Human rights deteriorating in China, Vietnam, U.S. says

WASHINGTON — Human rights conditions have deteriorated in China with a "closing of space" for activists and lawyers, while Vietnam also continues to severely restrict freedom of expression, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.

The judgments were made in the department's annual assessment of human rights in countries around the world, that also took aim in Asia at post civil-war Sri Lanka and vast penal labour camps in North Korea.

But the U.S. hailed "remarkable" improvements in military-dominated Myanmar, including releases of political prisoners and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's participation in April special elections. It held up the country also known as Burma as an example of reform that it hoped could inspire change in other closed societies.

The report, which covers 2011, singled out China as a place in Asia where things had gotten worse. The government exercised tight control over the Internet, stepped up efforts to silence political activists and resorted to extralegal measures, including enforced disappearance and house arrest of family members, the report said.

Michael Posner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, said the past several years have seen a "closing of space" for human rights lawyers and activists and China. He also voiced concern over repression of religious minorities and the self-immolations of Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibetan areas.

Among the Chinese activists singled out for mention in the report is blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who had campaigned against forced abortions and other abuses. His case has moved on dramatically since the report was drafted, following his escape from house arrest to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing last month. That triggered several days of frantic, closed-door diplomacy before Chen was allowed last week to travel to New York to study.

Posner said the U.S. was closely monitoring what is happening with Chen's elder brother and detained nephew, and lawyers and others who have supported them. But he stressed how the resolution of Chen's case demonstrated that the U.S. and China could address human rights without it derailing ties.

As its steps up engagement in Asia, the Obama administration has also cultivated relations with former enemy Vietnam. The report took aim at Vietnam's one-party rule and its restrictions on Internet content and bloggers. It criticized arbitrary arrests of peaceful activists and said more than 100 political detainees are currently held.

On North Korea, the report cited estimates that between 130,000-200,000 detainees are held in political, penal labour camps. It said based on satellite imagery, once such camp was thought to be 31 miles (50 kilometres) long and 25 miles (40 kilometres) wide and hold 50,000 inmates.

Defectors from the impoverished, closed country continued to report extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, severe punishment of some refugees and their family members repatriated after fleeing to China. It said many prisoners in political prison camps and the detention system were not expected to survive.

In Sri Lanka, the U.S. reported disappearances and killings by pro-government paramilitary groups, predominantly in minority ethnic Tamil areas. It referred to attacks, intimidation and harassment of civil society activists, journalists and persons viewed as sympathizers of the Tamil Tigers - the rebel group that was crushed after a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

"A disproportionate number of victims of human rights abuses were Tamils," the report said.

In Indonesia, widely viewed as the most democratic country in Southeast Asia, the U.S. still cited major human rights problems, including continuing arbitrary and unlawful killings by security forces and others in the restive provinces of Papua and West Papua.

The report noted the escalation in another of the region's democracies, Thailand, of prosecutions under the tough lese-majeste law, which carries up to 15 years in prison for insults of the nation's top royalty.

In the decade before 2006, there had been about five cases on average annually, but in 2010 there were 478 new cases, and in the first 10 months of 2011, 85 new charges. It said the overall conviction rate remained nearly 100 per cent.

Source: The Associated Press, Thursday May. 24, 2012 1:01 PM ET
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Vietnam Still Abuses Human Rights and Religious Freedom

Dr. Robert P. George serves as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). This article was adapted from Commissioner George’s testimony of May 15, 2012 before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has testified before Congress on Vietnam numerous times over the past seven years. Before each appearance, USCIRF had hoped to bring news of dramatic changes; greater respect for universal rights; lifting draconian controls over free expression, religion, and association; and the cessation of the silencing of dissent. Sadly, the Commission cannot report such changes today. In fact, Vietnam has been backsliding on human rights for the past several years and religious freedom conditions remain very poor and are deteriorating.

Religious Freedom Conditions

The U.S.-Vietnamese relationship has grown rapidly in recent years, but it has not brought needed improvements in religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam.

The government of Vietnam continues to control all religious communities in some manner, actively suppresses independent religious practice, and detains individuals viewed as challenging its authority, particularly those who publicly advocate for fewer religious freedom restrictions.

To be sure, religious activity continues to expand in Vietnam. The government has made important concessions over the past decade in response to international pressure, including the 2004 designation of Vietnam by the United States as a “Country of Particular Concern” or CPC for its severe religious freedom abuses.

Nevertheless, individuals continue to be imprisoned for engaging in independent religious activity or religious freedom advocacy; new converts to ethnic minority Christianity face discrimination, harassment, and forced renunciations of faith; and religious communities face violence from police and “contract thugs,” including Catholics peacefully protesting land disputes and forced disbandment of the “Plum Village” Buddhist order.

The most egregious violations have targeted the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, independent Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups; ethnic minority Protestants in the Central Highlands and northwest provinces; and ethnic Khmer Buddhists in the Mekong Delta.

Over the past year, there have been more than a dozen new arrests of ethnic minority Protestants and Catholics and two Hoa Hao activists who met with the Commission during 2009. Violence continues to occur, targeting Catholic communities protesting land confiscations and Hmong religious gatherings.

Relations between the Vietnamese government and Catholics, particularly clergy and laity affiliated with the Redemptorist Order, have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Peaceful protests in land disputes and prayer vigils to honor detained human rights defenders have led to violence by police and more than a dozen arrests. Ethnic minority Protestants continue to experience campaigns of forced renunciations of faith, focused on curtailing both independent religious activity and new converts. Fr. Nguyen Van Ly was also returned to prison last year after being given medical parole.

Recommendations for U.S. Policy

USCIRF is not alone in its conclusions about religious freedom conditions in Vietnam. Its assessments are shared widely by members of Congress in both parties and Vietnamese-Americans and by others committed to the advance of human rights and religious freedom. The Commission’s conclusions are also those of the Obama Administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated publicly that Vietnam and the United States have distinct differences in the area of human rights. She has expressed her “concern about [the] arrest and conviction of people for peaceful dissent, attacks on religious groups and curbs on Internet freedom,” and said that if the U.S. and Vietnam are ever to develop a “strategic partnership,” “Vietnam must do more to respect and protect its citizens’ rights.”

The U.S. government has political leverage and diplomatic resources to advance religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam. The question is whether or not such leverage and resources will be used.

USCIRF believes that CPC designation is warranted for Vietnam.

The CPC designation worked when used previously from 2004 to 2006, producing tangible results without harming progress on other issues. The Vietnamese government released some prisoners and loosened some controls over religious activity. Meanwhile, trade, humanitarian programs, and security cooperation expanded.

A CPC designation will produce progress again if used as the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 intended. The idea that vigorous human rights diplomacy will curtail advances on other bilateral interests fails the test of fact.

In addition to a CPC designation, both the Administration and the U.S. Senate can demonstrate its commitment to human rights in Vietnam by signaling support for passage of the Vietnam Human Rights Act. This bill should be discussed, considered, and passed during the current session of Congress.

Both the CPC designation and the Vietnam Human Rights Act are powerful tools to spotlight abuses of religious freedom and related rights, encourage future improvements, and clearly signal that the United States supports those in Vietnam who seek to advance both prosperity and guaranteed rights.

Conclusion

The Obama Administration’s newly unveiled East Asia policy, the so-called “Asia Pivot,” offers an opportunity for the United States to demonstrate that its interests in human rights and religious liberty are pursued in tandem with its interests in trade and security.

A CPC designation for Vietnam would convey that message. Any expansion of U.S. economic or security assistance programs in Vietnam should be linked with human rights progress and the creation of new and sustainable initiatives in religious freedom and programs in non-commercial rule of law and civil society development.

Vietnam and the United States share a unique and tragic history. Their engagement is no longer one of bullets and bombs, but of ideas and institutions. The Vietnamese leadership out of necessity abandoned its Marxist economic ideals and now simply clings to political control. The same vigilance and pressure that dragged Vietnam onto the path of a market economy need to be applied to weaken its grip on totalitarian authority and end its silencing of dissent and repression of religious communities.

United States policies and programs should reflect this goal and support those who seek greater freedoms and guaranteed rights in Vietnam. Our diplomacy must send the clear message that U.S. interests in Vietnam are not only economic, but humanitarian, and include the universal desire to speak freely, worship without fear, and organize openly without suffering persecution. This is a message that will register when delivered clearly by the U.S. government, giving hope to millions among Vietnam’s people.

SOURCE: Cornel International Affairs Review (The Diplomacist) May 23, 2012
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Human Rights Status in Vietnam ‘Unacceptable’

US official says relations with Vietnam hinge on improving its rights record.

Michael Posner speaks with Mai Huong Ngo ahead of a hearing in Washington, May 15, 2012.

The U.S. State Department expressed “great concern” Tuesday over the deteriorating human rights situation in Vietnam, saying it is studying whether the tightly-governed state should be included in a blacklist of nations suppressing religious freedom.

Describing the situation as “unacceptable,” the department’s human rights chief Michael Posner said Hanoi’s desire to increase engagement with the U.S. is contingent on measurable progress in improving its rights record.

“In Vietnam today, respect for human rights continues to deteriorate, as it has for the past several years,” Posner, who is Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said at a hearing held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress in Washington.

“These are issues of great concern to the United States government.”

When asked how Posner would grade Vietnam’s human rights record, the State Department official called it “discouraging and unacceptable.”

“We’ve made it clear to the government of Vietnam that our joint desire to have a closer strategic relationship is dependent on their making substantial progress on human rights,” he said.

“We’re not satisfied that that’s happening and we continue to raise these issues.”

At the hearing, Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Congressman Frank Wolf recommended the sacking of U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear, saying the diplomat had not effectively engaged the country’s dissident community.

“He has not treated this issue seriously … He’s been a failure when it comes to human rights,” Wolf said.

US concerns

Posner specifically pointed to four areas where the U.S. State Department had raised concerns with the Vietnamese government, including the continued imprisonment of human rights activists and restrictions on the free flow of information.

He also condemned Vietnam’s use of vague legal provisions, which he called “inconsistent with international norms,” and Hanoi’s limiting of religious freedoms.

Posner said the U.S. estimates that Vietnam is holding around 100 prisoners of conscience, calling for their release.

He also pointed to a number of new laws meant to limit the rights of the media.

Specifically, he mentioned decree No. 2, which allows for greater punishment against journalists for publishing material “against the interests of the state,” decree No. 20, which restricts access to television stations, and a draft decree which would place new limits on Internet providers and netizens’ access to Internet content.

Posner also called for the repeal of a number of ambiguous legal codes which he said allow the government to “target citizens at will,” including Article 79, which outlaws activities aimed at “overthrowing the people’s administration,” and Article 88, which outlaws “propaganda against the state.”

He went on to criticize Hanoi’s limiting of religious freedoms, including the harassment of Christian and Buddhist groups, and registration obstacles for religious groups.

“Although Vietnam’s Constitution laws guarantee freedom of religion, these laws are not applied consistently,” he said.

He said that the U.S. State Department is aware that many people in Vietnam, particularly the younger generation, want to share ideas freely and be connected to the rest of the world, and that they desire democracy.

“We support their aspirations and our efforts to publicize the human rights problems there are part of our effort to help them find their voices,” Posner said.

But despite acknowledging major concerns over Vietnam’s rights record, Posner stopped short of pledging anything more than continued dialogue with the one-party Communist nation.

When asked whether the State Department would consider including Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) on religious freedom, Posner said the U.S. plans to evaluate the country on a continuing basis.

“Our impression is … in terms of religious freedom the situation has not gotten better, but it’s at a sort of steady stage,” he said.

“It is an open process and we can make a judgment at any time … We are looking at it on an ongoing basis.”

A CPC designation can carry economic sanctions unless governments address U.S concerns over their restrictions of religious freedom.

In March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a congressional watchdog, recommended Vietnam be returned to the State Department list of the world’s worst religious freedom offenders.

The State Department had included Vietnam in the CPC list from 2004 to 2006 but has since ignored repeated calls by the commission to reinstate the country on the blacklist.

Imprisoned husband

Also present at the hearing was Mai Huong Ngo, the wife of Vietnamese-American Nguyen Quoc Quan who was arrested April 17 as he deplaned in Tan Son Nhat airport while “trying to enter Vietnam to instigate a demonstration and undermine celebrations,” according to Vietnamese state media.

Authorities said the member of the banned opposition group Viet Tan planned to disrupt the anniversary of the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, which forced U.S. forces to withdraw at the end of the Vietnam conflict.

Mai Huong Ngo said that in the nearly four weeks since her husband was arrested, the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh city had only been allowed to meet with him once and would not be able to meet with him again until the end of May.

She said that she was worried about his health because he had not brought adequate clothing for Vietnamese weather and had asked the consulate to bring some to him.

Mai Huong Ngo said that she had not been contacted by either U.S. Ambassador Shear or by Vietnamese officials.

She said that she had been sent a message from her husband through the consulate asking her to “stay strong for him and to make sure that the children study hard,” but had not had a chance to speak with him directly.

Mai Huong Ngo said that she had been advised by the consulate not to try to enter Vietnam to visit her husband, lest she also face imprisonment.

She called on U.S. Ambassador Shear and U.S. State Department Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pressure Vietnam for his immediate and unconditional release.

SOURCE: RFA May 15,2012 Reported by Joshua Lipes
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