalize the economy, including the signing of a bilateral trade agreement with the United States, have not been accompanied by rights improvements.
Human Rights Watch has documented a broad range of human rights abuses. Hundreds of dissidents have been jailed on criminal charges simply for advocating democratic reforms or using the Internet to disseminate proposals for human rights and religious freedom.
“America’s political and business leaders should not assume that a stronger Vietnamese economy has brought greater respect for human rights,” said Adams. “U.S. relations with Vietnam cannot flourish unless economic liberalization is accompanied by human rights reforms.”
President Bush and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will meet on Tuesday, June 21. In a new briefing paper on Vietnam’s human rights problems, Human Rights Watch outlined key issues that President Bush should raise with the prime minister, including:
- Violations of the right to freedom of religion
- Arrests of democracy activists and “cyber-dissidents”
- Unfair trials and torture in detention
- Censorship and control over the domestic media, including the Internet and electronic communications
Government critics—including prominent writers and former Communist Party members —are effectively silenced and isolated from the outside world. The government has cut or tapped their telephone lines, stationed police in front of their homes, or placed them under surveillance and house arrest.
Followers of religions not officially recognized by the government are routinely persecuted. The Vietnamese authorities target ethnic minority Christians in the northern and central highlands, Mennonites, Cao Dai followers, Hoa Hao Buddhists and members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Security officials disperse their religious gatherings, confiscate religious literature, and summon religious leaders to police stations for interrogation.
The United States last year designated Vietnam as a “country of particular concern” on account of its widespread violations of religious freedom. This year, international pressure has resulted in a number of prisoner releases. In the wake of pressure from the United States, the Vietnamese government this year promulgated legislation that ostensibly aimed at banning forced recantations of Christianity and loosening up requirements for Christian churches to register with the government.
Human Rights Watch said that the United States must do much more to address the Vietnamese government’s repressive policies. Hundreds of religious and political prisoners remain behind bars—the vast majority of whom are Montagnard Christians imprisoned since unrest broke out in the Central Highlands in 2001. And there has been no let-up in the practice of authorities forcing minority Christians to recant their faith.
“The United States shouldn’t ignore Vietnam’s repression of the Montagnard Christians while praising the country’s economic liberalization,” said Adams.
Human Rights Watch called for Vietnam to immediately release or exonerate all people imprisoned, detained or placed under house arrest because of their non-violent political or religious beliefs and practices, and cease surveillance and harassment of dissidents including those released from prison or detention.
“President Bush has raised expectations with his call for democracy and more open societies around the world,” said Adams. “The biggest test of whether he means it is his willingness to press countries such as Vietnam on basic rights issues.”
