Smith’s Vietnam Human Rights Act Passed by U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, Sep 11 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bill to promote democracy, freedom and human rights in Vietnam—“The Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2012”— authored by U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), was approved by the House of Representatives in a voice vote Tuesday night.

“It is imperative that the United States Government send an unequivocal message to the Vietnamese regime that it must end its human rights abuses against its own citizens,” said Smith on the floor of the House. He is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who chairs its Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. “H.R. 1410 would institute effective measures towards improving human rights in Vietnam. As reported by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, this bill prohibits any increase in non-humanitarian assistance to the Government of Vietnam above Fiscal Year 2011 levels unless the government makes substantial progress in establishing a democracy and promoting human rights.”

Smith introduced the bill, H.R. 1410, to promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam. The legislation would set restrictions on U.S. aid but allow humanitarian assistance to continue. H.R. 1410 prohibits U.S. non-humanitarian assistance to the Government of Vietnam over current levels unless increased U.S. dollars for programs including economic, environmental and military initiatives are commensurate with U.S. funding for human rights and democracy programs in Vietnam.

It also prohibits non-humanitarian aid unless the President certifies to Congress that Vietnam has dramatically improved its human rights record, specifically including the release of all political and religious prisoners, and protects the right to freedom of assembly, religious expression and association. Human rights activists and victims of ongoing abuses at the hands of the Vietnamese Government testified before Smith’s human rights panel earlier this year including Anh “Joseph” Cao, former Member of the U.S. Congress, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, the Executive Director of Boat People SOS, and Human Rights Watch. Smith referenced Thangs testimony on the House floor.

source: http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=308055
Refer to the Statement by the Committee led by Chris Smith.
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Vietnam Dissident Bloggers Warn: We Fight on despite 20-year Jail Threat

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung targets three political blogs in further crackdown

An arrest warrant carrying the threat of a long jail sentence for the people behind three dissident blogs in Vietnam has been issued but bloggers Dan Lam Bao (not his real name) and Tran Hung Quoc said they would not give up - no matter what the government threw at them.

"We have no choice. Twenty years in jail to reclaim our rights as human beings is a price we are willing to pay if that is what it takes," said Dan.

A string of similar cases has already resulted in the death of the mother of one blogger, who set herself on fire in protest at the detention of her daughter in August. Dang Thi Kim Lieng, 64, died on the way to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Her daughter, Ta Phong Tan, a former police officer who wrote a blog on social issues, was arrested in September 2011 on charges of propaganda against the state.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has turned up the pressure on bloggers and ordered police to crack down. He specifically targeted Dan Lam Bao, Quan Lam Bao and Bien Dong.

Nguyen said the bloggers should be seriously punished. "They slandered the country's leadership, fabricated and distorted information, agitated against the party and the state, and caused suspicion and mistrust in society," he said.

According to Enemies of the Internet by international watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Vietnam is the second worst country in the world for internet freedom, just behind China.

Arbitrary detention

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of "arbitrarily" detaining dozens of netizens "because of their work as citizen journalists, environmental advocates, anti-corruption crusaders and human rights defenders."

If arrested the bloggers working with Dan Lam Bao (People Doing Journalism), Quan Lam Bao (Officials Doing Journalism) and Bien Dong could add to the growing number behind bars.

Bloggers claim that the government is responsible for even more sinister methods to shut them up. "Policemen close to the PM made death threats to us," said Tran Hung Quoc, editor of Quan Lam Bao.

"[Authorithies] summon bloggers - especially those who are well-known - for interrogation and then threaten them to set an example and intimidate those who may be thinking of supporting the free movement of independent media or joining our independent blogging community," added blogger Dan Lan Bao, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons.

The Communist party, which has run the country since the end of the Vietnam War in the mid-70s, finding it harder to control the voices of dissent that are fast spreading across the web.

A report by market research company Cimigo revealed that Vietnam has the fastest growing internet population in southeast Asia. One in three Vietnamese has access to the internet.

Of the three target sites, Dan Lam Bao publishes mainly political articles. Quan Lam Bao has a more sensationalist approach to political news and often targets the PM and his private life. Bien Dong is dedicated to Vietnam's long-standing quarrel with China over territory in the South China Sea.

Before the arrest warrants were issued, the government, whose censorship firewall was easy to breach, said experts, used cyber attacks against dissident blogs.

"We have been attacked continuously through IT technology since a week after we were born," said Tran.

"Authorities employ various means such as DDoS [distributed denial of service attacks], viruses, firewalls and spyware," said Dan.

The campaign against them has backfired, however, and since the arrest warrants were issed, the audience for the three blogs rocketed.

"Thanks to the prime minister's care, we have had more than 1.5 millions views. He elevated us from being an unofficial source to the status of bright star in the web firmament," said.

Prepared to face repression

Dan Lan Bao's daily number of visitors doubled to 500,000 on the day the warrants were issued, the bloggers claimed.

"[We] are prepared to face repression and imprisonment rather than lead the life of a dumb muzzled dog that dares not to bark and remains subservient to those who abuse their power," was one comment posted on the Dan Lan Bao page.

"No one can stop us fighting against the corrupt organisations that rule our country," echoed Tran.

They urged Western governments to help their campaign.

"No one can win a battle alone. We need the West to do more and more to help freedom of speech in Vietnam," said Tran.

"This government does not care about how much suffering it inflicts on our people but it does care much about foreign investments, economic deals and trade with third countries. Possible diplomatic and economic sanctions imposed by the West for human rights' violations are a big deal to authorities," Dan said.

The crackdown on the blogs might be a consequence of the stock market tumble that followed the arrest of tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien, the founder of one of Vietnam's largest banks, said observers.

Kien was arrested in August for suspected economic violations.

Dan Lan Bao had speculated that Kien's detention was not due to financial wrongdoings but because he fell victim to a power struggle at the top of government.

The prime minister is reportedly at odds with President Truong Tan Sang and the PM's daughter is said to be close to the arrested banker.

"The prime minister's order against us is a sign of victory for our struggle for free expression and independent media as we must have been touching the right spots to trigger this reprisal," said Dan.

Tran added: "If we have to die for a better Vietnam, we would be ready for it."

Source: By UMBERTO BACCHI, International Business Times, u.bacchi@ibtimes.co.uk
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Vietnam economy struggles to overcome malaise

In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012, a street vendor cycles past the Central Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam

BAT TRANG, Vietnam - Four years ago, Le Van Tho borrowed $200,000 to build a new ceramic factory on rice fields bordering Hanoi. But with the economy slowing, orders have slumped this year and she recently laid off almost half her workers.

It's also a grim picture down the road: bowls, statues and flower vases gather dust in export showrooms as shoppers in a recession-hit Europe and sluggish United States stop spending.

Once seen as an emerging Asian dynamo racing to catch up with its neighbours, Vietnam's economy is mired in malaise, dragged down by debt-hobbled banks, inefficient and corrupt state-owned enterprises and bouts of inflation.

Vietnam's one-party Communist government has promised reforms, but it appears unwilling to give up the reins of an economy that has delivered fortunes to top officials and their business partners.

House prices have crashed by up to 50 per cent in some places from the boom years and jobs are reportedly drying up for school leavers. Foreign investment has dropped 34 per cent this year over the same period last year, according to government figures, put off by the economic instability, poor infrastructure and rising wages.

Small and medium-sized enterprises like those in Bat Trang are struggling to stay in business, their stock piling up and unable to get credit.

"Things aren't as good as we hoped for," said Tho, as she supervised a team of workers carving statues, dipping mosaic tiles in glaze and firing up a gas-fired kiln.

The slowdown is adding to pressures on the Communist Party, whose legitimacy is in large part staked on its ability to deliver ever greater prosperity to the country of 87 million people.

While few predict economic meltdown or that the slowdown could weaken the party's grip on power, authorities have stepped up a crackdown on dissidents, bloggers and trade union activists over the last year, according to international human rights activists.

The government is also at pains to appear that is tackling corruption and impunity. The state-controlled media have been unusually direct in highlighting cases of corruption involving party officials and their families. President Truong Tan Sang has made a series of interviews and speeches pledging action.

"It is the command of the people," he told Tuoi Tre daily recently. "We even have to accept painful measures because it is the survival of the party, of the regime and the bright future of this country."

Until 2010, the economy had been growing by more than seven per cent on average from 2001, lifting millions out of poverty and leading some to predict the country would follow countries such as South Korea and Singapore in leaping to developed world prosperity within a generation.

The boom transformed what had been a mostly rural nation scarred by war and economic isolation into one dotted with busy towns and cities, their streets clogged with motorbikes and other signs of rising prosperity.

But growth was just over 4 per cent in the first half of 2012, and is predicted to be around 5 per cent for the next two years. That rate would be the envy of many developed economies, but in Vietnam it means treading water given that average incomes are still low, inflation often far outpaces growth and the country lacks decent schools, hospitals and other basic infrastructure.

"We are seeing a step down from the dynamism over the past decade or so," said Christian de Guzman, a Moody's Investors Service analyst on Vietnam. "The development of the banking sector and some of the institutions that are associated with more developed, market-oriented economies have not come into fruition," he said, predicting "relatively sluggish" growth unless the government reforms pick up pace.

The cracks in the economy were exposed last month when authorities arrested two former senior executives at one of the country's largest banks for financial crimes, triggering a run on the lender.

The central bank pumped cash into the system to ensure the bank was able to pay its customers, and fears of contagion were averted. But not before the stock market swooned as investors worried they were seeing the start of a banking crisis or destabilizing power struggle within the secretive political elite.

The current problems in part date back to the 2009 and 2010, when the government encouraged state-owned enterprises — which account for up to 40 per cent of the economic activity in the country — to borrow money during the global economic crisis to try and create jobs.

But the conglomerates, many of them run by politically connected officials, expanded into areas where they had little expertise and speculated in the property market, which has since crashed. A government commission has said that the level of bad debt in the banks has reached around 10 per cent, though many outside analysts believe the figure could be higher.

In 2010, state-owned ship builder Vinashin came close to collapse with debts of $4.5 billion, dramatically underlining some of the pressure points in the economy. Last week, authorities arrested the former head of another large indebted state-owned enterprise after an international manhunt.

Still, many analysts remain skeptical the government has the will to fully clean up.

"Can you separate political influence from economics? Until you can, you are not going to get reforms," said Prof. Carlyle Thayer, an expert on Vietnam from the University of New South Wales. "It's a pessimistic view, but if the bankers are friends with the higher-ups, then implementation will be difficult."

The country's leaders have for the most part tried to blame the downturn on the global economic crisis. They have, for now, succeeded in taming inflation, which has hit over 20 per cent two times in the last three years. The exchange rate is stable and foreign exchange reserves have increased.

But the property market has yet to show signs of recovery.

Like many other Vietnamese, Nguyen Quang Nam thought he could make some quick money in property. Two years ago, he borrowed from the bank to buy two plots of land near Hanoi for $700,000. But he now can't sell for less than half that, and has trouble keeping up with his loan repayments.

"I wanted to sell to cut my losses, but it's difficult to find someone with that much money to buy," he said. "The property market does not look very good in the coming months or even years."

For businesses in Bat Trang, change can't come soon enough.

Factory manager Phan Anh Duc said that four years ago up to 40 containers a day used to leave the area, heading to overseas markets. Now just one does, he said.

"No one is buying, either at home or abroad," said Hien, a women at an export showroom who didn't want to give her full name. "It's been so long, I can't remember when the last order was."

Source: BY CHRIS BRUMMITT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEPTEMBER 11, 2012
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News Alert from Kampuchea Krom!

On September 10, 2012 the Vietcongs authorities have ordered all Khmer Krom residents of the Cau Ngang (Phno Dach) district, Tra Vinh (Preah Tra Pang) province, Mekong Delta (South Vietnam) to take down all TV satellites that receive signals directly from Cambodia.  

These Cambodian TV signals are mostly religious and cultural shows broadcasting in Cambodia to all Khmer inland and abroad, however the Khmer Krom locals in the Mekong Delta are banned by the Hanoi regime from watching.  It is a double standard policy implemented by the repressive Hanoi regime, because Vietnamese overseas in Cambodia can still receive Vietnam TV signals while Khmer Krom in the Mekong Delta prohibited from receiving broadcasting signals in Cambodia. This action by Vietnam contravenes the Cambodia-Vietnam friendship treaties which Vietnam frequently boasts about.

This is a clear violation of Khmer Krom's fundamental rights to freedom to information, expression, press and to one's cultural identity, enshrined under the UN's Charters and Vietnam is a party of.   

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Vietnam: free expression in free fall

By Geoffrey Cain, Sept 6,2012

Dissent has suffered a crackdown in Vietnam in recent years, with bloggers often being the main target. Geoffrey Cain asks what has prompted this backlash against free speech

In Vietnam, protests have boiled to a level unprecedented since the start of this decade. Last month, the fight for free expression hit an unexpected climax. The mother of imprisoned blogger Dang Thi Kim Lieng killed herself in a self-immolation, protesting her daughter’s upcoming trial and sending an uneasy hush over the government. The hearings were supposed to commence on 7 August — a full four years after the blogger was first detained — but since the suicide the trial has been delayed indefinitely.

But this was merely the latest paroxysm in a state-led retaliation against freedom of speech that picked up in mid-2008. With demonstrations flaring up over land disputes and against Chinese naval aggression in the South China Sea, the Communist Party has been striking back against dissidents on the streets and online.

Bloggers have been the primary target, as the state tries to prevent them spreading videos of police brutality, writing critical articles and promoting demonstrations on their websites. As of this year, at least 17 Vietnamese bloggers are behind bars, according to Human Rights Watch. That makes Vietnam the second-worst jailer of netizens after China. Many of them have been imprisoned for writing about topics the government deems sensitive, such as land grabs by local property developers and the South China Sea dispute.

“They say every writer has scissors in the back of his mind,” one pro-democracy blogger told me, who asked not to be named. “You never know when the party will strike to make an example of you.”

What’s prompted the swift backlash against free speech? In the 1990s and early 2000s, Vietnam’s market reforms were enriching people from outside the traditional power center of Hanoi, a development that bolstered all sorts of new and critical voices under the one-party banner. The Communist Party wanted to keep the trend going as proof that it was cleaning up its act before joining the World Trade Organisation in 2007. Leaders declared that corruption, in particular, was a plague that could hold back the economy, and tasked its journalists and writers with uncovering malfeasance in the government and business.

As a result, the country witnessed a blossoming of print investigative journalism that led to the arrests of gangsters and and corrupt government officials, and by the mid-2000s a nascent blogging movement. In a nation where all newspapers remained fully or partially government-owned, the growth of the internet meant that the flow of information was increasingly out of reach from members of the Politburo, the party’s all-powerful body that sets the country’s direction. The crackdowns, of course, haven’t stopped Vietnam’s boisterous bloggers and journalists, and not all of them end up in trouble — unless they touch on topics related to high-level politics.

Even though Vietnam’s 1992 Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, writers and bloggers eventually took their role as the “fourth estate” too far for the tastes of the Party. They encountered a sharp reversal after the PMU-18 scandal of 2006, when journalists and bloggers revealed that officials in the Ministry of Transport were gambling away millions of dollars in donor aid. In 2008, two prominent reporters were imprisoned for two years for their writing. The Party’s strike back was also prompted by a growing pro-democracy movement in the mid-2000s, when hundreds of brave Vietnamese signed a multi-party manifesto circulated online. Since then, any hopes for political dissent in the blogosphere or in print have been thwarted.

Vietnam expert Carl Thayer notes that the rise of To Huy Rua, a socialist ideologue who acts as an interlocutor with the Chinese Communist Party, has coincided with stronger measures targeting against intellectuals and dissidents. (His assertion is backed by the American cables unveiled by Wikileaks.) Rua heads the party’s information commission, giving him sway over issues of ideology and public discourse.

Historically, free-thought crackdowns pick up around the time the Communist Party holds its congresses every five years, when factions fight over the new leaders and they want information tightly controlled. The latest restrictions are unusual because, despite intermittent relaxations since the mid-2000s, the government has pretty much kept up the pace. In June, officials unveiled a draft of the new Internet Decree, which would require bloggers to publish their contact information online. It’s not yet clear when the bill will be passed.

The move is one more attempt to rein in all those new voices in Vietnamese politics who have garnered enough clout to contest one-party rule. And as those leaders try to reassert control over which criticisms are acceptable, they’re facing even more of a pushback from the writers and bloggers who are promulgating the protests and dissent.

Geoffrey Cain, a freelance journalist, has covered Asia for Time, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Policy. He is an editor at the New Mandala, the Southeast Asia blog at the Australian National University. He tweets at @geoffrey_cain
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A Vietnam for Tomorrow: Change at Home before Changing Abroad

Before Vietnam can assume any role on the international stage, it must first change at home

This past Monday, Dang Thi Kim Lieng, mother of Ta Phong Tan, died after setting herself on fire to protest the detention of her daughter. Ta, a blogger and former police officer, was arrested for conducting propaganda against the state—an all too common charge as of late. Standing trial in August alongside fellow bloggers Nguyen Van Hai (also known as Dieu Cay) and Phan Thanh Hai, each risks 20 years in jail if convicted. Unable to help her daughter, Mrs. Dang could only voice her opposition through self-immolation.

Human rights, and by extension Vietnam’s domestic policy, cannot be divorced from its foreign policy. Yet the Vietnamese government hopes to convince its critics, particularly the US, that such a separation is possible. Tragedies such as that of Mrs. Dang and the continued detention of human rights and democratic activists simply underscore the deteriorating situation in Vietnam.

To be blunt, the Hanoi government does not respect the will of its citizens and thus it cannot be said that the government’s actions on the international stage are in any way indicative of the will of the people. Reform is on the mind of Vietnamese citizens, yet the government continues to crack down on such efforts. Not surprisingly, the US has continued to refuse to lift its ban on arms sales to Vietnam until these problems are addressed.
Despite the appearance of increasing closeness between Vietnam and the US, the latter will continue to maintain its distance as long as Vietnam remains a single-party state and human rights conditions fail to improve. Only Hanoi’s wariness of Beijing and the South China Sea disputes have kept Vietnam from joining hands with China. Nevertheless, the desire not to upset both countries has Vietnam continuing its political balancing act between the two.

Special relationships over strategic partnerships

Vietnam has wisely pursued an independent path, seeking to build relationships beyond the US and China. Rather than putting all of its eggs in one or two baskets, Hanoi has decided to spread them across continents. Establishing strategic partnerships is an important aspect of Vietnam’s idealistic goal of being friends with everyone. Unfortunately, strategic partnerships are not friendships.

Although China is a strategic partner of Vietnam, it can hardly be said to be a close friend. One need only examine the South China Sea disputes for evidence of this. Indeed, on paper Vietnam can lay claim to having many partners; but in times of crisis, how many will stand by its side?

Vietnam’s hope of being friends to all is not inherently wrong, but it is naïve. When one’s friend (the United Kingdom) includes a friend’s opponent (Russia), it can raise questions regarding one’s intentions and reliability. Vietnam has many “friends,” yes, but how many can it truly call a friend?

Simply amassing partnerships will not suffice. Vietnam needs friends, countries it can rely upon in times of need. Such special relationships are difficult to establish because it requires trust, a commodity in short supply under the current Vietnamese government.

With whom should Vietnam establish special relationships? Ideally, Vietnam should seek closer ties with countries that share its values. The question is therefore what values does Vietnam represent? Is it those of the government or the people? In a democracy, the government would fairly represent the will of the people and so the two can be discussed together. However, such is not the case with Vietnam, where the government and the people are often philosophically divided on this issue.

It is increasingly evident that the Vietnamese people are seeking change, demanding respect for human rights and even democratic reform. These are the values of the people, values that more closely resemble those set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The people have little in common with the government, which has made every attempt to stifle democratic progress in order to maintain the Communist Party’s grip over Vietnam.

Until such time that government truly represents the people, Vietnam will be prevented from establishing a lasting special relationship with any nation, treated instead at a distance and with suspicion.

Working as part of a greater whole

But let us assume these changes have taken place: could Vietnam act as a pivot for both the US and China? Perhaps yes and perhaps not, but Vietnam should instead dedicate its efforts to uniting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has the potential to reshape the region but, in its current state, has failed to live up to this potential.

The recent conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was the first to conclude without a joint statement delivered by Asean in the pact’s 45-year history. Central to this failure of unity is the South China Sea disputes, which has divided the organization.

To remain relevant in the future, Asean must change and adapt to current circumstances. Given its voluntary nature—member states are not bound—the effectiveness of the group is dependent on its members’ goodwill. Given the vast diversity of the states, the interest of member states are likely to diverge. A unified front must therefore be established on the ground of shared values, not unlike Vietnam. What is the role of Asean in the future, and how can it achieve these goals? That remains to be seen, for the most pressing issue is for member states to commit to ASEAN and realize its potential.

Asean is without a leader to rally around. Indonesia may prove to be this leader, but there is a chance for a new Vietnam to act as the group’s conscience, to voice real concerns when it is unpopular to do so, and to suggest unpopular decisions when the alternative fails to address these concerns.

If Vietnam should act as a pivot for the US and China, it should do so as part of Asean. There is an opportunity for Vietnam to improve and reinforce its foreign policy credentials as part of ASEAN, where it can acquire the capabilities and influence necessary to play a larger role on the international stage. There is a path on which Vietnam can follow to become a leader, but it must first change.

(Khanh Vu Duc is a Vietnamese Canadian lawyer in Ottawa, focusing on various areas of law. He researches on International Relations and International Law.) ...Read more>>>

Former US State Secretary, Suu Kyi sons among 2,000 removed from Myanmar(Burma) blacklist

Yangon: Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Aung San Suu Kyi’s sons and two dead US congressmen were among 2,082 names removed on Thursday from a Myanmar government blacklist that gives an insight into the paranoia of its former military junta.

Late Philippine President Corazon Aquino, US singer-turned-politician Sonny Bono and Kim and Alexander Aris, the sons of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, were some of the prominent names taken off a list stacked with journalists, academics, human rights campaigners and exiled Myanmarmese activists.

Its publication on the website of the Office of the President (www.president-office.gov.mm/) is the latest sign of surprise openness by a quasi-civilian government that has legalised protests, abolished media censorship, freed hundreds of political prisoners and embarked on economic reforms since coming to power in the former Burma in March 2011.

No reasons were given for why they had been blacklisted, but many were critics of the reclusive and thin-skinned generals who ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for 49 years and persecuted politicians, reporters and dissidents.

The list included plenty of discrepancies, including individuals mentioned several times under different name spellings. British historian Timothy Garton Ash appears as “Gartonash, Timothy John”, while some unknown individuals had only one name, like “Mr. Nick”, “Li Li” and “Mohammad”.

The announcement said exiled Myanmarmese removed from the blacklist of 6,165 companies, organisations and individuals would be allowed to return. It did not say which remained.

Others removed include retired diplomats once based in Myanmar, the director of Human Rights Watch Brad Adams, late US congressman Tom Lantos, Suu Kyi’s former physician Khin Saw Win and Yuenyong Opaku, the lead singer of popular Thai rock band, Ad Carabao.

One notable name is John Yettaw, a Vietnam War veteran jailed in 2009 after swimming across Yangon’s Inya Lake in home-made fins to warn Suu Kyi of an assassination plot, resulting in the extension of her house arrest.

Among journalists taken off were British author and documentary maker John Pilger, CNN’s Dan Rivers, the BBC’s Sue Lloyd-Roberts and Reuters photographer Adrees Latif, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his photo of a Japanese photographer shot dead in Yangon during a crackdown on 2007 pro-democracy protests.

Authors were also mentioned, like Bertil Lintner, whose books on Myanmar include Outrage: Burma’s Struggle for Democracy, which detailed the military’s savage crackdown on the 1988 protests that first brought Suu Kyi to prominence.

“I feel good, of course, to be able to visit the country I have written about for so many years,” said Lintner.

source: Gulfnews.com August 30,2012
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US, Southeast Asian navies begin annual joint exercises

The navies of the US, the Philippines and four other Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday kicked off this year’s Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercises in a bid to enhance their interoperability in addressing maritime threats.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand also joined SEACAT 2012, which will be held until Sept. 2.

Navy spokesman Col. Omar Tonsay said the exercises are being conducted in Malacca Strait, Sulu Sea and Subic Bay.

The exercises are being held two months after the nuclear-powered US submarine USS Louisville made a port call at Subic.

Louisville is the second US attack submarine that visited the Philippines since Washington bared plans to enhance its presence in the Asia Pacific. The first was USS North Carolina which docked in Subic Bay last May.

Another US vessel, the hospital ship USNS Mercy, also docked in Subic last month to replenish its supplies.

About 200 Filipino sailors from the Naval Forces West and Naval Forces Northern Luzon, four ships and an islander aircraft are involved in the event. The US Navy ship USS Safeguard is also participating in the activity.

“They will participate together with the US Navy in a scenario-driven fleet training exercise against terrorism, transnational crimes and other maritime threats,” Tonsay said in a statement.

The exercises focus on real-time information exchange, coordinated surveillance operations, tracking, and visit, board, search and seizure of target vessels.

“This activity will involve surface, air, and special operations units in the conduct of surveillance, tracking, and boarding of the COI (contact of interest) from the different participating navies within their respective maritime territories.” Navy chief Vice Adm. Alexander Pama said.

A maritime interdiction operations scenario will be conducted at the Subic Bay and at the Sulu Sea.

Coast Watch stations of the participating countries will also be used to exercise their capabilities in surveillance, tracking, communications, and operations.

“With this training, the Philippine Navy will be able to enhance regional coordination, information sharing, and combined inter-operability capability with participating navies in the region,” Tonsay said.

He claimed the activity would also improve the maritime security capability of the military.

SEACAT is an annual exercise conducted at vital sea lanes in Southeast Asia to secure the area from terrorists, poachers, and transnational lawless elements.

It aims to promote regional coordination, information sharing and interoperability in a multilateral environment. -

Source: August 28,2012 Alexis Romero - The PhilStar
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The U.S. shouldn’t sell out human rights in Vietnam

By Allen S. Weiner, Published: August 26

Allen S. Weiner is a senior lecturer in law at Stanford Law School, where he serves as director of the Program in International and Comparative Law. He has filed a petition with the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention challenging the legality of the arrest and detention of 17 Vietnamese activists last year.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in Hanoi last month that the United States would sign a new regional trade agreement, the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership, with Vietnam by year’s end. Vietnam’s desire to promote economic development through expanded trade is understandable, and U.S. interest in supporting Vietnam’s economic advancement is commendable. But even as Vietnam seeks to move forward economically, its political system remains mired in a repressive and authoritarian past. Indeed, Clinton’s announcement came shortly before the one-year anniversary of the first stage of the Vietnamese government’s detention of activists whose “crime” has been to advocate governmental action on a broad range of human rights and social justice issues, including environmental, health, legal, political, land and corruption-based concerns. More than a year later, almost all remain in detention; one is under house arrest. Real progress in Vietnam will come only when political reform and respect for the rule of law accompany economic progress.

Over the past year, the Vietnamese government has arrested members of an informal network of social and political activists. The detainees are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Redemptorist Church in Vietnam — a reflection of the pattern of discrimination against religious minorities in that country. Eleven of the petitioners are accused of being members of Viet Tan, a Vietnamese pro-democracy party. The detainees have endured a range of human rights abuses, including violations of their fundamental rights of expression, assembly and association. In addition, the arrests and detentions of these activists violate their rights to due process and fair trials guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international legal agreements; violations of international standards include warrantless arrests and lengthy pretrial detentions without the filing of charges. After their arrest, the detainees were held incommunicado for months. Some were even convicted through “trials” at which they were not allowed a lawyer. Today, most of these petitioners are languishing in jail without outside contact or basic knowledge as to why they were arrested and are being held. They have had limited access to family members, or in some cases, no contact with relatives at all.

In keeping with a growing pattern of such human rights abuses by the Vietnamese government, these activists were arrested for violating criminal laws that ban “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration,” the “undermining of national unity” and participating in “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

The detainees are all online journalists, bloggers or others who have participated in training activities related to citizen journalism. They have written blog posts, signed petitions and joined nonviolent protests related to a range of issues, including calls for multiparty democracy and opposition to large-scale bauxite mining projects that would cause irreparable environmental damage and displace local residents. In short, they are engaged in legitimate forms of political expression.

Such political expression is protected under international human rights law and under Vietnam’s Constitution, which provides in Article 53 that citizens “have the right to take part in managing the State and society, in debating on general issues of the whole country or of the locality.” Article 69 of the Vietnamese Constitution holds that citizens “are entitled to freedom of speech and freedom of the press” and have “the right of assembly, association and demonstration in accordance with the law.” Instead of protecting these rights, however, the Vietnamese government has been using the law to prohibit basic freedom of speech, assembly and association.

To her credit, Clinton raised concerns about Vietnam’s human rights record during her recent trip, including the detention of activists, lawyers and bloggers whose only crime is the peaceful expression of ideas. “I know there are some who argue that developing economies need to put economic growth first and worry about political reform and democracy later, but that is a short-sided bargain,” she said.

The United States must go beyond a rhetorical defense of human rights in Vietnam. Our country should not contribute to the “short-sided bargain” Clinton warned of by promoting deeper commercial ties without simultaneously insisting that Vietnam honor its international human rights obligations. U.S. officials should demand that Vietnam can start by releasing the activists arrested last year and others who have been detained solely for seeking a voice in their country’s future. The United States should not reward Vietnam by including it in the Trans-Pacific Partnership while the government in Hanoi uses its legal systems to stifle dissent and perpetrate human rights abuses

Source: The Washington Post
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Canadian journalist: China asked me to spy on Dalai Lama

Canadian author and journalist Mark Bourrie says he quit his job as an Ottawa correspondent for China's state news agency when his editor asked him to spy on the Dalai Lama.

A Canadian author and journalist says he quit his job as an Ottawa correspondent for China's state news agency when his editor asked him to spy on the Dalai Lama.

Mark Bourrie quit his job at Xinhua in April after two years working for the agency.


In his time with the news organization, there were several occasions when Bourrie said he suspected his credentials as a member of the Ottawa press gallery were being used to access information that was meant purely for intelligence purposes in Beijing.


But it wasn't until this spring that "it all came crashing down."




Bourrie said he had been assigned to cover the Dalai Lama's visit to Ottawa, and to find out what was said in a private meeting between the Tibetan spiritual leader and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.


When he realized his reports weren't being published, Bourrie asked his boss, Xinhua's Ottawa bureau chief Dacheng Zhang, why he was being assigned to cover the event in the first place.


"I confronted the bureau chief and said 'look, are we here as journalists or are we using our press gallery credentials to get in here to gather information for the Chinese government? Because if it's the latter I don't want anything to do with it,'" Bourrie told CTV News Channel on Thursday.


He said he was told that the agency didn't publish news that would embarrass the Chinese government, or comments from the Dalai Lama, and that all his reports were going straight to Beijing for intelligence purposes.


Bourrie said he quit on the spot -- a decision he has not regretted.


Zhang, who is currently travelling with other journalists on Harper's annual tour of the Arctic, said on Wednesday that Bourrie’s claim was false, and was the product of “Cold War” ideology.”


He told The Canadian Press that Xinhua's policy is to "cover public events by public means." His job, as Ottawa bureau chief, is to cover news events and file the stories to his Xinhua supervisors. Those editors decide what makes it into print, Zhang said.


Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior intelligence officer at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said it's not unusual for Beijing to use its state journalists as de facto spies.


There have been reports of Xinhua news teams covering Falun Gong protests in Ottawa, taking close-up photographs of attendees and recording transcripts of speeches – though stories are rarely or ever published on the events.


The problem, Juneau-Katsuya said, is that journalists such as Bourrie have no control over how their reports are used once they are sent to Beijing.


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-journalist-china-asked-me-to-spy-on-dalai-lama-1.926863#ixzz24OrIRsdz
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UN worried over shrinking space for freedom of expression in Vietnam

The United Nations human rights office on Friday said it was concerned over reports of the ongoing persecution of bloggers and people who use the Internet and other means to freely express their opinions in Vietnam.

“We are concerned by what appears to be increasingly limited space for freedom of expression in Vietnam,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva.

The office voiced particular concern that the upcoming trial of Nguyen Van Hai (also known as Dieu Cay), Pan Thanh Hai and Ta Phong Tan for “conducting propaganda” against the State is directly linked to their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression, including their online publications about social and human rights issues.

Nguyen Van Hai and Pan Thanh Hai have been in detention since 2010 while Ta Phong Tan has been detained since September 2011. The three face charges under Article 88 of the Criminal Code and could face penalties ranging from seven to 16 years’ imprisonment.

“The trial, which was scheduled for August 7 and was just postponed indefinitely, will reportedly be closed and witnesses will not be called, raising concerns that the process will not comply with fair trial guarantees,” said Shamdasani.

“A number of arrests and harsh convictions in recent years suggest a disturbing trend of curbing freedom of expression, opinion and association of bloggers, journalists and human rights activists who question Government policies in a peaceful manner,” she added.

OHCHR urged the Government to fulfill its commitments with respect to ensuring fair trial guarantees and to consider promptly releasing the accused for the exercise of their right to freedom of expression, opinion and association.

Source: BikyaMasr August 4,2012
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Vietnam invents a U.N. procedure to silence critics KKF

Vietnam's ambassador to the UN, Le Hoai Trung

The Security Council's latest fumble on Syria might represent the U.N.'s biggest failure of the last month, but it's hardly the only one. So as a reminder of all the little things the U.N. also gets wrong, we present the latest machinations involving a U.N. group ostensibly concerned with human rights.

Vietnam's Communist Party-led government recently blackballed a nongovernmental organization's attempt to secure accreditation to the U.N. The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, or KKF, is a small group based in New Jersey that tracks the plight of the Khmer ethnic minority in Vietnam. Mainly that involves compiling and disseminating well-respected reports of rights abuses such as Hanoi's harassment of Khmer Buddhists who refuse to join state-sanctioned religious organizations.

That's probably why Hanoi pitched a fit when in May the KKF received an accreditation from the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council, or EcoSoc. This would have allowed the group to participate in a range of U.N. conferences, and would have allowed KKF speaking time in relevant meetings to raise its concerns about Hanoi's rights record. More than 3,000 other nongovernmental organizations have been accredited over the years, so KKF would hardly have stood out.

Vietnam's government launched an aggressive campaign against the group. Rather than pushing to refer KKF's status back to the accreditation committee for additional review, which is the usual course in the rare instances when a decision proves controversial, Hanoi proposed a resolution at a recent meeting to strip KKF's accreditation directly.

In this way, Hanoi was able to put the decision on KKF's accreditation in the hands of a body—EcoSoc's general membership—where Vietnam could trade political horses with its neighbors and harness support from other authoritarians such as Russia and Venezuela. The resolution passed last week with support from 27 states, including democratic members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations such as Indonesia and the Philippines that should know better. Another 14 EcoSoc members, including the U.S., voted in KKF's favor, and 10 countries abstained.

Rights activists note that with this stroke Vietnam has created a new procedural tool that other rights abusers can use to silence their own critics at the U.N. They also suggest that this dust-up raises additional questions about Hanoi's fitness to sit on the Human Rights Council in 2014, a position for which Vietnam—no joke—is currently said to be campaigning despite its long tradition of jailing dissidents.

The mistake these activists make is looking at the U.N. as they'd like it to be, not as it really is. Having thwarted critics of its rights record, Hanoi will fit right in with the likes of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia on the Council.

Source: The Wall Street Journal July 31,2012
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Democracy And The US' Pivot To Asia

By Ellen Bork, the Director of Democracy and Human Rights at the Foreign Policy Initiative.

President Obama's announcement last fall of a "pivot" to Asia has been greeted with skepticism. For one thing, there will be no appreciable increase in U.S. military assets in the region any time soon. Furthermore, even for an administration generally unconvincing in its commitment to the promotion of democracy and human rights abroad, Team Obama has been remarkably timid in advancing any such agenda in this region of 4 billion people.

So it was encouraging that on her swing through Asia last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a conference in Mongolia that support for democracy and rights are at the "heart" of the Asia pivot. She also left no doubt about the biggest obstacle to democracy's success in Asia. In several passages that seemed directed at China, Clinton rejected the idea that economic success could be sustained in the absence of political reform and the rule of law. Repression, she said, can "create the illusion of security, but illusions fade because people's yearnings for liberty do not." Unfortunately this welcome rhetoric was absent when it came time to meet China's foreign minister and Vietnam's Communist party general secretary.

The administration also raised doubts about its commitment to democracy and human rights when it took a backward step in its Burma policy, easing sanctions on investment there, including in the energy sector. President Obama abandoned an earlier "step by step" approach that was supposed to maximize the benefit to Burma's people by allowing investment in sectors like tourism, manufacturing, and agriculture first, and only later, after progress on institutionalizing democracy, in sectors controlled by the unreformed, brutal military, like natural gas.

Washington's move undermined Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's democracy leader, who recently warned against allowing investment in the state-controlled oil and gas industry until guarantees of transparency could be implemented. With a small presence in Burma's parliament, Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party have limited political capital during a precarious phase that will last at least until elections in 2015 offer a chance for the popular democratic movement to consolidate its position. American support during this time is vital.

America's conduct of its foreign policy can never be separated from its identity as the world's leading democracy. "It is who we are," President Obama likes to say of America's commitment to democratic values and human rights. Indeed, the United States contributed to democratic transitions in the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea that transformed the region.

Those of course were small authoritarian regimes, ones that did not seek to project their power or political model. In China, Washington faces a bigger and more complicated challenge. The secretary of state staked out an ambitious position in her Mongolia remarks. If the United States fails to follow through, the Asia pivot will lose credibility. Asia's people will lose much more.
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Effort to dump ambassador to Vietnam over human rights gains steam

By Julian Pecquet (THE HILL) - 07/24/12Three lawmakers have signed on to Rep. Frank Wolf's (R-Va.) effort to have the Obama administration replace its ambassador to Vietnam over concerns that he hasn't done enough to boost human rights in the country.

Reps. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.) signed on to a letter – Wolf's third – to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the dismissal of David Shear. Wolf began gunning for Shear's head earlier this month after finding out that he had not contacted the family of Vietnamese-American imprisoned in Hanoi and did not invite many prominent human-rights activists to the embassy's July 4th party.

“We do not believe that this administration, especially Ambassador David Shear, have sufficiently advocated for basic human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam,” the letter states. “In fact, Ambassador Shear has sidelined these issues, which has been a cause for concern.”

Shear was sworn in as ambassador in August 2011 after serving since 2009 as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State. His nomination was held up temporarily by Sens. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over concerns that Vietnamese children in the process of getting adopted by U.S. citizens were being left in limbo.

The full text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
2201 C St NW Ste 7276
Washington D.C. 20520


Dear Secretary Clinton:
We strongly believe that human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam need to be at the forefront of bilateral relations with Vietnam, including any discussion about a strategic partnership with the United States. While we were pleased to hear that you mentioned democracy activists, lawyers and bloggers on your recent trip to Vietnam, we were deeply disappointed that there was no public mention of imprisoned Vietnamese-American Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan. In fact, in a letter sent earlier this month prior to your trip, several members of Congress urged you to raise the matter of his continued detention and press for his release.

We do not believe that this administration, especially Ambassador David Shear, have sufficiently advocated for basic human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. In fact, Ambassador Shear has sidelined these issues which has been a cause for concern. The people of Vietnam yearn for American leadership in this realm – leadership which Ambassador Shear has been simply unable or unwilling to provide. As such, we urge you to dismiss Ambassador Shear from his post, and move swiftly to appoint an individual who will embrace the struggle of the Vietnamese people and advocate on their behalf.
Unfortunately, the outstanding congressional request for the list of invitees to the Embassy Hanoi’s July 4th celebration remains unfulfilled. As such, we also urge you to make sure that the list is provided in a timely fashion so that we are able to see which religious freedom and democracy activists were invited, if any.

We wish to see a mutually beneficial relationship with Vietnam. In order for this to happen, we must have confidence in this administration’s efforts to promote religious freedom and democracy in Vietnam. We have lost confidence that Ambassador Shear is up to the task.

Sincerely,


Frank Wolf
Dan Lungren
Joseph Pitts
Chris Smith

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UN caves in to Vietcongs pressure, rejects the consultative status of the NGO KKF

JOINT PRESS RELEASE - THE OBSERVATORY

Viet Nam: UN caves in to Vietnamese pressure, rejects human rights group’s consultative status

Bangkok-Paris-Geneva, July 24, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (an FIDH and OMCT joint programme) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) condemn the resolution passed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) overturning a previous decision to grant consultative status to the non-governmental human rights organisation Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF).

In May 2012, ECOSOC’s Committee on Non-governmental Organisations, in a consensus decision, approved KKF’s application for special consultative status with the Council. Vietnam protested strongly against the decision. On July 23, member States of ECOSOC, in a vote of 27 in favour to 14 against, with 10 abstentions, adopted a resolution to rescind that decision. The resolution was tabled by Vietnam along with El Salvador and fellow ASEAN member States Burma, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

In a joint letter[1] issued on July 18, 2012, the Observatory, along with 12 international and regional human rights groups across the globe, urged ECOSOC member states to oppose the draft resolution and to “support the ability of civil society organisations to freely participate in the work of the United Nations”. Special consultative status is granted to non-governmental organisations that “have a special competence in, and are concerned specifically with, only a few of the fields of activity covered by the Council and its subsidiary bodies, and that are known within the fields for which they have or seek consultative status”.

Before the vote, representatives of Cuba, Indonesia, Philippines, Lao PDR, Nicaragua, Russia, and Venezuela took to the floor in support of the resolution. On the other hand,, the United States and Ireland, speaking on behalf of the European Union, expressed their opposition to the resolution. “It was not appropriate to oppose accreditation for an organization simply because it expressed views different from those of Governments represented on the Council”, said the representative of Ireland.

“It is shameful that many UN member states caved in to Vietnam’s pressure and became an accomplice in stifling the rightful voices of human rights defenders. It sends a chilling signal to the people in Vietnam that the international community is not on their side in their quest for greater freedom”, said Vo Van Ai, president of VCHR.

KKF is headquartered in the United States and conducts human rights advocacy globally. KKF aims, “through the use of peaceful measures and international laws, to seek freedom, justice, and the right to self-determination for the Indigenous Khmer-Krom Peoples”. It has an established track record in engaging with UN human rights mechanisms and providing valuable and quality information on abuses against the Khmer Krom minority group in Vietnam. Vietnam’s ambassador to the UN, Le Hoai Trung, labeled KKF’s activities as “politically motivated” and characterised KKF’s aim to seek freedom and justice for the Khmer people as a “grave offence” to the “sacred, national value” of national unity.

In the 2010 joint report Vietnam: From “Vision” to Facts: Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship of ASEAN, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) documented human rights violations against the Khmer Krom, including religious persecution, land confiscation, and excessive use of force. In the last five years, the Observatory and VCHR documented instances of arbitrary arrests and forced defrocking of Khmer Krom Buddhist monks in retaliation of their peaceful protests against religious persecution[2].

In another example of its diplomatic offensive against criticisms abroad, in September 2010, Vietnam lobbied the government of Thailand to obstruct a press conference in Bangkok where FIDH and VCHR were to launch their joint report on Vietnam.[3] Vietnam’s hostilities against independent human rights defenders and groups at home and abroad are nothing new and reflect its consistently dismal human rights records, said FIDH and VCHR.

Vietnam intends to run for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, which requires member States to uphold the highest human rights standards. “Before it is even elected to the Human Rights Council, Vietnam is already busy obstructing human rights groups from cooperating with the UN to promote human rights. This kind of intimidation must not be tolerated anywhere in the UN system”, said Souhayr Belhassen, President of FIDH.

"The political intervention led by a coalition of Asean States overturning the decision of the competent committee excluding civil society access is an expression of fear to hear unpleasant truths and opinions. The basis of any commitment to human rights defenders is the recognition of their very existence and their right to speak and to be heard, and the states have failed in this test - Vietnam in the first place", said Gerald Staberock, Secretary-General of OMCT.

Press contact:
VCHR: Vo Tran Nhat: +33 1 45 98 30 85
FIDH: Karine Appy +33 1 43 55 14 12 / + 33 1 43 55 25 18
OMCT: Isabelle Scherer: +41 22 809 49 39
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Congressman wants ambassador to Vietnam fired over human rights issues

Washington D.C., Jul 12, 2012 / 12:07 am (CNA).- Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has called for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear, charging that he has marginalized human rights and religious freedom concerns.

“Sadly, his sidelining of serious human rights issues in Vietnam is symptomatic of this administration's overall approach to human rights and religious freedom,” the congressman said in a July 9 letter to President Barack Obama. “Time and again these issues are put on the back-burner -- to the detriment of freedom-loving people the world over.”

Rep. Wolf said that U.S. embassies should be “islands of freedom – especially in repressive countries like Vietnam,” but he criticized the U.S. embassy in Vietnam for appearing to not play this role.

Rep. Wolf, who co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, cited embassy inaction in the case of Vietnamese-American democracy activist and U.S. citizen Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, who was imprisoned after he was detained upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City this past April.

The embassy did not initiate contact with Quan’s wife until Rep. Wolf asked. The congressman said there seemed to be “little urgency to securing his release.”

He said that Ambassador Shear also failed to invite many of the most prominent democracy and human rights activists in Vietnam to the U.S. embassy’s July 4 celebration, despite Rep. Wolf’s urging that he open the embassy to Buddhist monks and nuns, Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and bloggers and democracy activists.

Rep. Wolf said that the ambassador should be replaced by a Vietnamese-American who would not be “tempted to maintain smooth bilateral relations at all costs.”

In recent years Catholics have sought the return of confiscated Church property, but the dispute with the Vietnamese government has sometimes turned violent.

The government has also previously arrested Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, a religious freedom advocate, on charges of spreading anti-communist propaganda.
Source: Catholic News Agency, Jul 16,2012
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Hillary Clinton's Message to Hanoi!

The U.S. Secretary of State connects human rights and prosperity.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have been disappointed in her efforts to push Southeast Asia toward unity on South China Sea territorial disputes, but that doesn't mean her pass through the region last week yielded no results. During her brief stay in Hanoi, Mrs. Clinton delivered a particularly important message on human rights.

"I know there are some who argue that developing economies need to put economic growth first and worry about political reform and democracy later, but that is a short-sighted bargain," Mrs. Clinton said after meeting her Vietnamese counterpart. U.S. officials said that during her private session with Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Mrs. Clinton raised specific cases of bloggers and other activists who have been detained in recent years for peaceful dissent.

The Secretary's comments continue an unsung but important and potentially effective aspect of the Obama Administration's strategic "pivot" to Asia. Mrs. Clinton has consistently pressed Hanoi to improve its rights record. Vietnam's authoritarian government is susceptible to pressure on this point because it is increasingly eager to cultivate closer ties with America to counterbalance China's influence.

Hanoi has been backsliding on rights despite some limited progress on religious freedom in the middle of last decade. The most notable example is the April arrest of U.S. citizen Nguyen Quoc Quan on charges related to peaceful pro-democracy activism. Presumably Mrs. Clinton raised his case in private, although it's disappointing she didn't do so in public. That followed a string of arrests of bloggers—many pushing Hanoi to take a stronger stand against China in South China Sea disputes—that have been part of a long-term crackdown on online dissent.

Mrs. Clinton also helpfully tied the rights issue to economic development. This isn't mere rhetoric. Hanoi already blocks its citizens from accessing uncensored social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Now the regime also is contemplating a draconian Internet regulation that would force foreign service providers to block access to Vietnamese-language content that Hanoi deems objectionable, no matter where the company is based.

Meanwhile, Vietnam will need to undertake major domestic reforms to boost growth, which at 4.4% lags many of its Asian peers. Challenges include privatizing large state-owned enterprises, encouraging greater foreign investment, and fostering more private entrepreneurship at home. Those reforms will be helped by the kind of freedoms and rule of law that Hanoi today undermines in its crack-down on political dissent. Developing a healthy economy will make Vietnam a stronger ally for the U.S. in the region.

One speech won't convert Vietnam's Communist Party. And it must be noted that the Obama Administration's human-rights stance in Asia hasn't always been either strong or effective. But in Vietnam, Mrs. Clinton is talking the right talk. One way to follow up would be to keep pressing Hanoi, often and publicly, to release activists such as Mr. Quan and to rethink its proposed Internet law.

Source: The Wall Street Journal July 16,2012
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FATF Blacklists Ecuador, Yemen, and Vietnam

The Financial Action Task Force(FATF) said Friday it added Ecuador, Yemen and Vietnam to its list of countries that haven’t made sufficient progress in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing.

The three countries were slapped with a label saying they either didn’t address deficiencies in fighting money laundering and terrorism finance, or that they didn’t commit to an action plan with the FATF to deal with the issues.

“The FATF calls on its members to consider the risks arising from the deficiencies associated with each jurisdiction,” it said in a statement.

Ecuador, Yemen and Vietnam have each, the FATF said, taken some steps toward fixing the problem, though none of them have done enough to prevent the blacklisting.

Countries that fail to implement FATF’s recommendations run the risk of being labeled as high-risk or uncooperative jurisdictions, thereby making it even more costly and difficult for those nations to do business with the banking systems of FATF members. The FATF’s members include the U.S., Mexico, France and the U.K.

The FATF’s last plenary was in February, when it updated its recommendations to include tax evasion and smuggling as “predicate offenses” to money laundering. It met last week in Rome.

Turkmenistan was cited as having “largely met its commitments” under the action plan, and is therefore no longer subject to monitoring by the FATF, it said.

In addition, the FATF added Afghanistan, Albania, Kuwait and the Philippines to its list of countries seen as countries making progress toward implementing plans to fight terrorism finance and money laundering.

The countries on the so-called “gray list” have strategic deficiencies in their systems for fighting the issues, but they have committed to action plans and are making progress in dealing with them.

The Philippines is by far the most notable in the list, because it was identified in February after the last FATF plenary session as not having made sufficient progress, putting it on a so-called “dark gray” list.

This month, the Philippines enacted an amendment to its money laundering law and a law to combat the financing of terrorism, both of which were lauded by the FATF on Friday. It “strongly encourages” the country to pass another pending change to the country’s money-laundering law.

The FATF’s announcement Friday upgraded the Philippines from the “dark gray” list to the “gray list.” More coverage of the Philippines is available here, here and here.

Calling the announcement “positive news…particularly for our overseas workers and our economy,” the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Council said in a statement that the pending legislation would expand the definition of money laundering under Philippine law and increase the predicate crimes to include bribery, human trafficking, tax evasion and environmental crime.

“The Philippines will continue to contribute and support the global efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing in keeping with its commitment to good governance and upholding peace and order,” the statement said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal June 25,2012
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Human rights can't be led from behind: US Expert

Are Democrats ceding the human rights mantle to Republicans? The recent spectacle of a blind Chinese dissident being whisked by wheelchair from our embassy in Beijing suggests that the issue of human rights still has the ability to command Americans' attention.

In fact, it might be one of the few foreign policy issues where daylight remains between the two presidential candidates.

Consider the following: A recent survey by the political scientists Josh Busby, Will Inboden and Jon Monten found that Democratic foreign policy specialists were less likely to identify human rights as a "very important" policy priority (about 50 percent, compared with nearly 85 percent of such Republican specialists). Indeed, on this issue the Democratic Party has shifted to the center.

Republicans, meanwhile, have continued their embrace of neoconservatism, which places greater weight in the sanctity of U.S. force to protect human freedom abroad (Mitt Romney's foreign policy team is stuffed with such dewy-eyed conservatives).

The reasons for this shift are manifold: Progressive Democrats might feel that human rights have been co-opted to serve other interests and no longer have faith in Washington's ability to promote them with integrity. They may associate the cause with the failed democracy-promotion agenda of Obama's predecessor. Or perhaps the party has strategically softened its stance to project a more macho air on national security and win over undecided voters.

Still, the survey suggests progressive Democrats could be at risk of abandoning, or at least de-prioritizing, deeply held principles of human rights that have guided the party from its inception.

Spotty record

Take Obama's own spotty record. He balked at granting the Dalai Lama an Oval Office invitation and didn't press the issue of human rights on his visit to China. He punted on his campaign promise to shutter the Guantanamo Bay prison. And his administration has tried to block the a measure that would freeze assets and deny visas to Russian officials guilty of human rights abuses.

Perhaps most controversially, Obama has stepped up the use of drone strikes abroad, killing undisclosed numbers of civilians.

Obama has also been a reluctant interventionist, preferring a hands-off approach to the Arab Spring and protests in Russia, Iran and other authoritarian states. While accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, Obama preached the importance of "just" interventions. "To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism," he said, "it is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."

Yet, his speak-softly stance has drawn fire from his Republican opponent, particularly Obama's policy toward Iran and Syria.

"President Obama's lack of leadership has resulted in a policy of paralysis that has watched (Bashar) Assad slaughter 10,000 individuals," Romney said recently.

Shifting sands

Part of the shift from human rights is a function of today's Democratic elite, Obama included. While the Baby Boom generation's world view was shaped by Vietnam, the new elites' formative years were the 1980s and 1990s. This era included intervention successes, notably Iraq in 1991, but also disasters (Lebanon in 1982-83 and Somalia in 1993).

As Peter Beinart noted in his 2006 book, "The Good Fight," the party of Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman has traditionally focused on U.S. legitimacy abroad and self-improvement at home. Democrats from Obama's generation understand America's moral fallibility, as well as the importance of international institutions. In the political scientists' survey, Democrats were much more favorable toward strengthening institutions such as the International Criminal Court than Republicans were.

Yet liberalism has also been about promoting America's core values, especially human rights, on the world stage, both through international institutions and, at times, military intervention. Democrats cannot allow the failures, dramas and expenses of the latter to deter them from supporting the full spectrum of U.S. tools, including force, when necessary to support their ideals.

When a Pakistani doctor is tried for treason for assisting American forces or the Syrian government slaughters thousands of its own citizens, these are moral issues that should not come at the expense of U.S. strategic concerns with Islamabad or Moscow. There are times when hard-won principles such as the responsibility to protect have to trump pragmatic interests.

Human rights, of course, involve trade-offs and prioritization -- not every crisis should command U.S. intervention. And some notable progress on this front has been made by this administration. Burma's release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and our intervention in Libya top this administration's list of achievements. Obama also deserves kudos for launching the Atrocities Prevention Board, a government panel to appraise the threat of mass killings, and for enacting tougher sanctions against governments' use of technology to trample human rights.

But as we disengage from Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the fight against global jihad recedes, human rights should return to the forefront. No, the issue is not expected to top voters' concerns this election season, but by ceding the moral high ground on this issue to their opponents, Democrats do themselves, and their intellectual forefathers, a disservice.

Human rights are the last issue the White House should be seen as "leading from behind."

Lionel Beehner is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.
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ASEAN Rights commission like a 'train wreck' says director

Human Rights Watch director says participation of society needed

Manila Ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should include non-government rights groups in the drafting of the region’s much-awaited human rights declaration, activists have said.

“The international community must demand that Asean’s Inter-government Commission on Human Rights (AICHR ) permit full civil society participation in the drafting of the Asean Human Rights Declaration (AHRD),” Phil Robertson Asia deputy director, Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in an article in The Nation.

As of now, the commission is like “a full blown train wreck,” Robertson added.

Because of its intransigence, the AICHR is like a “commission shrouded in secrecy,” said Forum Asia, the region’s coalition of human rights groups.

About 100 civil society organisations and networks in Asean countries have already called for the release of AHRD’s draft, to check if the commission is progressive or conservative, said the Manila Times.

Earlier, Navi Pillay the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2011: “No discussion of human rights can be complete or credible without significant input from civil society and national human rights institutions.”

Rights groups are extremely frustrated because they are not participating in the drafting of the AHRD, Pillay said.

Last January, during AICHR’s meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, “officials from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, provided comment as a block of nations, [and] proposed more progressive wording [of the declaration],” Manila Times quoted Mizzima Publications as saying.

A human-rights advocate on Myanmar affairs, Mizzima accused Laos and Vietnam of proposing conditional upholding of human rights in the region.

Limiting rights

Reading from a leaked copy of AHRD’s draft, Mizzima quoted Laos as proposing that the “exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms [in Asean] shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely... to meet the just requirements of national security, public order, public health and public morality and the general welfare of the peoples in a democratic society”.

Laos wanted to limit “the right to practice one’s religion or belief” and wants these to be subject to the country’s national laws,” said Mizzima, adding this would make Asean countries’ exempted from AHRD’s mandate because of their respective laws on security, public morality and other issues.

Vietnam showed reservations “about the right to freedom of opinion and expression and to freely receive information,” reported Mizzima.

Laos also called for “non-confrontation, avoidance of double standards and non-politicisation” in the upholding of human rights, said Robertson who also got a copy of AHRD’s draft.

Malaysia called for the upholding of “rights and freedoms within the regional context” or within “Asean core values,” said Robertson, adding that those in charge of AHRD’s draft focused more on “limiting rights — rather than promoting and protecting them”.

In all, AHRD “seeks to undermine international standards,” assessed Robertson, referring to the benchmark already reached by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

‘Grave abuse’

As a rule, AHRD should be the region’s “strong voice for human rights everywhere, because citizens of Asean countries are everywhere, some of them, including Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), are subjected to grave human rights abuses by their employers,” the Manila Times editorial said.

“We hope it is not one of those documents that — true to Asean’s tradition — will state lofty goals but will leave member governments the option of acting or not acting on the matter.” the Manila Times added.
AHRD’s final draft will be reviewed by Asean foreign ministers in June.

Asean has been promising that the AHRD will be a landmark in the democratisation of Asean member countries.

It will be the “road-map for regional human rights development in the region,” vowed Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

Asean adopted the Asean Charter in 2007, which paved the way for the drafting of its human rights declaration.

Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Source: By Barbara Mae Dacanay- Gulfnews.com
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Chinese General warns US “we will not attack - unless we are attacked”!

According to the China Daily, the US is seeking to “reposition” its naval forces so that 60 percent of them will be in the Pacific by 2020. This has been confirmed by the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the 11th Asia Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday, giving the world the first details of a new US military strategy announced earlier this year.

CHINA WATCHING CLOSELY

“This is something the Chinese military will have to watch closely”, said one Chinese military official , speaking “off the record” by email communication on Monday.

“China retain the right to defense ourselves against a US attack”, the official said.
Lieutenant-General Ren Haiquan, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) commander.

General Haiquan is also vice-president of the PLA's Academy of Military Sciences in Beijing, who led the Chinese delegation to the Singapore forum, said on Saturday that Washington's planned naval redeployment is neither something "desperately serious" nor something that "doesn't matter".

WE WILL NOT ATTACK FIRST

"We will also improve our military strategy, our national defense and the PLA's fighting ability. We will not attack unless we are attacked," the General told reporters."We have the measures to strike back when fundamental national interests are under threat," he said.

"We still face a very complex, sometimes severe, situation. We will be prepared for all complexities. There's a saying: work for the best and prepare for the worst," said Lt. General Haiquan.

These comments are seen as a warning to certain members of Congress and the entire US military industrial establishment - "don't mess with us in China."

In the China Daily report, Chinese officials indicated it would "improve" the capability of its forces and has the capacity to "strike back" when its "fundamental interests" are under threat.

IS CHINA THE TARGET?

"The shift is not wholly against China, but China is definitely one of its targets”, Wenzhao said.

Tao Wenzhao, from the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "What really matters is not the distance to China, but US equipment and activity in the Asia-Pacific region, an area which it regards as less stable than the Atlantic region.”

"Panetta (specifically) mentioned carriers, destroyers and cruisers but what about submarines? Where they are going to be based? Basing them in Pearl Harbor is not as threatening as basing them in Guam. And how are they going to be used?", said Gary Li, a London-based intelligence and military analyst with Exclusive Analysis, a business intelligence agency.

Currently, the US Navy fleet strength of 285 ships is almost evenly divided between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

PHILIPPINES

In addition the US is seeking to pre-positioned about 2,500 US Marines in Australia and there may be a similar arrangement in the Philippines (see RT news report: China infuriated by US-Philippines defense plans RT news report ).

VIETNAM

The US is also seeking to establish a US naval base in Vietnam, which is seen as an effort to threaten China, since there is no other real challenge to US military dominance in the region. It is unclear if Vietnam will grant such permission given the US record on human rights and war crimes abuses, both now and in the past (see article: US seeks to establish a naval base in Vietnam to threaten China see article ).

See also: US warships USS Blue Ridge, the destroyer escorted warship USS Chafee in Vietnam US warships USS Blue Ridge .

Regardless of the repositioning of naval forces and the development of more accurate missiles and weapons, China will always have the ability to devastate the US because of its construction of thousands of underground silos and tunnels housing thousands of Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s) see video: Chinese Nuclear Tunnels, the Underground Great Wall: The DongFeng 21D Chinese Nuclear Tunnels


“In the end the US Naval buildup in the Pacific will be largely ineffective as well as hugely expensive waste of money, because China cannot be threatened in such a way”, said one official at the Pentagon, speaking on the strict condition of anonymity. “You can’t tell that to the people upstairs they have made up their minds already, this is what they want to do”, the official said.

China, it should be understood, maintains one of the largest, best trained armies in the world.

Source: Robert Tilford- Wichita Military Affairs Examiner
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U.S. Defense Secretary Visits Vietnam

HANOI—Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is in Vietnam this week trying to build closer ties with the government in hopes of forging a stronger military partnership, a key element in the United States’ new Asia strategy.

At a news conference Monday with Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, Mr. Panetta said he hopes to strengthen the U.S. defense relationship with Vietnam and help the country’s military to develop.

Mr. Panetta said he and Gen. Quang Thanh discussed additional high-level dialogues and increased visits to Vietnam by U.S. Navy ships.

“The whole thrust of what we discussed in our meeting is to try to take this relationship to a new level,” Mr. Panetta said.

But Vietnam, keen to guard its independence, is moving gingerly. Gen. Quang Thanh said his country wants good relations with both China and the United States.

“We do not depend on any country,” Gen. Quang Thanh said.

U.S. officials have worried in the past about China’s actions in the South China Sea and have said they believe if they don’t help other nations in the region to improve their militaries, China will come to intimidate smaller countries.

Mr. Panetta said the U.S. wants to help strengthen Vietnam and other nations, which he said would help to increase regional stability.

“The goal of the United States is to advance exactly what the general refers to: advance the independence and sovereignty of all nations in the region,” Mr. Panetta said.

For his part, Gen. Quang Thanh said he wants the U.S. to lift its ban on selling Vietnam lethal weapons. Congress currently allows some nonlethal military equipment to be sold to Hanoi.

Selling a wider range of weapons, Gen. Quang Thanh said, would “help fully normalize relations.”

Mr. Panetta did not explicitly comment on the arm-sales issue, but noted that “assistance” to Vietnam will have conditions.

“That additional assistance depends on progress that is being made on human rights and other reforms,” Mr. Panetta said.



Source: The Wall Street Journal June 5,2012 ...Read more>>>