Re: Human Rights in the Central Highlands - continuing
Dai Uy
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[ANN]Cambodia sucked into Viet strife
The Straits Times (Singapore) Asia News Network
The effects of conflict between Vietnam's mountain people, the
Montagnards, and the central government in Hanoi are being keenly felt
in neighboring Cambodia.
Matters have taken a turn for the worse, according to various human
rights and religious groups who say the situation in the Central
Highlands has deteriorated of late.
Human Rights Watch, for example, sounded alarm bells early this month,
issuing a report that accused Vietnam of "mass arrests, torture and
increasing persecution of Christian Montagnards."
The Vietnamese government has rejected all such allegations as "total
fabrication" and has wisely chosen not to enter into a media debate on
the issue.
In this stalemate between "highlanders and lowlanders", the reluctant
and unappreciated midwife is Cambodia which has been inexorably sucked
into a problem not of its own making.
Cambodia is now under severe pressure from various Western interest
groups and lobbies on the one hand and Vietnam on the other.
Chances are it will end up displeasing either one or the other of the
opposing camps.
Ironically, Cambodia, vast numbers of whose citizens were themselves
refugees in Thailand not too long ago, has presumably given in to
Vietnamese pressure not to host refugee camps along the border or assist
the entry of Montagnards.
In December, a temporary refugee camp in Ratanakiri province bordering
Vietnam was closed down and United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) staff had to move the refugees to Phnom Penh.
Cambodia also reinforced its north-eastern borders with Vietnam early
this month to stem an influx of Montagnards, a move which was
immediately criticized by pressure groups and the UNHCR.
Cambodian provincial police were, in the meantime, told to recruit more
officers to maintain 24-hour vigilance every day along the common
border. To assist in this exercise, the Vietnamese government
"generously" provided motorcycles for the Cambodian provincial police.
The international community is aware of the festering problem but has,
so far, been reluctant to get drawn in. Many, rightly or conveniently
depending on whether they act as a government or a pressure group,
consider it an internal problem for Vietnam which they believe Hanoi is
well equipped to resolve.
The Montagnards and their sympathizers, aware of international
reluctance to get directly involved, want to globalize the problem,
which they insist is going from bad to worse.
To this end they have become more vocal of late and more determined to
capture international media attention, which they see as the best means
of getting the international community embroiled.
The latest group of Montagnards to have fled into Cambodia have indeed
managed to secure media attention. This is because, unlike previous
groups who highlighted religious discrimination as their main problem
and were willing to be resettled in third countries, the latest group
has focused on the illegal confiscation of their ancestral lands by
Hanoi for coffee cultivation instead.
What has garnered international media attention for them, however, is
their insistence that they will remain in Cambodia until the United
Nations gets their land back for them, having insisted that they will
refuse all offers to be resettled in the United States or elsewhere.
All involved parties are now waiting to see what will happen to the
Montagnards after their refusal to leave Cambodia until their grievances
are addressed.
Cambodia, which depends on donor assistance, is playing it carefully.
It does not want to appear unhelpful or harsh in its treatment of the
Montagnards. At the same time it would prefer not to unnecessarily upset
Vietnam, its more powerful neighbor and old ally. All it wants is to get
the problem out of its backyard.
In this test of wills it is the Montagnard refugees who are
disadvantaged, having little in the way of resources or support. They
need funds to be fed and lodged and, worse, they can be repatriated as
illegal immigrants who walked in through some porous part of the border.
Moreover, the various interest groups that support them have limited
influence over Vietnam. The pressure groups also know that Vietnam can
afford to wait it out, so they are trying to make that wait as costly as
possible.
For the moment, it looks like a lost cause for the Montagnards. Their
grievances will just fester on and media interest will decline until
another big incident happens to them.
The writer, a former Singapore ambassador to Cambodia, is a visiting
fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies. - Ed.
By Verghese Mathews
2005.01.25
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Dai Uy
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Vietnam, Cambodia and the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR,
have signed an agreement to resettle or repatriate an estimated 700
ethnic minority Vietnamese currently in Cambodia.
The chief of the UNHCR delegation, Erika Feller, says the memorandum of
understanding lays the basis for some of the refugees to be resettled in
a third country, and for others to be repatriated to Vietnam if they
want to.
Ms Feller says the accord covers this group of refugees only, and will
not necessarily apply to members of the Montagnard minority who may flee
Vietnam in the future.
More than 1,000 Montagnards fled to Cambodia after security forces put
down demonstrations in Vietnam's Central Highlands in 2001 against land
confiscation and religious persecution.
Dai Uy
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COMMENT: The Montagnards' dilemma
By Verghese Mathews
THERE is an old Vietnamese legend, widely known in Vietnam and to a
lesser extent in Cambodia and Laos, which is worth repeating as it seeks
to explain the existing tension in Vietnam between the lowlanders and
the highlanders. The legend goes back to a misty time in the past when
the powerful Dragon King of the South fell hopelessly in love, as even
powerful men do, with a gorgeous northern fairy whose beauty was known
throughout the universe. The Dragon King wooed this pretty fairy and, as
happens in all proper fairy tales, he soon married her. What a grand
wedding it was and the badly smitten Dragon King, in a moment of total
indiscretion, agreed to the dainty fairy's pleas to set up their marital
home in the mountains instead of the lowlands.
Those were happy times and a year later the fairy, in true blue fairy
style, laid a hundred eggs which within the prescribed time dutifully
hatched into one hundred handsome little baby boys. The Dragon King and
the fairy, now Fairy Queen, were indeed very happy and could have lived
happily ever after.
However, as does happen, the Dragon King soon grew tired of the lofty
mountains and yearned for his watery lowland home. He pined every day
and every night and locked himself up in his deep sorrow. As the
yearnings became stronger, as yearnings often do, he decided to part
with his fairy wife and go his own way. He took along with him fifty of
his children and left behind the other fifty with his erstwhile
estranged wife. They were never to meet again. The hurt was never healed
and some believe, not destined to be healed.
Old people will tell you, if you care to ask politely, that the Dragon
King and his fifty sons were the ancestors of the main ethnic Vietnamese
people.
The fifty left behind in the mountains with the fairy, who incidentally
died of a broken heart, were the ancestors of the ethnic minorities, who
are collectively referred to as "Montagnards" or "mountain people". Or
so they say.
Legends aside, the ongoing friction between the Montagnards who live in
the Central Highlands and the Vietnamese Government is no fairy tale.
Various human rights and religious groups have in recent months
suggested that the situation in the Central Highlands is deteriorating.
Human Rights Watch sounded alarm bells in early January and issued a
report accusing Vietnam of "mass arrests, torture and increasing
persecution of Christian Montagnards".
The Vietnamese Government has tersely rejected all the allegations as
"total fabrication" and has wisely chosen not to go into a media debate
on this issue. In this stalemate between the "highlanders and the
lowlanders" the reluctant and unappreciated midwife is Cambodia which is
now truly sucked into the problem - a problem not of its making. The
result is that Cambodia has come under severe pressure from various
Western interest groups and lobbies on the one hand and Vietnam on the
other.
It cannot be dismissed that Cambodia may end up displeasing one side or
the other, or both.
Ironically, Cambodia, vast numbers of whose citizens were themselves
refugees in Thailand not too long ago, has presumably succumbed to
Vietnamese pressure not to host any refugee camps along the common
border or to facilitate the entry of the Montagnards. Cambodia's tough
posture was demonstrated in December when a temporary Montagnard refugee
camp in Ratanakiri province bordering Vietnam was closed down and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had to move the
refugees to Phnom Penh.
In another show of determination, Cambodia also reinforced its
northeastern borders and the various checkpoints with Vietnam in early
January to stem the flow of the Montagnards, a move which immediately
earned the criticism of concerned pressure groups and the UNHCR. There
were also reports that Cambodian provincial police were, in the
meantime, instructed to recruit more officers to maintain
round-the-clock vigilance along the common border. To assist in this
surveillance exercise, the Vietnamese Government "generously" donated
motorcycles to the Cambodian provincial police.
The international community is aware of this festering problem but has
so far been reluctant to be drawn in.
They argue that the issue is strictly an internal problem of Vietnam
which they believe Hanoi is well equipped to resolve. The Montagnards
and their sympathisers, aware of the international reluctance to be
directly involved, are seeking ways to internationalise the problem
which they continue to insist is getting worse. To this end the
Montagnards have in recent months become more vocal and more determined
to capture the attention of the media which they see presently as the
best means of persuading the international community to become involved.
Not surprisingly, the latest group of Montagnards who escaped into
Cambodia have managed to secure media attention. Unlike previous groups
who highlighted religious discrimination as the main problem and were
willing to be resettled in third countries, the latest groups highlight
the illegal confiscation of their ancestral lands by Hanoi for coffee
cultivation and other commercial purposes as the main grievance. What
has captured media attention, however, is their insistence that they
intend to remain in Cambodia until the UN gets back their land. They
have refused all offers to be resettled in the US or elsewhere.
All involved parties are now focused on what will happen to the
Montagnards in their refusal to leave Cambodia until their grievances
are addressed.
Cambodia, which depends on donor assistance and is concerned about its
international image, is playing it as carefully as it possibly can. It
does not want to appear unhelpful or harsh in its treatment of the
Montagnards. At the same time it would prefer not to unnecessarily upset
Vietnam, its more powerful neighbour and old ally. All it wants is to
get the problem out of its court.
In this test of wills, it is the Montagnard refugees who are at a
disadvantage - they have no resources and limited support, they need
funds to be fed and lodged and, worse, they can be repatriated as
illegal immigrants as most, if not all, walked in through the border.
Moreover, the various interest groups who support them have limited
influence over Vietnam. These pressure groups realise that Vietnam can
afford to wait it out and are trying to make the wait as costly as
possible.
For the moment this looks like a lost cause for the Montagnards - their
grievances will fester on and media interest will decline until the next
big incident concerning the group comes to the fore. Unfortunately for
the Montagnards, no fairies or dragons have yet come to their help.
The writer was Singapore Ambassador to Cambodia from 2000-2004 and is
presently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies.
Copyright 2004 The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. All rights
reserved.
Dai Uy
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01/02/2005 | MONTAGNARD: MEP PANNELLA AND BONINO QUESTION THE EU
COOPERATION AGREEMENTS WITH CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM AFTER THE CONTINOUS
VIOLATIONA OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE MONTAGNARDS
Bruxelles, 1 February, 2005
Today the Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino, Members of the European
Parliament tabled an urgent Parliamentary question to the European
Commission regarding the confirmed violence and abuses suffered by the
Christian Montagnards in Vietnam during the Christmas festivities and by
refugees forcibly repatriated to Vietnam by Cambodian authorities.
In the Parliamentary question the two MEPs write: Several sources of
information both local and international, confirm the disrespect of UN
refugees Convention by the Cambodian authorities as regards the
Montagnard asylum seekers coming from Vietnam.
In particular Human rights Watch, in a report of last January 10, has
confirmed several episode of violation of fundamental rights of the
Montagnards: on the one hand the Montagnards seeking asylum in Cambodia,
are usually obliged to hide in the jungle at the border with Vietnam to
escape the forced repatriations carried out by the Cambodian authorities
in cooperation with the Vietnamese authorities; on the other, over the
last Christmas festivities, dozens of religious leaders and preachers
the Central Highlands of Vietnam who wanted to celebrate Christmas have
been arrested by the Vietnamese Government.
Finally Hon. Pannella and Bonino requested the European Commission on
the one hand, which initiatives will be taken to ensure the respect of
international law by the Cambodian Government, allowing UNHCR to reopen
immediately of the refugee camps in the regions bordering Vietnam, and
on the other whether it will continue to finance through the cooperation
agreements the Governments of Cambodia and Vietnam, notwithstanding the
clear and frequent violations of their international obligations in the
field of human rights.
Dai Uy
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Vietnam allows Protestant 'house churches' in Central Highlands
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will allow outlawed
Protestant "house churches'' in the restive Central Highlands to operate
if they renounce connections to a former guerrilla group that Hanoi has
accused of organizing massive anti-government protests, state-controlled
media reported Saturday.
Under the decree issued Friday, the house churches, which had been
banned by the government, will be allowed to operate if they revoke all
ties to FULRO, the French acronym for the United Front for the
Liberation of Oppressed Races, a guerrilla group that fought alongside
the Americans during the Vietnam War, Liberated Saigon newspaper said.
The underground churches are operated by followers of Dega
Protestantism, an unsanctioned form of evangelical Protestantism that
Vietnam has condemned as being linked to a separatist movement.
"If the religious followers there have pure religious needs, commit to
abiding by the law, do not work for the reactionary FULRO, and have no
connection to Dega Protestantism, the local governments will create
conditions for them to carry out normal religious activities at home or
at suitable places in their villages,'' the newspaper quoted the decree
as saying.
The prime minister called for local governments to "seriously and
effectively implement these specific tasks,'' but it was unclear exactly
when the decree would take effect.
The decree also said Protestant followers in Vietnam's northern
mountainous provinces will also be allowed to practice their religion.
However, the ruling calls for severe punishments against illegal
religious activities, and local governments will publicize the names of
those who disguise themselves as Protestant clergy to engage in
anti-government activities, the newspaper said.
Vietnam has been under extreme international pressure in the past year
over alleged religious repression and human rights abuses.
The U.S. government and the European Union have publicly condemned
Hanoi's poor human rights record.
Last Easter, thousands of mainly Christian ethnic minority villagers in
the Central Highlands - known as Montagnards - took to the streets to
protest against government confiscation of lands and repression of their
faith, triggering alarm in Vietnam's leadership.
Similar protests broke out in 2001.
The government placed the entire region under lockdown and sent in the
military and police to quell the uprising.
International human rights groups said at least 10 protesters were
killed, and condemned the beatings and arrests of dozens of other
Montagnards.
Vietnam maintains only two died.
Hanoi blamed the U.S-based Montagnard Foundation, led by a former FULRO
leader, Kok Ksor, with fomenting the unrest.
Ksor has maintained that his group is working for the rights of
indigenous people, who are among the country's poorest and most
disadvantaged groups.
Vietnam also cracked down hard on practitioners of Dega Protestantism,
forcing public renunciations of faith.
Hanoi maintains that no one is persecuted for religious reasons.
However, only six government-sanctioned religions are recognized and
permitted to worship.
Last year, Vietnam was named by the U.S. State Department as one of the
most intolerant countries in the world regarding religious freedom.
Under the designation, U.S. President George Bush has until March 15 to
decide whether to impose economic sanctions on Vietnam.
This month, Hanoi released two of its most prominent dissidents -
Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly and Dr. Nguyen Dan Que - as part of a Lunar
New Year prisoner amnesty. - AP
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Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
February 5, 2005
LENGTH: 606 words
HEADLINE: VIETNAM ISSUES INSTRUCTION ON PROTESTANTISM
BODY:
Text of report in English by Vietnamese news agency VNA web site
Hanoi, 4 February: Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has issued an
instruction guiding affairs concerning Protestantism.
In the instruction, the PM orders concerned ministries, services, and
provincial and municipal People's Committees to:
- Fully realize the party's lines and the state's legislation concerning
beliefs and religions, and policies on Protestantism, while actively
carrying out economic, cultural and social development projects for the
improvement of people's living conditions; and create more favourable
conditions for Protestant followers to adhere to their local
communities, thus encouraging them to get more deeply involved in local
economic, cultural and social development as well as national
construction and defence.
- Raise public awareness about the need to create favourable conditions
for the Protestant congregation to observe the party's policies and the
state's legislation concerning beliefs and religions so as to ensure
their religious practice in conformity with the law; encourage every
Protestant, cleric and adherent, to live a good religious and secular
life in the service of God, the fatherland and the nation.
- Ensure that each citizen's freedom of religious and belief practice is
observed; outlaw attempts to force people to follow a religion or deny
their religion; be determined to fight attempts by hostile forces to
abuse Protestantism to incite people to act subversively. Guide the
Vietnam Protestant Church (northern region) and the Vietnam Protestant
Church (southern region) to conduct their religious activities in line
with their charters and regulations and within the law.
For Protestants in the Central Highlands, southern Truong Son region and
central provinces: continue to consider and recognize eligible chapters
of the Vietnam Protestant Church (southern region) and then create
favourable conditions for them to build places of worship, and conduct
training and arrange clerics who will take charge of managing those
chapters that have been recognized by the law.
For people of ethnic minority groups in northern mountainous areas, who
have just adopted Protestantism: Considering their religious demands,
devise proper policies along the following lines.
For those Protestant followers who have practised their religion for
some time, they should be guided to practice their religion at home or
at a suitable place in hamlets and villages. When possible, Protestants
should be encouraged to practise their religion in accordance with the
law.
To announce publicly to religious believers those disguised Protestants
whose activities go against the nation and sow division among the people
as well as their illegal activities and the state's punishments and
clemency policies. As well, illegal missionaries will be strictly
punished in accordance with the law. Protestant cults and organizations,
which have not enough conditions under the requirements of the law to be
recognized, should be helped to register for religious practice with
communal and ward authorities.
The Protestant General Council will be permitted to recognize the legal
status of Protestant cults and organizations which have had pure
religious activities since 1975 and met all requirements of the law.
Ministers of all ministries and leaders of ministerial-level agencies
and governmental offices, and chairmen of the provincial and city
people's committees must be responsible for strictly implementing the
instruction.
Source: VNA news agency web site, Hanoi, in English 5 Feb 05
) BBC Monitoring
Dai Uy
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Montagnards: The Need for the UN Special Rapporteur on Refugees
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the government of
Vietnam, government of Cambodia and United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) on 25 January 2005 on the repatriation of the
Montagnard refugees from Cambodia once again reinforces the need for
appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of refugees.
Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, refugees' right to international
protection has collapsed with the advent of safe zones, safe countries
and dumping grounds such as Nauru and appointment of new immigration
officers such as Libya. Post September 11th events have made the
refugees more vulnerable. Yet, the refugee rights continue to be
considered at the United Nations mostly within the four walls of the
Headquarters of the UNHCR during its annual Executive Committee meeting.
The Executive Committee meeting where governments pledge funds to the
UNHCR is hardly the forum to discuss rights. In any event, as an
implementing agency, UNHCR spurns any criticism and carefully chooses
the NGOs its implementing partners to participate in the deliberations.
The UNHCR is increasingly becoming the most expensive humanitarian
agency, more so when it cannot have access to the refugees like most
humanitarian NGOs without the invitation of the host country.
Asia: Problem with MOU between Vietnam, Cambodia and UNHCR
The MOU signed on 25 January 2005 to find a final solution for some 750
asylum seekers belonging to the indigenous peoples of the Central
Highlands, who fled from Vietnam following a crackdown in April 2004
exemplifies the kind of access UNHCR promotes.
On the returnees, the MOU states, The Vietnamese side will be
responsible for transporting the returnees from the venue of readmission
to the localities of their residence before their departure to Cambodia.
UNHCR's access on the Vietnamese side at the time of repatriation
remains fundamental for safety and security of the returnees. Human
Rights Watch in its report, Vietnam: Torture, Arrests of Montagnard
Christians of 7 January 2005 documented the torture of the returnees who
fled following the crackdown in February 2001. Article 3 of the United
Nations Convention Against Torture prohibits refoulement of a person to
another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he
would be in danger of being subjected to torture and that for the
purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent
authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations
including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a
consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
For visits to the returnees at an appropriate time to be decided by
Vietnam, UNHCR committed to endeavour to obtain the necessary funds
internationally for infrastructure projects in the returnee localities.
This is basically rewarding the Vietnamese government for its repressive
policies and practices against the Montagnards which caused the exodus
and recognising the fact that exodus was caused by economic reasons and
not because of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass
violations of human rights as widely documented and reported. It is
another matter that without necessary control over the projects, UNHCR's
endeavours may accelerate Kinh-isation of the Central Highlands, further
intensify the conflicts and cause exodus of asylum seekers.
Ill-treatment of the Montagnard refugees by Cambodian government and
UNHCR is not new. After UNHCR pulled out of a repatriation agreement
with Hanoi and Phnom Penh on 22 March 2002 following resettlement of
about 1,000 ethnic minorities in the United States, the situation of the
Montagnard asylum seekers further deteriorated. Many asylum seekers were
tortured by Cambodian security forces and handed over to the Vietnamese
border guards until another major influx after April 2004 drew
international attention. As UNHCR closed its office in Rattanakiri,
asylum-seekers had to travel some 600 kilometres over land to reach
Phnom Penh. Despite such difficulties and repression, hundreds of
refugees managed to reach the Office of the UNHCR in Phnom Penh since
late 2003. UNHCRs role in providing assistance to these asylum seekers
remains questionable.
Following the collapse of the ceasefire between the Free Aceh Movement,
Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) and the Indonesian government in May 2003,
scores of Acehnese fled to Malaysia to seek asylum. Majority of the
Acehnese asylum seekers however cannot approach UNHCR due to fear of
arrest. In mid-September 2004, the police arrested 15 refugees from
outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur. In a similar crackdown in
August 2003, Malaysian police arrested and detained more than 200
Acehnese asylum seekers from outside the UNHCR office. According to
UNHCR by 1 October 2004, about 300 refugees are currently detained at
immigration detention centers in Malaysia. When Malaysia recently
launched the mass deportation of the socalled illegal immigrants, it
failed to make any distinction between the asylum seekers and the
illegal immigrants.
With the closure of the Dalai Lama Offices by Nepal, the Tibetan asylum
seekers have become more vulnerable. The Nepalese officials repeatedly
refouled the Tibetan asylum seekers. On 13 January 2004, three Tibetan
refugees, including one minor, were handed over to Chinese border police
by Nepalese officials at the Friendship Bridge border post at Dram.
Europe: Libya as the new Immigration Officer
In the post-September 11th, the asylum seekers and refugees have become
more vulnerable. The European Union, which promoted the rule of law
including the rights of the refugees, has been adopting anti-refugee
laws. Many European governments which were hitherto considered as
leaders on human rights have started questioning the absolute nature of
the prohibition against torture and principles of non-refoulement.
Taking advantage of the post September 11th period, many countries
across the world have been promoting illegal detention. Australia
legalised the exclusion and sought violent solution by dumping the
asylum seekers in Nauru and other Pacific Islands.
The European Union started its process to undermine the refugee rights
by identifying countries as safe and borrowing the discredited
Australian example to establish centres to process asylum-seekers
off-shore, in North African countries. And today, Libya, which has been
pariah of the international community until recently, has been upgraded
to be the immigration officer of the EU. In October 2004, hundreds of
newly arrived African and Middle Eastern nationals were speedily
returned from the Italian island of Lampedusa to Libya without adequate
safeguards. Hundreds of refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and
Liberia are being deported from Italy to Libya. The fact that Libya has
neither ratified the Refugee Convention nor established national asylum
procedures, does not seem to bother EU. Libya may as well ratify the
1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or develop national
law on refugees at the behest of the EU. UNHCR is unlikely to hesitate
to become an accomplice given its attempts to develop national laws on
refugees across the world. This is despite the fact that after months of
lobbying for a national law, Cambodia agreed to consider a law which
falls short of international law and UNHCR had to abandon the idea.
Africa: Erosion of refugees rights to international protection
Amnesty International in its February 2005 issue of the monthly The Wire
highlighted erosion of refugee rights in central Africa. It reported of
the lack of guarantees for safety and torture of refugees in Tanzania
where large number of refugees from the Great Lakes region notably
Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo sought refuge.
Amnesty International states, UNHCR changed its policy regarding
Rwandese refugees in September 2002. It now actively promotes their
voluntary repatriation. This decision was not based on objective
information regarding the human rights situation facing returning
refugees to Rwanda. Close to 25,000 Rwandese refugees were forcibly
repatriated from Tanzania in the last two months of 2002. The
international protection and assistance given to Rwandese refugees
currently in Tanzania is questionable. UNHCR has also considered
withdrawing the refugee status of Rwandese refugees by invoking
cessation clauses, thereby terminating their international protection.
The Need for the UN Special Rapporteur on Refugees
The refugees are one particular group of persons who are not discussed
at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR). The agenda item
14(c) of the CHR titled mass exoduses and displaced persons has been
reduced to internally displaced persons. At the 60th session, the
Commission on Human Rights considered only the reports (E/CN.4/2004/77
and Add.1-4) of the Representative of the Secretary-General on
internally displaced persons. However, the refugees across the world are
subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial executions and
refoulement.
There is a need to recognise and ensure respect for the rights of the
refugees. They must not be considered as a group of persons who require
charity. It is unfortunate that the rights of refugees are yet to be
discussed by the CHR. The 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights
must take decisive action for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on
the Rights of Refugees and discuss the refugee rights as a separate
sub-item of the agenda item 14 from the 62nd session onwards.
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MONTAGNARDS
The Montagnard people inhabit the central western mountains of Vietnam.
The total population includes 1.000.000 people. Its history goes back
some 2000 years. In that time the encroaching Vietnamese and Cham groups
slowly pushed the Degar people from the coastal plains to the central
mountains, where they still live today. Historically the Degar culture
revolved around small villages and kinship.
The Montagnard Foundation
The Montagnard Foundation Inc. (MFI) is a private, non-profit,
non-membership corporation based in the USA. The MFI objective as a
liberation movement in exile is to preserve the lives and the culture of
the indigenous Montagnard/Degar people. The strategy of the organization
is to monitor, restore and safeguard the human rights of the
Montagnard/Dagar people.
Brief history
More than 2,000 years ago, the Montagnard (which is French for
"mountaineer") people inhabited and were in possession of most of what
is now the 17th parallel in the north of Vietnam to the tip of Ca Mau in
the south, and from the eastern coastal plain of Vietnam to the central
western mountains ("the Central Highlands"). The Central Highlands
includes the provinces of Dalat, Daklak, Pleiku and Kontum.
Historically, the Degars world revolved around small villages where
resources were shared, kinship was important, leadership was
well-defined and moral order was expressed in systems of education and
justice that respected individual rights and dignity.
In 192 AD, ethnic Vietnamese occupied the Red River Delta along the
coast while the Cham people were found in the Hoanh Son mountain spur.
The Chams invaded our northern coastal areas of 1Danang in 875 - but
these people would not venture into the Central Highlands which was
populated by Degars. The Degar people's southern coastal region remained
untouched until the Vietnamese forced the Cham people to flee south to
Bien Hoa and Cambodia in 1697. Those Degar people living on the eastern
coastal plain were forced to flee into the Central Highlands.
The renowned anthropologist Dr Gerald Hickey stated in his book
entitled. Sons of the Mountains, "At no point did the Vietnamese in the
pre-twentieth century establish hegemony over the highlands". The
Vietnamese historically believed the Central Highlands were the abode of
evil spirits and the upland streams held the dreaded nuoc doc (meaning
"poisoned water") that caused malaria. For a time, the Degar people,
remained insulated in the Central Highlands - hunting, fishing and
practising swidden agriculture, and each Degar tribal group developed
its own distinct form of art, architecture, music and dance. It is noted
that the Montagnard people are presently comprised of over 40 hill
tribal groups and are distinct from the hill tribe peoples of the
northern mountainous region of Vietnam who are also referred to as
"Montagnards".
In 1876, France began exploring the Central Highlands and in 1899
established a small military administrative post at Ban Don. At this
time, there was no Vietnamese living in the Central Highlands. In 1918
the French first introduced the Vietnamese to the Central Highlands by
way of their Vietnamese servants.
On 27 May 1946, the French High Commissioner, George D'Argenlieu,
signed an ordinance that created the Federal Government for the
Montagnard people of South Indochina. This Ordinance provided that the
Central Highlands ceased to be "under the jurisdiction of the
commissariat of the Republic of South Annam". Later, the Central
Highlands were designated the Crown Domain of the Southern Highlanders
Country and put directly under the control of Bao Dai, the last king of
the Vietnamese to rule the court of Hue. On May 21, 1951, Bao Dai
created a special statute guaranteeing the Degar people, "free
evolution" in accordance with their traditions and customs.
Prior to 1954, the Degar people were allied to the French colonial
government in its war against the Viet Minh, the forces of Ho Chi Minh.
After 1954, and the division of the country into North and South
Vietnam, the government of South Vietnam facilitated the resettlement of
thousands of Vietnamese into the Central Highlands. The South Vietnamese
government, among other measures, eliminated the Degar people's tribal
courts and forcibly relocated villages from viable farming lands.
In 1957, Degar people formed a peaceful movement called Bajaraka
seeking autonomy for their people. In 1958, the government of South
Vietnam arrested and imprisoned the movement's leaders. In 1961, the
United States began recruiting Degars for military service and 40,000 in
total were recruited over the duration of the Vietnam War ("the War").
The Central Highlands was one of the main battlegrounds of the War. Dr
Hickey estimates that approximately 85 of the Degars' villages were
destroyed or abandoned and that over 200,000 Montagnards died, as a
consequence of the War. Today, approximately 500,000 Degar people live
in the Central Highlands.
During the War, a new Degar resistance movement was formed called
FULRO, which was based in Cambodia and fought against the South
Vietnamese government in an effort to gain autonomy for the Montagnard
people in the Central Highlands. It is noted that the Montagnards since
that time have called themselves Degar people (meaning "sons of the
mountain"). After 1975, FULRO continued to militarily resist the
Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ("the Vietnamese
Government") until 1992 when FULRO's last 400 members surrendered to the
United Nations in Cambodia.
Mr Ksor who was a member of the FULRO liberation movement since 1964 was
sent to the United States by the founder, and leader of FULRO, General
Y-Bham Enuol, with a mission of gaining the assistance of the
international community for the Degar people. He was directed and
empowered by the General to explore every peaceful avenue for the
reinstatement of the legitimate rights of the Degar people under
international law.
The Degar people's traditional way of life, historical struggle for
autonomy and alliances with France and the United States during the War
has resulted in their being regarded by the Vietnamese as "moi" or
savages and a threat to the internal security of Vietnam. Since the
reunification of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Government has committed gross
abuses of the human rights of the Degar people. The human rights abuses
suffered by the Degars include the following:
Summary executions and disappearances.
Arbitrary arrest, interrogations, beatings and torture (including the
harassment, arrest and interrogation of Degar human rights defenders).
Expropriation of ancestral territory without compensation and forcible
relocation to poor agricultural land without adequate water resources -
to make way for cash crops like coffee, deforestation and/or mining.
Degars have been beaten and killed as a consequence of land rights
disputes with lowland Vietnamese settlers residing in the Central
Highlands, with little protection being offered by Vietnamese
authorities.
Degar women have been offered money by Vietnamese authorities and
other persons to be sterilised, fined for refusing to be sterilised,
sterilised without their consent and have suffered injuries and died as
a consequence of such sterilizations.
Prohibitions on, and beatings and torture as a consequence of, Degars
practising religion.
Forced assimilation and restrictions on access to education,
employment and the use of government services.
Restrictions on freedom of movement in certain areas of the Central
Highland and theft of property by Vietnamese Government officials and
police.
Until 1992, foreign persons were restricted from entering the Central
Highlands. Since then, foreigners, predominantly tourists have been able
to access some parts of the region; some areas though are still
restricted. Independent organizations like Human Rights Watch have been
unable to enter Vietnam to monitor human rights. Mr Ksor, however, has
maintained and established links with the Degar people living in the
Central Highlands and remains in constant contact with his people by
telephone.
In early February 2001, thousands of Degar people peacefully
demonstrated in three of the Central Highlands' four provinces. In
response, the Vietnamese Government deployed military forces into the
Central Highlands and has since systematically arrested, interrogated,
beaten, tortured and terrorized the Degar people. Martial law is now
current policy in the region and the situation has deteriorated to such
an extent that Degars are fleeing across the border into Cambodia.
People, minority and ancestral territory
The Degar people are a "people". The demonstrations in the Central
Highlands by thousands of Degar people in February 2001, who called for
an end to the systematic abuses of their human rights, particularly
their rights to their ancestral territory and freedom of religion, and
their right to health, education and self-governance, evidences the
Degar people's desire and will to be identified as a "people" with a
"common destiny". The Degar people's common heritage is ethnic - they
are of Malayo-Polynesian and Mon-Khmer descent and are the indigenous
hill tribe people of Vietnam.
The Degar people are an ethnic minority - they still live on their
ancestral territory of the Central Highlands. However, in many instances
tribal groups that have occupied an area of the Central Highlands for
generations have been forcibly relocated to another area in the Central
Highlands (often insufficient agricultural land in size and quality to
feed extended Degar families). Mr Ksor has received some reports of
entire villages being demolished without any efforts being made to
relocate its Degar inhabitants.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.americandaily.com/article/6797
Cambodia Police Continue Selling Of Montagnard Refugees To Vietnamese
Police
By Jeremy Reynalds (02/11/05)
Hundreds of Montagnards have fled Vietnam for Cambodia to escape
ongoing persecution by the Vietnamese Government.
However, it appears that option is no longer available for the
Montagnards, the indigenous people of Vietnam's Central Highlands.
The Montagnard Foundation (www.montagnard-foundation.org) has received
information that Cambodian police are continuing to arrest and forcibly
return Montagnard asylum seekers back to Vietnamese police for cash
bounties.
According to a news release from the Montagnard Foundation, the latest
incidents involve 21 Montagnard Degar refugees.
In early Feb. 2005 six Montagnard Degar people were arrested and handed
over to Vietnamese police. They were arrested at Dat village in
Ratannakiri Province, Cambodia, according to information received by the
Foundation..
In late Nov. 2004 15 Montagnard Degar people were arrested and handed
over to Vietnamese police. They were arrested at Dat village in
Ratannakiri Province, Cambodia, according to information obtained by the
Montagnard Foundation.
The bounty paid by Vietnamese government to Cambodian police for these
refugees, the Montagnard Foundation reported, was 5 million Vietnamese
Dong (about $335 US).
According to the Montagnard Foundation, the Cambodian Police officer in
charge of the arrests, deportations and who also received the cash
payments from Vietnamese authorities was (reportedly) Major Mao Son.
Montagnard Foundation President Kok Ksor said in a press release,
"Human Rights Watch has already confirmed many of our people have been
tortured and imprisoned when they are returned to Vietnam and the
international community needs to protect our people now."
Scott Johnson, the Australian- based advisor to the Montagnard
Foundation said in the same release, "I have personally interviewed
Montagnard torture victims in Cambodia and refugees in the United States
and believe the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
international donors, including the US and Australian governments, need
to clearly take a stand on what is happening."
In the same news release, the Montagnard Foundation called on a variety
of countries and entities that included the United States, the European
Union, the Australian Government, the UNHCR and the Cambodian Government
to immediately conduct an investigation into the alleged incident
involving Major Mao Son.
Since 2001 thousands of Montagnards have fled to Cambodia to escape
persecution by the Vietnamese government, the Montagnard Foundation
wrote in the same news release.
Human Rights Watch agreed with the position taken by the Montagnard
Foundation. In early Jan. 2005 Brad Adams, executive director of Human
Rights Watch's Asia Division wrote
"(www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/09/vietna9967.htm), "The Vietnamese
government's mistreatment of Montagnards continues unabated ... Instead
of closing its borders to asylum seekers, the Cambodian government
should be working with the United Nations refugee agency to provide
sanctuary to people escaping torture and arbitrary arrest."
An earlier press release from the a press release from the Montagnard
Foundation said its officials are calling on the UNCHR(www.unhcr.org)
"and donor nations to urgently protect the Montagnard Refugees in
Cambodia and ensure they are not forcibly deported against their will to
Vietnam, and that Vietnam and Cambodia abide by the UN Refugee
Convention."
The Vietnamese government does not take kindly to public protests by
the Montagnards about their mistreatment. On April 10 2004, thousands of
Christian Montagnards conducted a peaceful prayer vigil inside Vietnam's
Central Highlands calling for an end to the ongoing persecution.
Vietnamese security forces attacked the demonstrators. Human Rights
Watch reported on May 28 2004, "Hundreds of demonstrators were wounded
and many were killed on April 10 and 11 on key bridges and roadways."
Additional information about the Montagnard Foundation is available at
www.montagnard-foundation.org/about-mfi.html
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-
terminal12feb12,1,6110055.story?coll=la-news-politics-california
Refugee Begins Trip Home
Wong Racom, 48, who was stranded at LAX for weeks on his way back to
Vietnam last fall, bids his friends farewell and resumes his journey.
By Bob Pool
Times Staff Writer
February 12, 2005
For over a month the stranded Vietnamese refugee slept and ate in the
Los Angeles International Airport terminal.
So it was a nostalgic moment when Wong Racom strolled one last time
this week through the Tom Bradley International Terminal to at last
catch a plane for home.
Airport workers who befriended the homesick Montagnard villager last
September, when they noticed him sleeping on a terminal bench, were
there to say goodbye.
So were LAX administrators who found temporary housing for him and
pulled strings to expedite the replacement of his lost travel
documents.
As the 48-year-old refugee prepared to board a Thai Airways plane on
the first leg of his trip home, workers pressed gifts into his hands
including $95 gathered in one last collection on his behalf.
Still, airport staffers were hoping that they won't see Racom ever
again.
"I'll miss you. I'll miss everyone," Racom said as he tugged at a
black duffel bag stuffed so full that it wouldn't zip shut. "But I'm
glad to leave. I'll be glad to meet my family again."
Last September and October it was an unexpected family of airport
police, airline employees and others who work at the Bradley Terminal
who came to Racom's rescue.
He and two friends had left a Vietnamese refugee resettlement camp in
North Carolina in hopes of returning home when his LAX adventure began.
Visa problems prevented the trio from boarding their flight, although
Racom's friends Nhuih Ksor, 40, and his brother-in-law, Hom Ksor, 51
were eventually able to catch a plane to Cambodia, by way of Taiwan.
But Racom had lost his refugee passport and North Carolina
identification card, which were required for boarding an international
flight. And on Sept. 20 he found himself stranded in the Bradley
Terminal.
Workers soon noticed him and began giving him meals at the terminal's
Hamada restaurant.
"They bought him food twice a day for 3 1/2 weeks cops and airport
people," said server Faviola Ochoa. Racom would point at the entrees to
indicate which he wanted, she said. "Poor dude. I'm rooting for him to
get home."
Airport police found a row of benches near a security checkpoint for
him to safely sleep on at night. Police Sgt. Vince Garcia summoned a
Vietnamese-speaking LAX telecommunications department worker, Trien
Nguyen, who was able to begin piecing together Racom's hard-luck story.
The villager explained that he was a coffee farmer in Vietnam and a
devout Christian. But when authorities arrested him for preaching
Christianity he fled custody and escaped to Cambodia, where he ended up
in a refugee center.
He was among 900 refugees who were resettled to North Carolina in
2002. There, Racom was put up in an apartment and hired as a laborer at
a T.J. Maxx distribution center near Charlotte.
Homesick, he and the Ksors applied for travel documents and saved
their money to buy $635 return tickets to Vietnam. Against the advice
of others in North Carolina's Vietnamese community, they abandoned
their apartments and jobs and headed for Los Angeles.
It was here that Racom lost his papers and ID card.
When airport police learned of the travel-document problem, Garcia and
other officers began collecting money to pay Racom's way to San
Francisco, in case he needed to go there to replace the missing papers.
Nancy Castles, an LAX public relations administrator, arranged for the
refugee to use shower facilities normally used by airport maintenance
workers.
She also found a vacant terminal room with a cot where he could sleep.
By late October social workers at the LAX Traveler's Aid office had
found lodging for Racom at an East Los Angeles-area homeless shelter.
"It's been the most unusual situation we've dealt with, and we've been
at this airport since 1950," explained Christine Okinaga, director of
Traveler's Aid volunteers.
In the meantime, Vietnamese-speaking LAX airport guide Cynthia Fuentes
helped Racom fill out forms to apply for a replacement refugee passport
from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.
Airport officials persuaded aides to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los
Angeles) to help expedite processing of the application, shortening
what normally is a nine-month process by nearly two-thirds.
Fuentes was there to say farewell to Racom when LAX telecom worker
Nguyen drove him from the shelter to the airport Wednesday.
So was Lacy Smith, superintendent of terminal operations at LAX, who
likened the refugee's dilemma to that of Tom Hanks' character in last
year's film "The Terminal." Except that "this one's a true story Š it
isn't a movie," as Smith put it.
Grinning, Racom pulled his wallet from his pocket and fished out five
small photographs. They were of his son and four daughters, who range
in age from 7 to 21.
"I haven't seen them in four years," he told Fuentes in Jerai, the
Montagnard dialect.
Castles asked that the refugee's departure not be publicized until
today, when presumably he has passed through Laos into Vietnam.
She said those in the Vietnamese resettlement community believe that
Racom will be rearrested when he returns home because authorities in
Vietnam were aware of the trio's intentions before they even left North
Carolina.
The refugee grapevine has reported that both Ksors have already been
taken into custody, she said.
As Racom waited for his flight, Castles handed him a stuffed animal
that her 7-year-old daughter, Laura, gave to take to his own
7-year-old. And she gave him the airport workers' $95 farewell gift.
"I have money to take the bus" from Laos to Vietnam, he said, smiling
broadly. "But I'd walk if I have to."
Displaying a worn Jerai-language Bible with a cover held together by
Band-Aids, he expressed confidence that he would soon be reunited with
his wife and children.
"I'm not afraid. God will protect me. I've been praying," he said as
Fuentes translated. "Thank you to everyone at the airport. I'm praying
for God to bless every one of you."
Soon, Racom turned and walked toward his plane. He didn't look back.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
X-URL: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/1256752.html
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Stranded refugee leaves LAX on uncertain journey home
A mountain tribesman from Vietnam who got stuck at LAX in September
finally takes off for Laos after being helped by airport personnel.
By Kristin S. Agostoni
Daily Breeze
For weeks the stranded traveler slept tucked inside a small room at Los
Angeles International Airport, a handful of donated blankets covering
his foldout bed.
Sympathetic employees delivered fast food and homemade meals.
Volunteers tried to teach him English. One local church even started a
collection to replace his lost ticket to Vietnam.
[The attachment advertisement_header.gif has been manually removed]
This week, with the help of the dozens of strangers who befriended him
over the course of several months, the Vietnamese refugee who attracted
national attention for living inside the Tom Bradley terminal boarded a
one-way flight to Bangkok and started his trip home.
It's been four years since he has spoken to his wife and five children,
and walked the coffee farm he left behind in Vietnam.
Despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead, this week the small, gentle
man pulled a well-worn black Bible from his jacket pocket and told a
translator his Christian faith would see him through.
"He said he's not afraid, because God will protect him, and he's been
praying for this day," said airport Visitors Service Representative
Cynthia Fuentes, who has managed to understand bits and pieces of his
obscure tribal dialect, Jerai.
"He said he'll pray that he'll meet them again."
The 48-year-old left Los Angeles with $150 in his pocket and a black
carry-on bag stuffed with snacks and beef jerky, enough food --
employees hoped -- to see him home. From Bangkok he'd board a
connection to Vientiane, Laos. But the last leg of the trip -- which he
hopes will lead him to his family -- only the lost traveler can know.
The man's story began to unravel in September after he and two friends
were denied boarding a China Airlines Flight from Los Angeles to
Taipei.
LAX officials learned they were Montagnards -- dubbed "mountain people"
by the French -- a group who befriended American soldiers during the
Vietnam War and have long been persecuted for their religious beliefs.
(The lost traveler said he'd once been arrested for preaching
Christianity, and he fled to Cambodia to avoid being jailed.)
Airport authorities believe the three men were among hundreds of
Montagnards who entered the Charlotte, N.C., area through a refugee
resettlement program organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops in 2002.
It landed them work at a retail distribution center and apartments
around Charlotte. But after two years adjusting to life in the South,
all three were intent on returning to Vietnam.
With tickets in hand and just enough cash in their pockets, the men
boarded the plane for Los Angeles, the first leg of a flight that would
ideally carry them to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Without visas to
enter, however, the men stayed grounded at LAX.
Officials believe that after days and nights sleeping on benches, the
man's two traveling companions eventually boarded a flight to Cambodia.
But because his travel papers went missing, he remained stuck --and
virtually anonymous --amid the constant flux of passengers traveling
in and out of LAX.
Airport employees reserved a closet-sized room for him to sleep until
space opened up at a local shelter. He lived there until this week,
when the mail delivered the replacement refugee passport that would
allow him to board a flight overseas.
Airport spokesman Nancy Castles, who had been working with others to
secure the traveler's lost documents, said she's sure the man will be
legally accepted by immigration officials in Laos. As a refugee, she
said, caseworkers have warned he wouldn't be permitted to repatriate to
Vietnam.
The traveler's inability to speak English and insistence on returning
to his native country almost backed airport employees and concerned
social workers up against a wall.
They helped him -- though somewhat reluctantly -- knowing the
uncertainty he'd face once he arrived in Vientiane.
"There's a sense of accomplishment that we face in assisting a
passenger," Castles said afterward. "But I think this is the first time
there exists a sense of uncertainty of what will happen to this person
once he's on his way."
As he sat in the terminal this week before boarding, the man said
calmly that once in Vientiane, he'd have enough money to catch a bus.
If he ran out, he told Fuentes, he'd simply walk.
As he spoke to his translator, the man pulled a stack of family
pictures out of his pocket. His wife and children -- he has four girls
and a boy, ages 7 to 21 -- "will be very pleased to see me," he said.
The man never named the mountain village where he came from. Fuentes
said she knows only that his family runs a coffee farm there, which
"doesn't even have an address."
"He said he cannot call," Fuentes said.
Someday, though, she hopes to find out if he ever made it home.
lon...@earthlink.net
actor who was in the movie "We Were Soldiers"?
Last I read, his family was trying to get him out of Vietnam.
Donna
NguoiCa...@aol.com
He was out years ago, in here :
lon...@earthlink.net
first person pictured on the left and is with his family in America
(?).
Donna
rect...@yahoo.com
three Montagnards choose to leave the United States to return to the
Central Highlands? How many others have done so? Anyone know?
Le Janitor
doubt very seriously if they went back to make money. You know the
'villages' around Kontum and Pleiku that the foreigners see are phony.
The Vietnamese are prolly right up there with Sad-damn Hussein (and his
treatment of the Kurds) when it comes to the ethnic Vietnamese of the
Central Highlands.
<rect...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1108490588....@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Dai Uy
rect...@yahoo.com wrote:
George, are you married? Do you have children? These men do.
They were able to escape, but their families were not, and the
Vietnamese will not permit their dependents to leave. You've got to
understand the strong ties these people feel to their families, clans,
tribes and ancestral lands. In addition, think just how difficult it
would be for you to try to adjust to a totally new culture. With some
4000 Montagnards now living in the US, it's surprising more than three
haven't wanted to return. Don't suggest that the persecution isn't
happening. There's ample credible information from numerous sources to
show that it is. Go see for yourself -- if you can.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2030
Montagnards Face Trials or Death in Vietnam
The indigenous Montagnards (Degar) Peoples have suffered decades of
persecution by the communist government of Vietnam, namely; confiscation
of their ancestral lands, religious repression, torture, killings and
unjust imprisonment. Human Rights Watch has recorded the names of 188
Montagnards who had received harsh prison sentences of up to thirteen
years since 2001 for their Christian religious activities, participation
in peaceful protests, or for attempting to flee to Cambodia. Cambodian
authorities continue to arrest and deport Montagnards who flee the
troubled central highlands and those returned to Vietnam suffer
continued persecution.
Montagnard Christian dies after release from prison:
1 - Y-Kuot Enuol, DOB unknown, from Buon Dha Prong village, Buonmathuot,
Daklak province was arrested on 30 April 2004 and accused of
participating in the Easter Vigil Prayer of 10-11 April 2004. He was
imprisoned at the old radio station in Buonmathuot City and subjected to
prolonged electric shock torture and beatings. He suffered severe
medical problems including three broken ribs and was denied medical
treatment. On 10 November 2004 he was released from prison to return to
his family, however on 25 November 2004 some two weeks later he
mysteriously died in his village.
2 - Y-Jan Enuol was born in 1957, from the village of Buon Dha Prong,
Buonmathuot, Daklak province. He was arrested and imprisoned at the old
radio station prison's facility in Buonmathuot on April 14, 2004. On
October 4, 2004 he was released from prison to return to his family,
however on November 5, 2004 one month later he mysteriously died in his
village. His family believed that the Vietnamese officials had poisoned
his food before he was released.
MFI has received information from numerous sources inside the Central
Highlands that many Montagnard Degar people who have been released from
prison died soon after, some in a few weeks or months. Many mysteriously
became paralyzed or went insane because they had been injected with some
type of chemical by Vietnamese authorities whilst in captivity. Others
have died due to their injuries from being severely tortured. It is
still commonly reported amongst our people that thousands of our people
have been murdered in this way since 1975 and at the moment we are
seeking to document these reports for victim's families and post it on
the Montagnard Foundation website.
Secret Trials on 31 January 2005 - 15 Montagnard Degar people
imprisoned: On 31 January 2005 at the provincial court of Daklak, the
Vietnamese authorities tried and sentenced 15 Montagnard Degar people to
long prison terms. At this point we only know five of the names: Among
their crimes were; owning a cell phone, participating in the Easter
Prayer vigil, refusing to join the Government approved Protestant
Church (ECVN) or for hiding in the forest.
Nguin Knul, DOB 1968, from Buon Ecam village, district Krong Ana, Daklak
province. He was sentenced from 5 to 10 years imprisonment.
Dham Eban, DOB unknown, from Buon Ju village, Buonmathuot, DakLak
province. He was sentenced from 5 to 10 years imprisonment.
Tul Enuol, DOB 1966, from Buon Ecam village, district Krong Ana, Daklak
province. He was sentenced from 5 to 8 years imprisonment.
Suan Buon Ya, DOB 1968, from Buon Ecam village, district Krong Ana,
Daklak province. He was sentenced from 5 to 8 years imprisonment.
Rit Nie, DOB 1972, from Buon Poc village, district Cu Mgar, Daklak
province. He was sentenced from 5 to 8 years imprisonment.
THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION CALLS ON THE UNITED STATES, EUROPEAN UNION,
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT, UNHCR AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES TO:
- Take necessary action to protect the Montagnard Refugees in Cambodia
and ensure Montagnard asylum seekers are not forcibly deported against
their will and that Vietnam and Cambodia abide by the UN Refugee
Convention.
- Take necessary action to ensure that Montagnard asylum seekers
screened out from being accepted as refugees are not forced back to
Vietnamese authorities.
- Strongly urge Vietnam to immediately release Montagnard Prisoners who
have been imprisoned for practicing Christianity, for participation in
peaceful protests, or for attempting to flee to Cambodia.
- Strongly urge Vietnam to abide by the 2002 Concluding Observations of
the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the "serious violations" facing
the Montagnard peoples (UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) and that Vietnam allow
human rights monitors access to the central highlands.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA022705.3A.stinson.e888
8bbc.html
Where have all the flower children gone? Vietnamese government officials
have released from prison Nguyen Dinh Huy, a professor who spent 17
years in jail for trying to organize a conference on democracy in Ho Chi
Minh City. A quick check of Express-News databases found that in America
during those 17 years, there was not a single protest march or campus
demonstration to call attention to his incarceration.
Faith-based lack of initiative. Hanoi officials also released the Rev.
Nguyen Van Ly, a 59-year-old Catholic priest who was imprisoned in 2001
after being convicted of "sabotage of unity." His offense: urging the
U.S. Congress to link religious freedom to a bilateral trade pact with
Vietnam. A database search turned up no reports of American clerics'
publicly scathing or scolding Father Ly's jailers. However, I found
numerous accounts of God's anointed beating up George W. Bush for his
takedown of Saddam Hussein.
Remember the noble Viet Cong? Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch continues
to report atrocities by the Vietnamese government, including (1) a
"crackdown on indigenous Montagnards in the Central Highlands in which
hundreds of people have been arrested and some tortured" and (2) an
attack on a Mennonite congregation in which government agents "set fire
to the pastor's house and chapel" and arrested the pastor's pregnant
wife, who was "hit in the stomach and stepped on while in custody."
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/27/opinion/edpringle.html
Where the forests are vanishing
James Pringle International Herald Tribune
Monday, February 28, 2005
씤씤
Vietnam I
PLEI ME, Vietnam Amid the choking red dust of this former U.S. Special
Forces camp in Vietnam's Central Highlands, migrants from the
overpopulated north move slowly with their portable minesweepers,
searching for shell casings and bombs.
When the detector, hired from the Vietnamese Army, starts going
"bi-bi-bi-bi," another settler moves in, swinging a pick into the rich
soil. That's the moment to move off smartly. "We didn't strike lucky
yesterday," one calls. "We hope for better today."
Unsurprisingly, recent graves, marked with stakes, dot the abandoned
camp.
Digging up mines is a tough way to make a living, but the Vietnamese
say that up north, there are few jobs, low pay and too many people.
The detritus of U.S. Special Forces battles lies around: ancient boots,
sandbag strands and a fragmented Claymore mine showing the raised
letters "owa," from what once was the instructional phrase "This side
tOWArd enemy" - a forgotten foe of 40 years ago.
One looks west toward the Ia Drang Valley, where, in 1965, the first
great battle of the Vietnam War was fought between the Americans and the
North Vietnamese, depicted in "We Were Soldiers," a film starring Mel
Gibson. The movie portrayed an ambiguous American victory, but it was
more a brutally fought draw. The American and Vietnamese commanders have
since returned there to chew it over together.
Ia Drang, near the Cambodian border, is in forbidden territory now,
because of sporadic and violent unrest since 2001, with arrests,
injuries and possibly deaths among the Montagnards, as the French, then
the Americans, called the country's ethnically distinct hill tribes.
Road blocks seal the main route to the frontier.
While the Vietnamese settlers, traveling on bullock carts, like to
banter ("Don't take our picture; we're not pretty enough"), in Jarai
tribal villages near Plei Me, people turn away from foreigners, casting
down their eyes. They are forbidden to speak to outsiders, and
plainclothes policemen on motorbikes enforce that silence.
But the situation varies from place to place. At Kontum, another
Highlands town, one drinks rice wine by firelight with hospitable Bahnar
tribespeople. Ethnic minorities, 10 percent of Vietnam's population, now
all speak Vietnamese, even mostly dress like Vietnamese, who nowadays
outnumber them in the Highlands.
Diplomatic sources agree there's been some positive improvement
recently in Hanoi's handling of Montagnard grievances, but they say
minorities still feel anxiety over discrimination, the newcomers' thirst
for land and the repression of some Christian worship.
The huge, haunted forests of sudden mists one flew over in the Vietnam
War have largely disappeared. Elephants, once used by the Emperor Bao
Dai for hunting expeditions, then targeted by American airstrikes as
they - poor unwitting beasts - portered munitions for the North
Vietnamese, have almost vanished, leaving only some for tourist treks.
Forest depredation began long ago - first the hilltribes'
slash-and-burn cultivation, then the French rubber plantations. Next
came the Americans, with Agent Orange, napalm and B-52 carpet-bombing.
Now it's the Vietnamese, fleeing overcrowding in the Red River Delta,
who cut down trees to grow coffee, tea, cashews, cacao, manioc and
pepper. Sometimes they buy land from Montagnards, who may not know its
worth but wish to purchase motorbikes or consumer durables. Then the
tribal sellers get sick and broke, and complain to authorities that they
can't afford proper medical care.
This is a genuine headache for Hanoi, now waking up to its problems,
and it orders newcomers not to buy tribal property. But with Vietnam's
slowly expanding freedoms, it becomes harder to control a burgeoning,
land-hungry population of 82 million.
Numbers of Montagnards, claiming persecution of unsanctioned
evangelical Protestant churches that sometimes preach forbidden
self-rule, have fled to Cambodia, some seeking resettlement in America,
others hoping to return when crackdowns, which some claim include
torture, come to an end.
Meanwhile, only churches recognized by the regime can operate legally.
Problems are exacerbated as some U.S.-based Montagnards, whose fathers
fought with the American Special Forces on the war's losing side, seek
to destabilize this fragile situation.
As the jungle and its wildlife vanish, locals wonder if tourists will
keep coming. Vietnamese government billboards forlornly warn: "If the
world has no forests, then its people have no lungs."
True enough, but now it's a question of sheer survival.
(James Pringle covered the Vietnam War for three years for Reuters.)
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/28/vietna10217.htm
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Religious Freedom in
Vietnam
February 28, 2005
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
We are writing to recommend specific benchmarks that the State
Department can articulate in talks with the Government of Vietnam over
that countrys designation as a Country of Particular Concern under the
1998 International Religious Freedom Act.1 Reinforcing the U.S.
governments concern with religious freedom is especially important now.
Despite a few well-timed gestures earlier this month, such as the
release of two prominent religious prisoners and a directive to stop
forcing Protestants to recant their faith, Vietnam has in all other
respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies, imprisoning
and persecuting believers of religions who attempt to peacefully and
independently practice their faiths.
Since the U.S. granted normal trade relations status to Vietnam in 2001,
Vietnams track record on respecting religious freedom and other
fundamental human rights has continued to deteriorate. The Vietnamese
government brands all unauthorized religious activitiesparticularly
those that it fears may attract large followingsas potentially
subversive. Targeted in particular are ethnic minority Protestants,
Mennonites, and members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
(UBCV).
Persecution of Minority Christians
Despite the recent high-profile prisoner releases, the Vietnamese
government continues to arrest and imprison ethnic minority Protestants
in the northwestern provinces and Central Highlands. Human Rights Watch
has documented the arbitrary arrest and torture of ethnic minority
Protestants, as well as persistent reports of officials forcing minority
villagers to abandon their religion and cease all political or religious
activities in public self-criticism sessions or by signing written
pledges. 2
Ethnic Hmong Christians in the northwest provinces have been beaten,
detained, and pressured by local authorities to abandon their religion
and cease religious gatherings. At least ten Hmong Christians remain in
detention in Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces. Human Rights Watch has
received credible reports of the beating deaths in 2002 and 2003 of two
Hmong Christians by authorities who were pressuring them to renounce
their faith. The military presence in several villages in Lai Chau has
increased recently, causing many Hmong Christians to flee from their
homes.
In the Central Highlands, the government has increased its persecution
of members of ethnic minorities (collectively known as Montagnards),
particularly those thought to be following Dega Protestantism. This is a
form of evangelical Christianity, banned by the Vietnamese government,
which links it to the Montagnard movement for return of ancestral lands,
religious freedom, and self-rule. Since 2001, when thousands of
Montagnards first joined widespread protests for land rights and
religious freedom, the government has launched an official campaign to
eradicate Dega Protestantism. 3
The governments crackdown against Dega Protestantism which it charges
is a political movement and not a religion - has impacted all Montagnard
Christians, whether they are Dega supporters or not.
Since 2001 more than 180 Montagnard Christians not only Dega church
activists, but pastors, house church leaders, and Bible teachers as well
- have been arrested and sentenced to prison terms of up to thirteen
years. Many have been imprisoned on charges that they are violent
separatists using their religion to sow divisions among the people and
undermine state and party unity. There is no evidence that the Dega
church movement has ever advocated violence. By arresting and
imprisoning people for their religious beliefs or peaceful expression of
their views, Vietnam is in violation of the International Convention on
Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a party.
Mennonites Jailed
Members of the Mennonite Church have also come under fire in recent
years, in part because of the outspoken and at times confrontational
style of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, the activist leader of the Mennonite
Church in Vietnam. He has publicly criticized the arrests of religious
and political dissidents, defended land rights cases of farmers from the
provinces and used the Internet to call for religious freedom. Quang and
three other Mennonites currently remain in prison on charges of
resisting police officers after a scuffle broke out in March 2004 with
undercover policemen who had been monitoring their Ho Chi Minh City
church. Mennonites in other parts of the country have also encountered
difficulties. On two separate occasions during 2004, officials in Kontum
province bulldozed a Mennonite chapel that doubled as the home and
office of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, superintendent of the Mennonite
churches in the Central Highlands. In September and October 2004, police
pressured Mennonites in Kontum and Gia Lai provinces to sign forms
renouncing their religion.
Abuses against Buddhists
While one UBCV monk, Thich Thien Mien, was included in the recent Tet
New Year prisoner amnesty, the government continues to persecute UBCV
members and withhold any recognition of this group, once the largest
organization of the majority religion in the country. In 2003, four UBCV
monks were formally sentenced without trial to two years administrative
detention. Many other UBCV members remain confined without charges to
their pagodas, which are under strict police surveillance. Their phone
lines are cut or monitored and movement in and out of the pagodas is
restricted. Members of the Hoa Hao sect of Buddhism have also been
subject to police surveillance and at least one Hoa Hao member,
eighty-seven-year-old Ngo Quang Vinh, remains in prison. The sect was
granted official status in May 1999, although government appointees
dominate an eleven member Hoa Hao Buddhism Representative Committee
established at that time.
Long-term Imprisonment of Catholics
While relations between Vietnam and the Vatican have improved in recent
years, the government continues to restrict the number of Catholic
parishes, require prospective seminarians to obtain government
permission before entering the seminary, and maintain defacto veto power
over Roman Catholic ordinations and appointments. Roman Catholic Father
Nguyen Van Ly, recipient of the Hellman/Hammett award for persecuted
writers, was among those released in this months prisoner amnesty. At
least three other Catholics members of the Congregation of the Mother
Co-Redemptrix continue to serve twenty year prison sentences imposed in
1987 for conducting training courses and distributing religious books
without government permission. They were convicted of security offenses,
including conducting propaganda to oppose the socialist regime,
undermining the policy of unity, and disruption of public security. The
group includes sixty-four-year-old Father Pham Minh Tri, who has been
imprisoned at Z30A prison in Dong Nai for the last eighteen years,
despite suffering dementia for most of the past decade.
Legal and Policy Developments
As the deadline for finalizing the CPC consultations approaches, in
recent weeks the Vietnamese government has issued public statements
encouraging government and Party officials to consider and recognize
eligible chapters of Protestant house church groups in ethnic minority
areas as long as they meet the legal requirements. In February, the
Prime Minister issued Instruction No. 01/2005, Guiding Protestant
Religious Organizations. It contains some positive elements, such as its
prohibition of attempts to force Protestants to deny their religion.
However, as with the November 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religion,
the Instruction advances Vietnams official stance that religious freedom
is a privilege to be requested and granted by the government, rather
than a fundamental human right.
Instruction No. 01/2005 requires religious organizations to obtain
government permission in order to operate, and in an ominous tone, it
instructs officials to fight attempts by hostile forces to abuse
Protestantism to incite people to act subversively.
The 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions requires that all religious
groups be officially approved and subject to government control, and
bans any religious activity deemed to threaten national security, public
order or national unity. It gives weight to the governments systematic
campaign to ban peaceful independent religious groups who practice their
faith outside of state-sanctioned institutions or whose governing boards
are not approved and controlled by the government.
In addition, Vietnams Penal Code, as amended in 1999, criminalizes
religious activities that are deemed to threaten national security,
public order, and national unity. Many of these provisions trample
fundamental rights and Vietnams own treaty commitments, for example, by
making peaceful dissent or unsanctioned religious acts a crime. Some are
so vaguely worded that they invite abusive application.4 Invoking
national security or national unity allows the state to assert
comprehensive control over religious matters and to penalize, arrest,
and imprison disfavored religious leaders and followers at will. The
Penal Code has no exemption for peaceful dissent or expression that is
not an incitement to violent acts, jeopardizing those who merely
exercise their legitimate rights to freedom of opinion or expression. 5
Proposed Benchmarks
We propose that the following benchmarks be used in the State
Departments evaluation of Vietnams progress in improving its respect for
religious freedom. Before lifting Vietnams CPC status, the Department of
State should establish that the government of Vietnam has taken the
following concrete steps:
1. Allow independent religious organizations to freely conduct religious
activities and govern themselves. Churches and denominations that do not
choose to join one of the officially-authorized religious organizations
whose governing boards are under the control of the government should be
allowed to independently register with the government.
2. Release or grant amnesty to all people imprisoned or detained because
of their non-violent religious beliefs and practices.
3. Investigate and punish those responsible for all instances of
violence against religious believers, including by civilians acting in
concert with government officials. Such incidents include the violent
suppression of the April 2004 protests by Montagnards in the Central
Highlands, and reports of torture, beatings, and killings of ethnic
minority Protestants, including the beating deaths of Hmong Christians
Mua Bua Senh and Vang Seo Giao in 2002 and 2003 in Lai Chau and Ha Giang
provinces, respectively.6
4. Investigate reports of suppression of Protestants, including
arbitrary detention of Mennonites and evangelical Christians. Those
responsible for these violations should be brought to justice.
5. Investigate reports of torture and beatings, including beating
deaths, of ethnic minority Christians in both the northwestern provinces
and the Central Highlands, and bring those responsible to justice. Cease
the repression of ethnic minority Protestants, including bans on
religious gatherings and other meetings, pressure to renounce ones
faith, mandatory participation in non-Christian rituals, destruction of
churches by local authorities and security officials, and abusive police
surveillance of religious leaders.
6. Ensure that all domestic legislation addressing religious affairs is
brought in conformity with international law, such as the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Amend provisions in domestic law
that criminalizes certain religious activities on the basis of
imprecisely-defined national security crimes.
7. Amend the 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religion to include a
provision that prohibits forced renunciation ceremonies by government
officials, linked to specific disciplinary measures for offenders.
8. Permit outside experts, including those from the United Nations and
independent international human rights organizations, to have access to
religious followers in Vietnam, including members of denominations not
officially recognized by the government.
9. Invite the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, the U.N.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Torture to visit Vietnam to investigate violations of religious freedom
and other rights abuses committed against members of churches that are
not officially sanctioned by the government.
We urge you to send a strong message to the Vietnamese government that
the U.S. will not tolerate Vietnams violations of the right to religious
freedom. We hope our concerns will be taken into account as the U.S.
conducts its consultations with Vietnam in regard to improving its
record on upholding the right to religious freedom.
Sincerely,
Brad Adams
Asia Director, Human Rights Watch
[1]The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act defines particularly
severe violations of religious freedom as systematic, ongoing, egregious
violations of religious freedom, including violations such as torture,
degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges,
abduction or clandestine detention, or other flagrant denial of the
right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.
[2]See Human Rights Watch, Vietnam: Torture, Arrests of Montagnard
Christians: A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, January 10, 2005.
[3]For example, see Vietnamese Communist Party, Material to Propagandize
and Fight Against the Scheme of the Enemy Forces to Establish an
Independent Dega Country and Dega Protestantism, Cu Mgar District, Dak
Lak, October 22, 2002. Original document on file at Human Rights Watch.
[4]Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, cited in A Selection
of Fundamental Laws of Vietnam, the Gioi Publishers, Hanoi, 2001.
[5]See the report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which
visited Vietnam in 1995. Commission on Human Rights, Question of the
Human Rights of All Persons Subjected to Any Form of Detention or
Imprisonment, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Visit to Vietnam,
E/CN.4/1995/31/Add.4, January 18, 1995.
[6]See Human Rights Watch, Vietnam: Violence against Montagnards during
Easter Week Protests, April 14, 2004; and Montagnards Under Lockdown:
Independent Investigation of Easter Week Atrocities Needed Now, May 28,
2004.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
X-URL:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/e319a15d3967bcd571c02a96f111
6535.htm
Vietnam: Action Needed Now to End Religious Persecution
28 Feb 2005 21:50:17 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch
(New York, February 28, 2005) The U.S. needs to spell out specific
actions that Vietnam should take to improve its dismal religious rights
record, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice . The U.S. is currently engaged in
talks with Vietnam over its designation as one of the worst violators of
religious rights in the world. Last September the U.S. State Department
designated Vietnam as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) for its
systematic and egregious abuse of religious freedom under the 1998
International Religious Freedom Act. Consultations on religious freedom
between the U.S. and Vietnam are slated to end on March 15, 2005.
Religious repression in Vietnam was highlighted in the State
Department's own annual human right report, which is being released
today.
"Despite a few well-timed goodwill gestures, such as the recent release
of several religious prisoners, Vietnam has in all other respects
continued its exceptionally repressive policies," said Brad Adams, Asia
Director of Human Rights Watch. "Vietnam is notorious for persecuting
and imprisoning believers of religions who attempt to peacefully and
independently practice their faith."
The Vietnamese government imposes strict controls over religious
organizations and treats leaders of unauthorized religious groups with
intense suspicion, branding many of them as subversives. Targeted in
particular are ethnic minority Christians, Mennonites, and members of
the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV).
Ethnic Hmong Christians in the northwest provinces have been beaten,
detained, and pressured by local authorities to renounce their religion
and cease religious gatherings. At least ten Hmong Christians remain in
detention in Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces. Recently the military
presence in several villages in Lai Chau has increased recently, causing
many Hmong Christians to flee from their homes.
In the Central Highlands, the government has increased its repression
of Montagnard Christians, particularly those thought to be following
"Dega Protestantism." This is a form of evangelical Christianity, banned
by the Vietnamese government, which links it to the Montagnard movement
for return of ancestral lands, religious freedom, and self-rule.
Since 2001 more than 180 Montagnard Christians not only Dega church
activists, but pastors, house church leaders, and Bible teachers as well
- have been arrested and sentenced to prison, many on charges that they
are violent separatists using their religion to "sow divisions among the
people" and "undermine state and party unity." There is no evidence that
the Dega church movement has ever advocated violence. By arresting and
imprisoning people for their religious beliefs or peaceful expression of
their views, Vietnam is in violation of the International Convention on
Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a party.
While one UBCV monk was included in a recent Tet New Year prisoner
amnesty, the government continues to persecute UBCV members and withhold
any recognition of this group, once the largest organization of the
majority religion in the country. Many UBCV members remain confined
without charges to their pagodas, which are under strict police
surveillance.
Mennonites in Vietnam have also encountered difficulties. Four
Mennonites currently remain in prison on charges of resisting police
officers after a scuffle broke out in March 2004 with undercover
policemen who had been monitoring their Ho Chi Minh City church. On two
separate occasions during 2004, officials in Kontum province bulldozed a
Mennonite chapel. In September and October 2004, police pressured
Mennonites in Kontum and Gia Lai provinces to sign forms renouncing
their religion.
While relations between the Vatican and Vietnam have warmed in recent
years, at least three Roman Catholics remain in prison, where they are
serving long prison sentences for conducting training courses and
distributing religious books without government permission. They include
sixty-four-year-old Father Pham Minh Tri, who has been imprisoned at
Z30A prison in Dong Nai for the last eighteen years, despite suffering
dementia for most of the past decade.
As the deadline for finalizing the CPC consultations approaches,
earlier this month the Prime Minister issued Instruction No. 01/2005,
"Guiding Protestant Religious Organizations." It outlaws attempts by
officials to force Protestant to abandon their religion, a practice
Human Rights Watch has documented among ethnic minority Christians for
years.
However, as with the Ordinance on Beliefs and Religion passed last
year, this latest directive continues to require religious organizations
to obtain government permission in order to operate, advancing Vietnam's
official stance that religious freedom is a privilege to be requested
and granted by the government, rather than a fundamental human right.
"Hanoi needs to commit itself to deep-seated reform and meaningful
action, rather than token gestures," said Adams. "There are hundreds of
religious prisoners waiting for release, and thousands more people
waiting for the right to express their beliefs and practice their faith."
The International Religious Freedom Act offers the President a menu of
options to address abuses in countries designated as CPC, ranging from
public condemnation, limiting certain kinds of assistance, to full
sanctions. In addition to Vietnam, countries designated as CPC this year
include China, Burma, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and
Eritrea.
"The Bush Administration needs to send a strong message to the
Vietnamese government that the U.S. will not tolerate this kind of
persecution," said Adams. "The U.S. should make sure that any pledges
made during these consultations are backed up by prompt action on the
part of the Vietnamese authorities."
Proposed Benchmarks The current talks between the U.S. and Vietnam aim
to outline specific steps for Vietnam to take to improve its record on
religious freedom, thereby avoiding stronger penalties by the U.S.,
including economic sanctions.
Human Rights Watch proposes that the State Department should make sure
that the government of Vietnam has taken the following concrete steps as
it evaluates Vietnam's progress in improving its respect for religious
freedom:
Allow independent religious organizations to freely conduct
religious activities and govern themselves. Churches and denominations
that do not choose to join one of the officially-authorized religious
organizations whose governing boards are under the control of the
government should be allowed to independently register with the
government.
Release or grant amnesty to all people imprisoned or detained
because of their non-violent religious beliefs and practices.
Investigate and punish those responsible for all instances of
violence against religious believers, including by civilians acting in
concert with government officials. Such incidents include the violent
suppression of the April 2004 protests by Montagnards in the Central
Highlands, and reports of torture, beatings, and killings of ethnic
minority Protestants in both the central and northern highlands.
Investigate reports of suppression of Protestants, including
arbitrary detention of Mennonites and evangelical Christians. Those
responsible for these violations should be brought to justice.
Ensure that all domestic legislation addressing religious affairs
is brought in conformity with international law, such as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Amend provisions
in domestic law that criminalizes certain religious activities on the
basis of imprecisely-defined "national security" crimes.
Amend the 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religion to include a
provision that prohibits forced renunciation ceremonies by government
officials, linked to specific disciplinary measures for offenders.
Permit outside experts, including those from the United Nations
and independent international human rights organizations, to have access
to religious followers in Vietnam, including members of denominations
not officially recognized by the government.
Invite the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, the
U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on Torture to visit Vietnam to investigate violations of
religious freedom and other rights abuses committed against members of
churches that are not officially sanctioned by the government.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1427/section/hrw.issues.sta
tement.on.religious.freedom.in.vietnam/1.htm
HRW Issues Statement on Religious Freedom in Vietnam
''Despite a few well-timed gestures earlier this month [...] Vietnam has
in all other respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies''
Tuesday, Mar. 1, 2005 Posted: 7:14:23PM EST
¸Despite a few well-timed gestures earlier this month, such as the
release of two prominent religious prisoners and a directive to stop
forcing Protestant Christians to recant their faith, Vietnam has in all
other respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies, New
York-based Human Rights Watch reported Monday.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding Religious
Freedom in Vietnam, HRW said Vietnams track record on respecting
religious freedom and other fundamental human rights has continued to
deteriorate since the U.S. granted normal trade relations status to
Vietnam in 2001.
The Vietnamese government brands all unauthorized religious
activitiesparticularly those that it fears may attract large
followingsas potentially subversive, HRW stated in the Feb. 28 letter.
Although Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures in recent weeks
including the release of several high-profile prisoners just before the
first day of the Lunar New Year, HRW claimed that the Vietnamese
government continues to arrest and imprison ethnic minority Protestants
in the northwestern provinces and Central Highlands.
Human Rights Watch has documented the arbitrary arrest and torture of
ethnic minority Protestants, as well as persistent reports of officials
forcing minority villagers to abandon their religion and cease all
political or religious activities in public self-criticism sessions or
by signing written pledges, the group reported.
The organization also claimed that ethnic Hmong Christians in the
northwest provinces have been beaten, detained, and pressured by local
authorities to abandon their religion and cease religious gatherings. At
least ten Hmong Christians remain in detention in Lai Chau and Ha Giang
provinces, HRW reported.
In the Central Highlands, the government has increased its persecution
of members of ethnic minoritiescollectively known as
Montagnardsparticularly those thought to be following Dega
Protestantism. According to HRW, the governments crackdown against Dega
Protestantismwhich it charges is a political movement and not a
religionhas impacted all Montagnard Christians, whether they are Dega
supporters or not. Since 2001, when thousands of Montagnards first
joined widespread protests for land rights and religious freedom, the
government has launched an official campaign to eradicate Dega
Protestantism.
Members of the Mennonite Church have also come under fire in recent
years, in part because of the outspoken and at times confrontational
style of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, the activist leader of the Mennonite
Church in Vietnam. Quang, who also served as an active member of the
Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, has publicly criticized the arrests
of religious and political dissidents, defended land rights cases of
farmers from the provinces and used the Internet to call for religious
freedom.
On Nov. 12, Quang and five others were sentenced to prison for inciting
people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties. Nguyen
Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, who were also among the Mennonite Six
that were handed sentences in Novembers trial, were released early in
December. Quang and the others currently remain in detention.
Meanwhile, Mennonites in other parts of the country have also
encountered difficulties. HRW reported that on two separate occasions
during 2004, officials in Kontum province bulldozed a Mennonite chapel
that doubled as the home and office of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh,
superintendent of the Mennonite churches in the Central Highlands. In
September and October 2004, police reportedly pressured Mennonites in
Kontum and Gia Lai provinces to sign forms renouncing their religion.
In their concluding remarks, HRW urged the U.S. Secretary of State to
send a strong message to the Vietnamese government that the U.S. will
not tolerate Vietnams violations of the right to religious freedom.
We hope our concerns will be taken into account as the U.S. conducts
its consultations with Vietnam in regard to improving its record on
upholding the right to religious freedom, it added.
According to reports received last week, an impending decision on
whether or not to punish Vietnam for its poor record on religious
freedom has put the communist country under mounting pressure.
Washington must decide by Mar. 15 if Hanoi is to face sanctions.>
Kenneth Chan
ken...@christianpost.com
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X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1406/section/vietnam.taking
.steps.to.clean.up.poor.religious.freedom.record/1.htm
Vietnam Taking Steps to Clean Up Poor Religious Freedom Record
In recent weeks, Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures that some
analysts see as an attempt to please the United States.
Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 Posted: 1:33:47PM EST
¸An impending decision on whether or not to punish Vietnam for its poor
record on religious freedom has put the communist country under mounting
pressure, sources reported Friday. After classifying Vietnam as a
country of particular concern" last year for violating religious
freedoms, Washington must decide by March 15 if Hanoi is to face
sanctions.
Although an instruction signed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in early
February called on officials to "ensure that each citizen's freedom of
religious and belief practice is observed [and] outlaw attempts to force
people to follow a religion or to deny their religion", foreign
diplomats warn that even if the central government is serious about
bringing change, the reality at the provincial level is less clear.
"The instructions of the government are not always applied at the
bottom of the scale," said one foreign observer, as reported by the
Agence France-Presse. "And many things are prone to interpretation".
This view was echoed by the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF), an American consultative body that campaigned for
sanctions against Hanoi.
"The new instructions are an attempt by the government of Vietnam to
address some of the concerns that, for the first time last fall, placed
Vietnam on the State Department's countries of particular concern list,"
said USCIRF chairman Preeta D. Bansal.
However, the text remains "vague and open to interpretation by local
government officials and public security forces."
"Many of last year's most serious religious freedom abuses could still
have occurred under these guidelines, Bansal commented. We need to wait
and see what concrete actions accompany the new instructions."
In addition to ensuring freedom and outlawing forced renunciation of
faith, the instruction also signals that religions so far not officially
registered could be recognized in the future.
It also gives Protestants the possibility of holding religious
ceremonies on their premises provided they have no contact with the
rebel United Front for the Struggle of the Oppressed Races (FULRO)an
officially dissolved movement that fought on the side of the Americans
during the Vietnam War and against the communist state until the
beginning of the 1990s, with the objective of creating an independent
state.
"The Protestants who undertake purely religious activities are
authorized to organize their masses at home or in suitable and
registered places," an official from the Commission for Religious
Affairs told AFP.
He said that the Prime Ministers instruction was "aimed at separating
the leaders from the Protestants operating for FULRO and others."
Taken literally, it means the followers of religions without any
political ambitions could be allowed to practice their faith.
If implemented, the instructions would be a major reform in a country
accused by human rights organizations of persecuting Protestants,
bulldozing churches and organizing sessions for the forced renunciation
of faith.
"There is a clear will to launch a political message taking into
account the date of March 15," said one foreign observer. "The question
of the forced renunciation of faith, in particular, was one of the
requests by the Americans.
"Now, we have to wait and see if the substance of these nice words is
implemented."
In recent weeks, Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures that some
analysts see as an attempt to please the United States.
Just before the first day of the Lunar New Year, Hanoi released several
prominent democracy, free speech, and religious freedom advocates
including Catholic priest Tadeus Nguyen Van Ly, who had been detained
since 2001. Ly, a well-known advocate of religious freedom and
democracy, was charged with undermining national unity and sentenced in
2001 to 15 years in jail plus five years of house arrest after he
submitted written testimony to a USCIRF hearing criticizing the
Vietnamese governments interference with religious belief and practice.
Prior to the incident, Ly was already well known for openly criticizing
the Vietnamese government for its poor human rights record.>
Kenneth Chan
ken...@christianpost.com
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X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1382/section/vietnamese.chr
istian.leaders.final.appeal.delayed/1.htm
Vietnamese Christian Leaders' Final Appeal Delayed
The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court has announced a delay in the appeal
of two detained Mennonite church leaders convicted in November for
''inciting people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties.''
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005 Posted: 8:43:39PM EST
¸The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court has announced a delay in the appeal
of two detained Mennonite church leaders convicted in November for
inciting people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties.
According to U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a defense
attorney informed the wife of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang of the postponement
on Jan. 27. The court is yet to announce a new date.
Reverend Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach of the
Vietnam Mennonite Church, whose appeals were originally set to be heard
today, were two men among the six Mennonites detained in a series of
arrests from Mar. 2, 2004 onwards.
Nguyen, who served as the secretary general of the Mennonite Church and
as an active member of the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, was
sentenced to three years after a half-day trial at the Ho Chi Minh Citys
Peoples Court on Nov. 12 while Pham was sentenced to two years.
Nguyen Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, who were also among the
Mennonite Six that were handed sentences in Novembers trial, were
released early in December. After reportedly being battered both at the
hands of corrections officers and of other prisoners, one is now
partially paralyzed and the other has conditions which may be life
threatening, CSW reported.
Meanwhile, sources say the appeal of Nguyen Van Phuongs one-year
sentence has been denied and the appeal of the one-year sentence of Le
Thi Hong Lien, the sole woman among six Mennonite church workers, cannot
proceed after she reportedly suffered a mental breakdown because of the
treatment she had received in prison.
Last week, the Vietnam Mennonite Church issued a call to prayer to
Mennonite bodies and evangelical Christians around the world in support
of the two detained Mennonite church leaders.>
Kenneth Chan
ken...@christianpost.com
Dai Uy
lon...@earthlink.net wrote:
From September 2003...
See URL:
http://www.deanza.fhda.edu/president/PresReports/pr03/sept/sept03presrepo
rt.html
Last but not least was the recognition of two De Anza ESL students:
Don Duong, a popular Vietnamese actor for many years, and his
18-year-old son, Long Bui. In April, they were able to leave Vietnam
after years of persecution. Duong credits the devotion of his sister,
Susie Bui, a De Anza film student, and many others.
An amazing combination of friends, family and acquaintances helped
Duong, his wife Sanh Vu and their two children (including their
13-year-old daughter, Linh) leave their homeland. The government turned
against Duong and didn't allow him to work after he was featured in a
couple of American films.
In an article dated Oct. 29, 2002, Bruce Newman of the San Jose
Mercury News wrote: łDuong played a North Vietnamese officer in Mel
Gibson's 2002 film ŚWe Were Soldiers,ą which, according to the
government, does not accurately depict its soldiers' valor in battle. He
played a fleeing refugee in this yearąs ŚGreen Dragon,ą which enraged
officials for allegedly making America look like a paradise compared to
Saigon at the end of the war.
łThe uproar over Duong's case underscores Vietnam's ambivalence
about its increasing ties with the West. While the Communist-controlled
government is eager to forge economic links, it is equally determined to
maintain political control,˛ said Newman's article.
Susie Bui added, łMy brother could not speak up for himself. He was
not allowed to defend himself. We feared for his safety and thought he
would be jailed or worse.˛
Pressure from the American press ‹ from the Mercury News as well as
the Los Angeles Times ‹ made all the difference, according to his
sister. Duongąs friends in the film industry also increased the pressure
for the familyąs release. They included actors Mel Gibson and Patrick
Swayze, producers and directors of his films, and author Joe Galloway
who called upon his connections in the highest military circles.
Don Duong is grateful for the safety of his family and his new life
here. łI look forward to learning English at De Anza so I can continue
to be an actor,˛ he said. His son, Long, plans to learn English and
become an engineer.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/asia/659/section/vietnam.say.rights.
record.accusations.are.distorted/1.htm
Vietnam says Rights Record Accusations are Distorted
Vietnam said that U.S. human rights reports have negatively distorted
the true state of the situation there. The country has been accused of
abusing ethnic minorities, including many Christians.
Friday, Mar. 4, 2005 Posted: 9:28:40AM EST
Vietnam said that U.S. human rights reports have negatively distorted
the true state of the situation there. The country has been accused of
abusing ethnic minorities, including many Christians.
"Severe violations of religious freedom" have placed Vietnam among
"Countries of Particular Concern", the U.S. State Department said.
The report said that Vietnam had restricted freedom of religion and
only allowed government approved religious organizations to operate.
"The government failed to issue a nationwide decree banning forced
renunciations of faith, did not tend the physical abuse of religious
believers, continued to hold a significant number of religious
prisoners, and although it permitted the re-opening of some churches
closed in the Central Highlands in 2001, it refused to allow the
re-opening and registration of hundreds of others," said the State
Department.
Still, the report said that there had been improvements in religious
freedom, saying "Some religious leaders expressed cautious optimism
about a new Ordinance on Religion that the Government released in
November, and in December."
Vietnamese officials in Hanoi said the country respects freedom of
religion and that the report contained made up stories.
"The report gave fabricated details about times, people's names and
several cases to cheat those who do not have objective information about
Vietnam," said the Communist Party's newspaper, the Nhan Dan daily.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said the reports were biased. "We
absolutely reject these wrongful assessments.">
Francis Helguero
fra...@christianpost.com
Copyright 2004 The Christian Post.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/cRosett/?id=110006390
THE REAL WORLD
Saigon's Sharansky
Will Vietnam be the next Iraq?
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 12:01 a.m.
There's been a lot of talk since Sept. 11 about how President Bush's
war-lovin' ways have galvanized terrorists, recruiting jihadis to the
ranks. What's increasingly evident, however, is that the character
suffering the real blowback is Osama bin Laden, who, as it turns out,
jolted the U.S. into a global recruiting drive for democrats. Faced with
an unprecedented attack on American shores, Mr. Bush smashed the mold
for Middle-East policy, and with the invasion of Iraq lit a beacon for
freedom-lovers in a part of the world that until quite recently was
widely seen as having none.
As it turns out, there are many. Already, Mr. Bush has been answered by
the breathtaking election turnout in Iraq, the uprising in Lebanon, the
tremors in Syria and Iran, the stirrings in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But
the effects hardly stop with the Middle East. In many places, people
trapped under tyrannies are now watching. Ballots cast in Baghdad echo
way east of Suez.
So it happens that a message reached me last weekend from within one of
the world's most repressive states: Vietnam. Word came that the
Sharansky of Saigon, democratic dissident Nguyen Dan Que, had been
released from his latest stretch in Vietnam's prisons. Though Dr. Que,
as he prefers to be called, is now dogged by state security agents
around the clock and allowed no phone or computer of his own, he could
arrange to be on the receiving end of a phone call.
So at an appointed hour, I picked up the phone in New York and spoke
with Dr. Que, a 63-year-old doctor who has by now spent almost half his
life fighting for liberty in Vietnam. Given that Vietnam's secret police
almost certainly eavesdrop on any contact he has with the wider world, I
was prepared for a discreet and carefully phrased conversation, meant to
minimize his risk. Dr. Que was not. He got straight to the point: "What
I want is liberty for my people." The question now, he said, "is how to
make regime change in Vietnam." For democratization of his country, he
added, "support from the rest of the world is important." Specifically,
he wants Hanoi's decaying communist party to "put forward a timetable
for free and fair elections."
씤 It is important for the world to understand that in saying such
things, Dr., Que knows all too well the risk he is taking. Back in 1975,
as Saigon fell, he had a chance to leave--and turned it down. Even
today, he says, "For me, exile is not freedom." Instead, for more than
30 years he has seized every chance to speak out and demand liberty for
his country. For that, under Vietnam's communist regime, he has paid
dearly--spending more than 20 years in labor camps and prisons. Released
on two previous occasions, due to international pressure, Dr. Que seized
the chance each time to again demand freedom for Vietnam's people.
Twice, the regime jailed him again, most recently in March 2003--an
outrage that was swamped at the time by the flood of news from Iraq, as
the U.S.-led coalition went in to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
And though it is cause for immediate rejoicing that Dr. Que has been
released, it is not yet a sign that Vietnam's brutal regime is easing
up. "It's likely that I was just transferred from a smaller prison to a
bigger one," he says. His release looks more like a matter of hostage
politics, as Hanoi's regime haggles with Washington over Vietnam's
recent designation by the U.S. as a "country of particular concern" for
being what Human Rights Watch calls "one of the worst violators of
religious rights in the word." Vietnam also makes Freedom House's short
list of the world's most repressive regimes. The prisons of Vietnam are
infamous for torture, beatings and filthy conditions. Dr. Que notes that
after his latest bout in which he was imprisoned incommunicado for two
years, he is "tired out."
씤 Dr. Que does not have access to the daily diet of news that feeds the
free world. But given the feats of modern technology to spread
information, he knows enough about what is now happening in the Middle
East so that he wished to share his views on how America's intervention
in Iraq is like the war in Vietnam, and how it isn't. The similarity, he
says, "is the same fighting spirit for freedom." The difference, he
adds, is that in the fight for freedom, the side America is on "will
triumph this time."
Why?
"The world is changing," says Dr. Que. "There are more opportunities
than ever."
He is right, and if the world is changing, it is because the U.S. is
hardly alone in prizing freedom. In every country are people who care
about liberty--and in most places there are a few willing to pay dearly
and take extraordinary risks to lead the way. Dr. Que is one, and as we
watch the Middle East, it bears remembering, as he says, that these are
"universal values," that in many places there are people who given any
chance at all will answer freedom's call.
Ms. Rosett is a journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies. Her column appears here and in The Wall Street
Journal Europe on alternate Wednesdays.
Copyright 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3668
Opinion:The South Shall Rise AgainSouth Vietnam, That Is
Posted by Senior Editor on 2005/3/9 20:46:20
by Brooks A. Mick, M.D
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I spent a tour in South
Vietnam, 1967-68. I saw much of the country fro Saigon to the DMZ, from
the coast to the Central Highlands. I spent tiem with the artillery, the
infantry, a medical battalion, and I spent the Tet Offensive with the
Special Forces at a C camp a kilometer or two south of Kontum. I visited
province hospitals, a South Vietnamese military hospital, a leprosarium,
and supervised medical civil action patrols (MEDCAPS) to Montagnard
villages in the Central Highlands.
The Montagnards are a primitive people, not far from the Stone Age, who
raised pigs, farmed rice paddies, grew marijuana, lived in thatched
bamboo huts, and who were among the finest people I had ever met. I even
liked the two fellows from one village who were Viet Cong. The
Montagnards were the most honest people of my acquaintance.. One could
drive a jeep into a Montagnard village, get out, put a box of chocolates
on the seat, and walk away. An hour later, one could come back and find
everything untouched, including the box of chocolates. There would be a
ring of children around the jeep, of course, gazing hungrily at the
chocolates, but they would never think of stealing them no matter how
hungry they were.
There were some intrepid Vietnamese who traveled the Highlands as
Christian missionaries. After the pusillanimous American pullout of 1975
abandoned the South Vietnamese to the communists of the north, these men
were arrested and thrown into prison camps, where they were forced into
slave labor. I have a friend who was one such missionary. He spent over
a year in a prison camp, and his back still looks as though a demented
game of tic-tac-toe was played there with whips and sticks and branding
irons. For 6 months, he was not even fed, and he had to survive by
scrounging food in the fields he labored in. This included eating
insects he could catch. He longs to return and resume his ministry in
the Highlands, but is afraid of again being thrown into prison.
My friend tells me that he and the other Vietnamese in this area, he
tells me, recallthe years of the American presence in South Vietnam as
the time of the greatest peace and security he ever knew. This is
certainly at odds with the portrayal of American soldiers by Oliver
Stone and others. He understands why Americans pulled out, but considers
it a serious mistake. If we had just had less political micromanagement,
less left-wing propaganda, and more persistence, we would have prevented
the deaths of hundreds of thousands in communist prison camps, and
likely would have prevented the genocide of Pol Pot in Cambodia. He also
realizes that the South Vietnamese Army would not step up to the plate
and defend their country and that the government was itself corrupt and
pusillanimous.
I am reminded of all this when I hear that the left wing is again
cooking up anti-war demonstrations, planning to resist a non-exisistent
draft, and that enlistment rates are falling among blacks and Hispanics.
I recall the statement of Robert A. Heinlein that people who will not
defend their country will be destroyed. I also consider the war on
terrorism an essential defense of the country.
Will we have the will as a people to continue the job weve started? The
outbreak of freedom triggered by our current efforts may be spreading to
South Vietnam, and maybe the job we tried to complete so many years ago
may finally be completed.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/social/2005/03/09/vietnam_mennonite/
Vietnamese Police Break Up Prayers at Home of Jailed Mennonite Leader
2005.03.09
I told them Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has issued a decree that our
right of religious freedom has to be respected and we are to be helped,
so why are you arresting us? The police read out some Resolution 7
saying that there has not yet been any permission and we are not allowed
to have religious activities in Pastor Quang' s house.
Lam Thi Tuyet-Anh
BANGKOKPolice disbanded a women's prayer meeting in Ho Chi Minh City at
the home of Vietnam's jailed Mennonite leader and briefly detained 10
men who came to their aid.
Thirty-two Mennonite women were meeting for prayer March 8 when local
police entered the private home where they were gathered and told them
to disperse, the pastor hosting the event said in an interview.
None of the women was arrested but 10 men were taken into custody and
released later the same day, Le Thi Phu Dung said.
Three women were asked to sign confessions, including Dungowner of the
house and wife of pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, outspoken general secretary
of the Vietnamese Mennonite Church.
Arguing with police
Another woman, Lam Thi Tuyet-Anh, said she argued with police. "I told
them Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has issued a decree that our right of
religious freedom has to be respected and we are to be helped, so why
are you arresting us? she said.
"The police read out some Resolution 7 saying that there has not yet
been any permission and we are not allowed to have religious activities
in Pastor Quang' s house, Tuyet-Anh said.
No comment was immediately available from Vietnamese authorities, whom
human rights groups have accused of heavy-handed suppression of
Protestants.
On March 6, police broke up a gathering in Tien Giang Province,
according to the leader of the unofficial Tien Giang Province Baptist
Church, Vu Quoc Huynh.
Hoa Hao Buddhists affected
Huynh and a preacher were taken to the police station for questioning
but released with papers telling them to report to District Police on
March 12, Huynh said.
"This kind of Protestant activity has gone on for six years now. I have
applied to conduct Baptist Protestant activities for several years but
there were no answerswhenever police made reports I was said never to
have applied for anything, he said.
Separately, on Feb. 25 in the Thoai Son district of An Giang Province,
two Hoa Hao Buddhist brothers were arrested after failing to give
authorities a list of guests invited to a family ceremony scheduled for
Feb. 27, according to a member of the family.
Police said the men had been arrested for storing and spreading books
and tapes related to the outlawed Hoa Hao Buddhist sect. The elder of
the two brothers cut off two of his own fingers in prison to protest the
arrests, the relative said.
Pattern of abuse alleged
According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Mennonites in Vietnam
have come under fire in recent years, in part because of the outspoken
and at times confrontational style of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang [who] has
publicly criticized the arrests of religious and political dissidents,
defended land rights cases of farmers from the provinces and used the
Internet to call for religious freedom.
Quang and three other Mennonites remain in prison on charges of
resisting police officers after a scuffle broke out in March 2004 with
undercover policemen who had been monitoring their Ho Chi Minh City
church, the group said in February.
Mennonites in other parts of the country have also encountered
difficulties. On two separate occasions during 2004, officials in Kontum
province bulldozed a Mennonite chapel that doubled as the home and
office of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, superintendent of the Mennonite
churches in the Central Highlands," Human Rights Watch said.
"In September and October 2004, police pressured Mennonites in Kontum
and Gia Lai provinces to sign forms renouncing their religion."
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Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1451/section/vietnam.releas
es.one.more.member.of.mennonite.six/1.htm
Vietnam Releases One More Member of 'Mennonite Six'
A Christian persecution watchdog group announced yesterday the release
of one of the ''Mennonite Six'' arrested in March 2004.
Thursday, Mar. 10, 2005 Posted: 3:32:15PM EST
¸A Christian persecution watchdog group announced yesterday the release
of one of the Mennonite Six arrested in March 2004. On Mar. 3, 2005,
Nguyen Van Phuong reportedly became the third among the six to be
released in recent months. Meanwhile, concern continues for those still
in prison.
According to the Voice of the Martyrs, Phuong appeared to be in fair
health when he was met by his wife and one-year-old son. It had been
nearly five months since Phuong and five other Mennonite church members
were convicted on Nov. 12, 2004 for inciting people to obstruct
officials from carrying out their duties.
At the four-hour trial at the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court last
November, Phuong was given a one-year prison term while fellow
Mennonites Pham Ngoc Thach, Le Thi Hong Lien, Ngyuen Thanh Nhan, Hieu
Nghia, and the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang were given sentences ranging from
9 months to 3 years.
Those close to the situation told Compass News last year that the
charges and trial were an artifice to take out of circulation Rev.
Quang, an outspoken leader of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. Quang, who
served as the secretary general of the Mennonite Church and as an active
member of the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, had actively campaigned
against religious freedom and human rights abuses.
The Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) reported that
in one such campaign Quang had held a sit-in in December 2003 at a
Police station in Ho Chi Minh City along with other church leaders to
protest the detention of 19 Christians for distributing religious
pamphlets at the SEA Games in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nguyen also called attention to the illegal detention and abuse of the
three evangelists that were being held without formal charges more than
three months after their arrest. On June 25, he released a report
addressed to Mennonite bodies and other churches both in the country and
internationally. The report charged that public security officers of Ho
Chi Minh City District 2 violated at least four sections of the criminal
code on temporary imprisonment.
Yesterday, VOM reported that the appeal hearings for Quang and Thach,
which were postponed from their original Feb. 2 court date, have still
not been rescheduled.
On Mar. 4, the wife of Nguyen Hong Quang and acting president of the
Vietnam Mennonite Church, Le Thi Phu Dung, sent a letter to Vietnams
president. In her letter, she outlined the persecution facing the
Mennonite Church in Vietnam and asked for fair treatment.
The Vietnam Mennonite Church, which is considered by Vietnam as
illegal, is one of several minority Christian Protestant groups that
have come under fire in recent years.
In a recently released statement by Human Rights Watch, the New
York-based organization reported that ethnic Hmong Christians in the
northwest provinces have been beaten, detained, and pressured by local
authorities to abandon their religion and cease religious gatherings.
And in Vietnams Central Highlands, the government has increased its
persecution of members of ethnic minoritiescollectively known as
Montagnardsparticularly those thought to be following Dega Protestantism.
VOM is encouraging concerned readers to contact government officials on
behalf of these and other suffering Christians in Vietnam. More details
and contact information are available at
http://www.persecution.net/news/vietnam_advocate.pdf.
The April edition of The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter will feature
the arrest and plight of the "Mennonite Six." Special web features
including reports and video footage will be made available to newsletter
subscribers.>
Kenneth Chan
ken...@christianpost.com
Copyright 2004 The Christian Post.
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Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/b17eaa962a06b1c1a0a9d408cc
681d15.htm
Nine Montagnards go home in first UNHCR repatriation to Viet Nam
11 Mar 2005 14:17:08 GMT
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
PHNOM PENH, March 11 (UNHCR) Nine Montagnards, anxious to be reunited
with their families but fearful of the future, returned to Viet Nam
today in the first repatriation organised by the UN refugee agency under
an agreement aimed at finding solutions for some 750 Vietnamese who fled
into Cambodia over the past year.
The eight men and a 13-year-old boy set out in the morning from the
refugee centre in the Cambodian capital in a convoy of five vehicles for
the three-hour trip to Bavet-Moc Bai border crossing, where they were
met by Vietnamese authorities. They will be taken to Ho Chi Minh City
before proceeding to their home province of Gia Lai in the central
highlands.
"I want to thank the UN for the food and shelter you provided, but now I
need to return," said one returnee. "I don't know what will happen to me
but I am willing to find out because I miss my wife and children so
much."
The first group of returnees, accompanied to the border by UNHCR staff,
is among 43 Montagnards an ethnic minority group from Viet Nam's
central highlands who have decided to return home under the January
agreement signed in Hanoi by UNHCR, Cambodia and Viet Nam. The agreement
sets out the basis for either resettlement or repatriation of 750
Vietnamese who had fled the central highlands over alleged land disputes
and religious harassment. It specifies that returnees will not face
prosecution or discrimination.
UNHCR is making arrangements for the return of 14 more Vietnamese next
Thursday and a third batch of 20 next month. Another 297 persons have
opted for resettlement to a third country.
Emotions were mixed among the returnees. "I came to find help to get my
land back, not to live in another country," said one, reflecting a
general sentiment. "I am disappointed the UN cannot get my land back and
I am nervous, but I'm happy to go home because I'm going to see my
family again."
In November 2004, UNHCR said it was concerned that a growing number of
Montagnards had crossed into Cambodia under the mistaken impression that
the agency could help them get back their confiscated lands. Counselling
sessions have been provided to make it clear UNHCR could not help them
with their land grievances, prompting some asylum seekers to return to
Viet Nam.
UNHCR Representative in Cambodia Tham Meechubut said, "I am very pleased
that these men are able to meet their families again. It is a positive
move. Now they understand that UNHCR cannot help with their land
problems."
Previously, an overwhelming majority of recognized Montagnard refugees
had rejected resettlement from Cambodia. Of some 150 cases submitted for
resettlement in the United States, for example, nearly three-quarters
decided against going. After the signing of the agreement, nearly half
of the Montagnard population in Cambodia has now requested resettlement
to a third country. UNHCR is facilitating resettlement processing to
various countries, including Canada, the United States and Finland.
Cambodia has consistently said that local integration is not an option
for the Montagnards.
By Cathy Shin
In Phnom Penh
Dai Uy
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http://asia.news.designerz.com/us-travel-ban-proposed-for-vietnamese-offi
cials-behind-religious-persecution.html?d20050313
US travel ban proposed for Vietnamese officials behind religious
persecution
Asia News
WASHINGTON (AFP)
Sunday March 13, 2005
The Bush administration is being urged to impose a travel ban on
government officials in Vietnam who commit religious persecution as
among sanctions to punish the country for its dismal religious rights
record.
The State Department for the first time last year blacklisted Vietnam as
a "country of particular concern for egregious, ongoing, and systematic
abuses of the freedom of religion and belief."
The designation carries with it the possibility of sanctions if the
Vietnamese government fails to address concerns about religious freedom
abuses.
Following consultations with Hanoi, the State Department will recommend
actions against Vietnam to Congress and President George W. Bush this
week, officials said.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a
10-member panel jointly appointed by Bush and Congress, has proposed
"rendering inadmissible for entry into the United States any Vietnamese
government official who was responsible for or directly carried out such
violations."
The commission did not identify them but they could include Cabinet and
other high ranking officials.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the commission also
called for up to one million dollars in US allocations for programs that
will directly promote freedom of religion and belief and related human
rights in Vietnam.
Although Bush has the authority to waive any action against Vietnam, the
Commission "firmly believes that to do so would effectively render
meaningless" the US legal process, said the letter, a copy of which was
made available to AFP.
It would also "undermine our nation's commitment to the promotion of
freedom of religion or belief throughout the world," the commission said.
"These are not economic sanctions, but targeted responses that directly
address the problem," said Binh Vo, president of the non-partisan
Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee, which promotes involvement
of Vietnamese-Americans in the political system.
The Vietnamese communist government imposes strict controls over
religious organizations and treats leaders of unauthorized religious
groups with intense suspicion, branding many of them as subversives,
US-based Human Rights Watch charged.
Targeted in particular are ethnic minority Christians, Mennonites, and
members of the independent Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. There are
hundreds of religious prisoners in the country, Human Rights Watch said.
While relations between the Vatican and Vietnam have warmed in recent
years, at least three Roman Catholics remain in prison.
They include 64-year-old Father Pham Minh Tri, who has been imprisoned
for the last 18 years, despite suffering dementia for most of the past
decade.
"The Bush Administration needs to send a strong message to the
Vietnamese government that the US will not tolerate this kind of
persecution," said Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, in
an "open" letter to Rice.
Those behind violence against religious believers, including by
civilians acting in concert with government officials, should be
investigated and punished, he said.
Such incidents include the violent suppression of the April 2004
protests by Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands, and reports of
torture, beatings and killings of ethnic minority Protestants in both
the Central and Northern Highlands, he said.
The US blacklisting had made the Vietnamese authorities more sensitive
to the appearance of the regimes policies on religion, but has not
significantly altered its repressive policies, Vo said.
Many religious leaders such as Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and Buddhist
leader Thich Quang Do remain in jail or under virtual house arrest.
According to a Vietnamese Catholic priest, Chan Tin, a few dissidents
released by the government as part of the Lunar New Year amnesty this
year were only "released" but are not truly "free," Vo said.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200503/FOR20050314a.shtml
US Urged to Target Vietnam over Religious Persecution
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Human rights activists are urging
the U.S. government to announce punitive measures against Vietnam for
religious rights violations, arguing that recent steps by Hanoi to
improve its image were insufficient.
Tuesday marks the deadline for the State Department to recommend to
Congress and the president actions against Vietnam, as well as Saudi
Arabia and Eritrea.
Six months ago the three were added to a list of "countries of
particular concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act,
and the State Department has been consulting with the governments ahead
of the deadline.
If Vietnam does not respond to U.S. government concerns by the time the
consultation period ends on March 15, the CPC designation carries
statutory penalties, according to the U.S. Commission for International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
In what has been seen as a bid to stave off sanctions, Hanoi in recent
weeks released some religious prisoners and announced some concessions
relating to Protestant groups' activities.
Critics are unimpressed.
"Despite a few well-timed goodwill gestures ... Vietnam has in all other
respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies," said Human
Rights Watch director for Asia, Brad Adams.
"Vietnam is notorious for persecuting and imprisoning believers of
religions who attempt to peacefully and independently practice their
faith."
Among the groups targeted by the communist authorities are Protestant
Christians belonging to the Hmong and Montagnard ethnic minorities,
Mennonites, and independent Buddhists. Several Roman Catholic priests
remain in prison.
Last month, Hanoi included four prominent religious rights campaigners
among more than 8,000 prisoners freed in a Lunar New Year amnesty.
Several weeks later the government announced new "instructions" on
Protestantism.
It said that Protestant churches in Central Highlands, home to the
Montagnards, and the northwest provinces, where Hmong live, would now be
allowed to operate, on condition they renounced links to groups accused
of organizing anti-government protests.
According to a report by the official Voice of Vietnam, the government
complained that "Protestants in the Central Highlands are often incited
by Fulro reactionaries while those in the northwest are superstitious
followers."
(Fulro is French for the United Struggle Front for the Oppressed Races,
a resistance group which fought alongside the Americans during the
Vietnam War.)
The government said such "unrecognized sects" should register with local
officials, and would be recognized if they met "necessary conditions."
The USCIRF, an independent, statutory body set up to make policy
recommendations relating to religious freedom, said the prisoner
releases and guidelines on Protestant churches were "positive steps" but
did not go far enough.
"The instructions remain qualified and vague and open to interpretation
by local government officials and public security forces," commented
commission chairwoman, Preeta Bansal.
Adams said under the new directive religious groups still had to obtain
permission to function, "advancing Vietnam's official stance that
religious freedom is a privilege to be requested and granted by the
government, rather than a fundamental human right."
Vietnamese-American activists want the administration to take steps
against Hanoi.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vietnamese-American
Public Affairs Committee (VPAC) president Bing Vo said the group
supported USCIRF suggestions that Vietnamese officials responsible for
violations should be identified and refused entry into the U.S.
It also urged the State Department to dedicate up to one million dollars
in funding to programs directly promoting religious freedom in Vietnam.
"These are not economic sanctions, but targeted responses that directly
address the problem," Vo said.
Another U.S.-based campaigner, Kok Ksor of the Montagnard Foundation,
asked the administration to take "concrete action" that would send a
clear message to Hanoi.
"We understand the world is complicated and politics is difficult but we
just want to see that our people's voice is raised so that we are not
forgotten," Ksor wrote in a letter to President Bush and Rice.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 180 Montagnard Christians
have been arrested and jailed since 2001, "many on charges that they are
violent separatists using their religion to 'sow divisions among the
people' and 'undermine state and party unity'."
Past attempts to link U.S. aid to Vietnam to that country's human rights
record ran into opposition from Sen. John Kerry.
Four years ago the Massachusetts Democrat, who was chairman of the
foreign relations committee's East Asian and Pacific Affairs
subcommittee, blocked legislation that had passed the House of
Representatives by a 410-1 vote, arguing that denying aid to Hanoi would
be counterproductive.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2135
Montagnards: Nine Refugees Repatriated to Vietnam
Source: UNHCR News
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/asia/665/section/first.wave.of.monta
gnard.christians.return.to.vietnam/1.htm
First Wave of Montagnard Christians Return to Vietnam
Nine refugees from Vietnam's Montagnard hill tribe who fled to Cambodia
have voluntarily returned home
Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2005 Posted: 1:59:47AM EST
Nine refugees from Vietnam's Montagnard hill tribe who fled to Cambodia
have voluntarily returned home, a senior official of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees said Saturday.
The official told the Tokyo-based Kyodo News that the Montagnards, who
were housed in the UNHCR facilities in Phnom Penh since a few months
ago, were moved to Vietnam on Friday upon their request.
The nine were met at the Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng Province,
southeastern Cambodia, by Vietnamese authorities, he added.
Another 26 Montagnards who also requested to return home will be
repatriated soon after their paperwork is finalized with the Vietnamese
authorities, the official said.
Meanwhile, about 780 Montagnards have arrived in Phnom Penh and are
being screened by the UNHCR to determine their status.
According to reports, over 700 Christian Montagnardsoften dubbed
"America's forgotten allies" for siding with the U.S. in the warsay they
fled to Cambodia last April after Vietnamese security forces put down
Easter Day demonstrations against religious repression and land
confiscation in the Central Highlands.
The demonstrations, which drew an estimated 10,000 people to the streets
in Daklak, Dak Nong and Gia Lai provinces, turned violent as Vietnams
police and security forces clashed with demonstrators.
Sources say civilians and Vietnamese security forces dressed in civilian
clothes attacked the demonstrators with weapons, killing an unknown
number of Montagnards and injuring hundreds more. Many were reported as
missing, after having been arrested or having fled.
While international human rights groups claimed that at least 10
protesters were killed in clashes with police, Hanoi said only two died
after being pelted with rocks thrown by other protesters.
The clashes were the first large-scale demonstrations in the Central
Highlands since February 2001, when security forces forcibly broke up
protests by about 20,000 Montagnards, triggering a mass exodus into
Cambodia. About 1,000 who fled to Cambodia following the 2001 crackdown
were eventually resettled in the United States.
According to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Vietnamese
government has increased its persecution of Montagnards in the Central
Highlandsparticularly those thought to be following Dega Protestantism.
HRW reports that the governments crackdown against Dega
Protestantismwhich it charges is a political movement and not a
religionhas impacted all Montagnard Christians, whether they are Dega
supporters or not.
In recent years, members of Vietnam's indigenous minorities have fled
Vietnam, claiming to be victims of persecution. Vietnam, however, denies
the charges, saying it will not prosecute, punish or discriminate
against those who voluntarily return to Vietnam.
Kenneth Chan
ken...@christianpost.com
Dai Uy
Copyright 2005 Thai Press Reports
Thai Press Reports
March 17, 2005
LENGTH: 462 words
HEADLINE: US DIPLOMATS VISIT CENTRAL HIGHLANDS GIA LAI PROVINCE OF
VIETNAM
BODY:
Section: Regional News - A delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City-based US
Consulate General led by Consul General Seth D. Winnics has been in the
central highlands province of Gia Lai to inquire into socio-economic
development and religious and ethnic issues.
President of the provincial people's committee Pham The Dung briefed the
US guests on the province's achievements, covering the improvement of
local people's living conditions and the sharp reduction in the number
of ethnic minority people living under the poverty line.
Dung said 95 percent of school age children are attending school and
that all villagers have access to health care services.
Investment has been poured into building infrastructural facilities in
rural areas, especially in the ethnic minority people-inhabited
localities and extremely poor communes, to boost local economic
development, the official noted.
Dung also said that followers of Protestantism, Catholism, Buddhism, and
Caodaism are living in harmony in the province. They all enjoy religious
freedom, which can be observed through the official establishment of 17
Protestant chapters.
All religious followers are living peaceful lives with the motto of
living the gospel amid the nation. Many pagodas and churches were built
with the province's funding to facilitate followers' religious practices.
Dung told the US guests that those elements who, under a religious
cloak, incited local people to cause disorder in the locality, were
detained and re-educated by the provincial authorities. The move, Dung
said, can be seen in any nation in the world.
The US Consul General spoke highly of the assistance the local
authorities have given to ethnic minority people and expressed his
pleasure at the peaceful atmosphere enjoyed by religious followers
during grand festivals. He affirmed that the US Government had never
supported any extreme organisations with plots to overthrow the
government of any nation in the world, including Vietnam.
He also expressed his wish to have another chance to visit Gia Lai
villages in order to see with his own eyes the changes to villages
inhabited by ethnic minorities people.
During the two-day visit, the delegation called at the Gia Lai Newspaper
headquarters and discussed with local correspondents the lawsuit against
the US chemical companies filed by the Vietnam Association for Victims
of Agent Orange and Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims, and
information on the Central Highlands carried by western news agencies.
The delegation, which will stay in Gia Lai until Mar. 16, plans to meet
with representatives of the local Protestant, religious, and ethnic
minority boards and visit the provincial boarding school for ethnic
minority children. - VNA
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2839
22 March, 2005
ASIA MARTYRS DAY
Martyrs in Asia, the broken lives of Christs witnesses
by Lorenzo Fazzini
Rome (AsiaNews) Dozens of Christian men and women have died in 2004
because of their faith in Christ. Death struck them in Iraq, a country
where Islamic fundamentalists have bombed churches and decapitated
infidels; in Indonesia, where Christians have been murdered in the
streets or shot down by snipers; in China, where the bodies of bishops
have been returned to their families after years of detention and
silence; in Hindu India, Muslim Pakistan and Muslim Bangladesh, where
Christians have been attacked and some lynched for blasphemy; in
Vietnam, where Montagnards are oppressed for their faith.
It is very likely that the number of martyrs is greater were it not for
countries like North Korea and Laos that are too isolated for anyone to
know the harsh conditions in which Christians live.
This year, the 13th Day of Prayer and Fasting in Memory of Missionary
Martyrs, which is celebrated on March 24, falls on Good Thursday. For
the occasion, AsiaNews is publishing a list of some of the Christians
killed in Asia in 2004 because of their faith.
The Day of Memory was established in 1993 by the Missionary Youth
Movement of the Pontifical Mission Societies to honour the memory of
Oscar Romero, Archbishop San Salvador who was gunned down in 1980 for
his Christian witness and commitment to the poor and social justice.
- - - - - - - - - [deletion] - - - - - - - - -
VIETNAM
On Good Saturday and Easter Sunday (April 10 and 11), tens of thousands
of Montagnards, who are mostly Christian, demonstrated in Buon Ma Thuot,
capital of Daklak province, calling on the government to respect their
religious freedom and give them back their lands.
On Easter Sunday, they had come together to celebrate Moak Hrue Yesus
Kgu Hdip (Happy Day: Christ has risen). The army violently stopped their
demonstration, beating participants, women and children included.
Ten people died: Sut Mdrang, 57; Dha Prong, 54; Emap, 50; Ea Tieu, 28;
Ega, 22; Ebung, 12; Krang, 7; Pu Hue, 6; and Niet, 3.
Dai Uy
In preparation for the Easter anniversary of last year's brutal and
bloody suppression of peaceful Montagnard demonstrations for a little
religious freedom and rights to their stolen ancestral lands, Hanoi lays
their disinformation on extra thick.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
X-URL:
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01WAR220305
Tay Nguyen 30 years later: a vehicle for its own success
(22-03-2005)
HA NOI In the three decades since its liberation in 1975, the Tay
Nguyen (Central Highlands) region has enjoyed major socio-economic
improvement thanks to the leadership of the Party and the resilience and
unity of the 47 local ethnic minority groups.
A vast plateau laying at the southern end of the Truong Son Mountain
range, Tay Nguyen is best known for its peoples strong-heartedness and
unyielding nature during the nations resistance wars. Physically, the
region is full of jungles, idyllic waterfalls and breathtaking mountain
landscapes.
Tay Nguyens strategic location, full of obstacles and inaccessibility,
made it a vital gateway to the Cuu Long (Mekong) delta in southern Viet
Nam.
On March 10th, 1975, in the Tay Nguyen town of Buon Ma Thuot, the maiden
battle of the Liberation Forces in the General Offensive took place.
The victory was a decisive factor in the defeat of the US-backed regime
and the reunification of the country in the Spring of 1975. The
liberation of Tay Nguyen is a glorious event in the nations history.
Economy, village building
The economy of Tay Nguyen, home to 4.5 million ethnic minority people,
was rebuilt from the ashes of decades of war. It has completely changed
thanks to residents hard work and attention from the State.
Shortly after the war ended new economic zones were built, mostly
concentrated in the province of Lam Dong. These economic zones created
jobs for hundreds of thousands of people.
Local ethnic minority groups were encouraged to shift from nomadic life
to settled farming, and the State invested thousands of billions of Dong
into creating infrastructure, particularly in the building of schools,
rural transport, health clinics, reservoirs, dams, and irrigation
networks for the drought-and-flood prone land.
Currently one of the most successful economies in the country and a
major exporter of agricultural commodities, Tay Nguyen has also made a
giant step forward in addressing poverty and improving living standards.
Economically, Tay Nguyen provinces such as Gia Lai are recording highest
GDP growth rates. Gia Lais economy grew last year by more than 13 per
cent, a year-on-year increase of 25.7 per cent in industrial production,
and 18 per cent in forestry production.
Dac Lac Province also saw 10.3 per cent economic growth last year one
of the the highest rates in the country while the average growth was
maintained at a high of 8 per cent. Dac Lac is the regions economic
locomotive.
The economies in the other provinces of Kon Tum, Lam Dong and Dac Nong
have also improved substantially, thanks to new investment, well-planned
crops and newly built infrastructure.
Agriculture and forestry, once the lifeline of Tay Nguyen people, still
accounts for about 70 per cent of the economy. However, agriculture is
gradually giving way to industry and services, with hundreds of
factories and mills popping up in all of Tay Nguyens five provinces.
Last year, the area was visited by over one million tourists. The
beautiful landscapes and famously romantic spots, such as Da Lat,
promise high revenues as tourist attractions.
Visiting today, one would find it hard to imagine that just 30 years ago
the land and population was chronically endangered by hunger, poverty,
illiteracy and a lack of basic necessities.
Following Uncle Ho
During the wars, people in the Tay Nguyen fought bravely under the
leadership of Uncle Ho and the Party. In peace time, they vowed to
whole-heartedly follow the Party and make their villages beautiful and
prosperous.
The peoples loyalty has become a tradition passed down from generation
to generation.
Village chief Y Be, of Krong hamlet in Dac Lac Province said: "Being
born and raised in the Tay Nguyen, and having witnessed many changes,
never have I seen people enjoying such a good life. This is thanks to
the peoples promise to unswervingly follow the Party."
Ksor Kron, a Gia Lai veteran, said that without his education, he would
never have got where he is today.
"Without the Partys leadership, the Vietnamese people in general and Tay
Nguyen people in particular would not have independence, freedom and
equality with other Vietnamese nationalities," he said.
Defeating hostile plots
Because of the regions strategic importance, Tay Nguyen became a target
for hostile forces that wanted to undermine national unity among ethnic
minority groups. Using land concerns and religious differences, these
forces, like the US-based Montagnard Foundation, provoked demonstrations
and exaggerated issues.
There were also fabrications about the Governments suppression of the
demonstrations. Anti-revolutionaries even created a non-existent
so-called "Degar State" or "Degar Protestant."
But time has uncovered the hand behind the hostile forces.
In local medias probes into the case, it was discovered that
demonstrators were abused by hostile overseas-based organisations. In
some places, ethnic minority people were urged by foreigners to flee to
another country, just to end up in "refugee camps". They were later
welcomed back to Viet Nam by authorities, without being subject to any
punishment.
Meanwhile, the poverty rate, according to local figures, has fallen from
25 per cent to 11 per cent in 2003, and chronic hunger is no longer a
problem. Children are enjoing free education and people in remote
villages have access to health care. All communes now have roads and
over 81 per cent have electricity.
The State and the Party is standing with Tay Nguyen people to settle
land and religion issues, local authorities say.
In the past, numerous policies have been set up to create favourable
conditions for Protestants and Catholics.
Reverand Thai Phuoc Truong, secretary general of the Viet Nam General
Confederation of Evangelical Churches (South), reported the regular and
uninteruppted operation of 36 churches in Tay Nguyen since 1975.
In addition, the General Confederation has ordained nearly 100 priests.
Over 30 churches have been built and hundreds have been upgraded. Last
Christmas, believers gathered and worshipped together with help from
local governments.
"The associations activities are thriving," said Reverand Tran Ba Thanh,
a confederation member. "We are all pleased and are able to look to the
future with confidence." VNS
Dai Uy
March 23, 2005
SECTION: IN BRIEF
LENGTH: 341 words
HEADLINE: Authorities in Vietnam Aim to Quash Dissent with Tighten
Public Order Restrictions
BYLINE: Elizabeth Mills
BODY:
The Vietnamese government has reportedly tightened up legislation
governing demonstrations. According to news agency Agence France-Presse
(AFP), the decree requires all gatherings that are not organised by the
state to be approved in advance. The organisers are required to provide
their local authority with the details of the meeting's venue and
purpose, and the application can subsequently be rejected if it is
deemed to be unsuitable and a possible threat to public order. Public
protest arises in Vietnam in response to various issues. Land rights and
religious persecution have previously prompted protest in the Central
Highlands, which the authorities suppressed with violence (see Vietnam:
13 April 2004: Tensions Remain Following Rioting in Vietnam's Central
Highlands). The issue of corruption has increasingly become a key topic,
with the public calling on the government to bring corrupt local
officials to task. The government is well aware that the problem needs
to be redressed and has made it a policy priority, fearing that it will
undermine the regime's legitimacy if not effectively tackled. In the
interim, however, authorities are keen to prevent the spread of social
discontent; this explains not only this latest move, but also the
notably strict censorship of the Internet and other media outlets.
Significance: This type of legislation inevitably raises issues of civil
liberties and rights. For years, various agencies and governments have
been calling on Vietnam to pursue a less heavy-handed approach. However,
the authorities are keen to maintain their grip on power, pursuing
reform in a gradual manner similar to that witnessed in China. At the
same time, the government feels an obligation to promote a clean human
rights record, not least because trading relations with major partners
such as the US are partially dependent on such issues. However, the
government's dealings in this respect remain opaque, and it appears that
no amount of external pressure will have a noticeably beneficial effect.
Dai Uy
Consider the source.
X-URL: http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=5802
llegal migrants repatriated to Vietnam from Cambodia
Nineteen ethnic minority people from Vietnam who were deceived into
traveling to Cambodia have voluntarily returned home and received
medical care due to health concerns.
The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has received 19 of its
citizens, along with the corpse of a woman who died at a concentration
camp in Cambodia in September, 2004.
The people, including a woman, said they had been abetted by a devious
group of men to cross the border illegally with the promise of wealth.
The provincial authority has asked relevant agencies to provide
healthcare to the migrants who were suffering from a variety of health
problems due to the substandard conditions of their camp.
I was deceived into crossing the border into Cambodia where I was forced
to stay in a concentration camp, with little food and sleep. The
terrible men that mislead us said we would have lots of money and a
house, but in reality there was nothing, said Ro Cham Biu from Ia Grai
District.
Source: Vietnam News Agency Translated by T.H.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.deepikaglobal.com/latestnews.asp?ncode=26787
Vietnam jails two hill tribesmen for stirring unrest
HANOI, Mar 31 (Reuters) A court in Vietnam's restive Central Highlands
has jailed two hill tribesmen for stirring unrest in the region, a
state-run newspaper reported today.
The Lao Dong newspaper said in a front page report Y Pi, 47, was jailed
for 5 years and Y Krat, 45, for 3 years after the People's Court of Dak
Nong province found them guilty yesterday of ''sabotaging the great
unity policy''.
The court was told the two men from the Ede ethnic minority group, in
conjunction with anti-government forces in exile, incited people to join
protests in the Central Highlands between 2002 and May 2004.
The trial was the latest in a region where many of the hill tribes are
Christian, leading to accusations from human rights groups of religious
discrimination, a charge the communist government denies.
In November, the same court in Dak Nong jailed 17 people for up to 10
years for sabotaging national security and helping people flee Vietnam
into Cambodia.
The hill tribes, known commonly as Montagnards, took to the streets in
April 2004 in protest against what human rights groups described as
repression of their religious and land rights.
The government quelled the demonstrations but denied accusations by
right groups it had used force and said the hundreds who fled to
neighbouring Cambodia had been incited to leave.
Today, the Defence Ministry-run Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army)
newspaper accused the U.S. State Department of fabricating evidence in a
human rights report of suppression in the Central Highlands.
''The truth is that the situation in the Central Highlands is bright,''
the paper said in an editorial.
Dai Uy
Article Last Updated: 4/01/2005 11:03 PM
Montagnards struggle in Vietnam
Christians face restrictions and persecution from the government
By Alan Rappeport
Religion News Service
Salt Lake Tribune
KON TUM, Vietnam - Once a month, Vietnamese police bang on the door of
Nay Thit's small wooden village house and force him to sign a
declaration of happiness.
The declaration asserts that Nay Thit has no problems with the
government and that he will not try to flee the country or encourage
others to do so. If he does not comply, he could find himself in prison,
for the fourth time.
Nay Thit is a Montagnard - an ethnic minority comprised of mostly
Christian hill tribes in Vietnam's Central Highlands region. Like many
Montagnards, he worked and fought alongside Americans during the Vietnam
War. Nearly 30 years later, Montagnards say their struggle continues,
with religion a key point of friction.
The Vietnamese government has made public gestures in recent months to
show a new tone of religious tolerance, but life in the Central
Highlands remains tense with potential for conflict.
''Everything is unfair between the Vietnamese and the Montagnards,'' Nay
Thit said in a hushed voice. ''We want to have our own government. We
want autonomy. It is very difficult.''
The Central Highlands is comprised of four provinces about 150 miles
north of Ho Chi Minh City and is home to 1 million Montagnards. The
conflict between the Vietnamese and the Montagnards is rooted in
resentment over the war, land ownership rights and religious repression.
Nay Thit is Catholic and has been arrested in the past for resisting the
government and fleeing to Cambodia.
''They arrest us and take us back,'' said Nay Thit, who worked as an
interpreter for Americans during the war and last served prison time in
1993. ''Vietnam pays Cambodia to give us back.''
In January, Vietnam, Cambodia and the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees agreed that 750 Montagnards living in Cambodian refugee
camps near the Vietnamese border would be returned because they were
rejected or refused settlement in the United States. Vietnam promised
that the Montagnards would not be punished for trying to leave.
''There's some real denial on the part of the UNHCR,'' Sara Colm, a
senior researcher for Human Rights Watch said. ''It's against their
mandate to send people back to a place where they are being persecuted.
We have documented systematic persecution as well as arrest and torture
of Montagnard Christians in Vietnam.''
Some Montagnards who successfully reach Cambodia are given asylum and
brought to the United States. More than 4,000 Montagnards currently live
in North Carolina.
''A group of Montagnards just left Cambodia for the United States,''
Anne Peters, of Jesuit Refugee Services, in Phnom Penh said. ''One of
them was Ksor Ni, the brother of the Montagnard leader.''
The Montagnard leader is a man named Kok Ksor, who escaped to the United
States in the 1980s and lives in Spartanburg, S.C., where he runs the
Montagnard Foundation. Kok Ksor is a founding member of the United
Struggle Front for the Oppressed Races (FULRO), a Montagnard
independence movement that has drawn ire for speaking out against the
government.
In February, the Vietnamese government offered to allow outlawed
Protestant ''house-churches'' to operate if they renounce connections
with Kok Ksor, who many feel is orchestrating uprisings in the Central
Highlands from the United States.
''There have been problems with the Montagnards trying to flee to
Cambodia because Montagnards in the United States are encouraging
them,'' said Nguyen Do Huynh, a tour guide who is half Montagnard and
half Vietnamese. ''The government has been giving them extra money now
to make their lives here easier.''
After the Vietnam War, the Communist government took large chunks of
Montagnard land in the Central Highlands that is now used for growing
coffee and rubber. Many village churches were shut down or bulldozed,
allowing for only government-sanctioned churches in cities. Those who
practice Dega Christianity - the Montagnard equivalent of evangelicalism
- were forced to renounce or face arrest. The restrictions on religious
practices left many upset and some in an uproar.
Despite the government's claims of attempted appeasement, the situation
seems to worsen for the Montagnards each year.
On Easter 2004, peaceful protests in the streets of Pleiku, a town just
south of Kon Tum, drew a violent response from police who used tear gas
and barbed wire to corral the crowds. More than 100 Montagnards were
arrested and 10 were killed, according to a recent Human Rights Watch
report.
While the most severe restrictions have been imposed on Protestants and
Jarai villagers in the Central Highlands - who are seen as having the
strongest historical connections with the United States - most
Christians in the area feel the strain on their religious rights.
''It is very difficult for the Christians here,'' said John Ho, a
Vietnamese Bible teacher at an orphanage in Kon Tum. ''There are many
limitations by the government.''
Police stopped Catholics who live in the surrounding villages from
coming to pray at the Montagnard church last Christmas, Ho said.
All churches must be registered with the government and have a
Vietnamese priest. Getting a permit to build a new church in the Central
Highlands is considered a miracle.
''The last time someone tried to build a church without a permit, the
government bulldozed four churches as punishment,'' Ho, 55, said. ''The
Communist government is atheist. They don't like the religion.''
The issue of religious freedom is highly sensitive in Vietnam, as the
country tries to move beyond its history of conflict and move toward
international respectability. Questions about the country's human rights
practices could be an obstacle, as last year the U.S. State Department
labeled Vietnam a ''country of concern'' because of its record of
religious intolerance.
The attention may have caused the government to tighten its grip. Trips
to the Central Highlands are discouraged for tourists. Those who venture
off Vietnam's tourist track must take circuitous routes on rickety
minivans and get clearance at military checkpoints. Try searching for
''Montagnard'' at an Internet cafe in Vietnam and the browser may shut
down.
''It's not something the government wants on the world's radar right
now,'' Colm said.
Nay Thit said he has given up trying to escape Vietnam. He spends his
days working in the jungle, making barely enough money to get by. In the
evenings he teaches English to children in his village and encourages
them to find a way to move abroad.
''One day the Vietnamese government will have a plan for the
Montagnards,'' Nay Thit said, resigned to a life of government-enforced
happiness. ''But not yet.''
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1339839.htm
ABC Radio Australia
Radio Australia - News - Two Montangnards jailed in Vietnam for helping
others cross border
Last Updated 06/04/2005, 22:54:57
Vietnam's state-run media says a court in the country's Central
Highlands region has jailed two members of an ethnic minority group for
helping others flee to Cambodia.
The Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper says Rolan Hloe, 38, was sentenced to
seven years in jail, and Kpuih Chonh, 47, received a five-year term.
The report says the court in Gia Lai province heard that in June 2004
Rolan Hloe received about $US200 to take 10 people into Cambodia.
He and Kpuih Chonh are said to have been arrested in July by border
guards while they were taking 58 people to Cambodia.
Two other ethnic minority Montagnards were last week jailed for
cooperating with foreign groups to instigate ethnic minority people to
participate in demonstrations in the region between 2002 and 2004.
Dai Uy
April 6, 2005 Wednesday 5:36 AM GMT
LENGTH: 291 words
HEADLINE: Another two Montagnards imprisoned in Vietnam for organizing
refugees trip
DATELINE: HANOI Apr 6
BODY:
A court in Vietnam's troubled Central Highlands has handed two ethnic
minority Montagnards prison terms for organising "illegal escapes" to
Cambodia, state media said Wednesday.
The Gia Lai people's court handed Rolan Hloe, 38, and Kpuih Chonh, 47,
jail terms of seven and five years imprisonment respectively, the army's
mouthpiece, Quan Doi Nhan Dan said.
"With cheating propaganda argument, Hloe organised trips for 10 ethnic
minority people to illegally flee the country in June 2004," the paper
said.
"The two then organised another trip for 58 people and were arrested by
borderguards of Gia Lai province on July 2, 2004,"
The two were found guilty of causing "security and political
instability" and badly influencing people's lives, the paper said. No
specific date for the trial was mentioned.
Last week, two other ethnic minority Montagnards were jailed for up to
five years for co-operating with foreign "reactionary forces" to
instigate ethnic minority people to participate in demonstrations in the
region between 2002 and 2004.
Thousands of Montagnards took to the streets across the impoverished
region last year to protest religious persecution and confiscation of
ancestral lands, triggering a brutal crackdown.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch says hundreds of people were
wounded and at least 10 were killed by security forces and civilians
acting on their behalf. The government, however, insists only two people
died.
This was the biggest show of dissent in the communist nation since
similar demonstrations in February 2001 that were also put down by
security forces and resulted in more than 1,000 Montagnards fleeing to
Cambodia.
Sources recently told AFP that the region has been under a tight
security blanket since December.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thai Press Reports
April 7, 2005
LENGTH: 398 words
HEADLINE: VIETNAMESE VICE PRESIDENT HOA SHOWS CONCERN FOR ETHNIC
MINORITY GROUPS
BODY:
Section: Regional News - Vice President Truong My Hoa focused on the
living conditions of almost 77,000 individuals of 27 ethnic minority
groups during her recent trip to the central province of Binh Thuan,
which was recently hard hit by droughts.
The Vice State President visited remote villages in Ham Thuan Nam, Ham
Thuan Bac and Bac Binh districts as part of her three-day visit which
concluded on April 5. She urged the provincial administration to
increase the development of human resources for ethnic minority people
as well as to reduce child malnutrition rates while maintaining the
traditional cultures of the ethnic minority groups.
Hoa also praised the province's efforts to minimise the consequences of
the droughts which have caused an estimated 300 billion VND in damages.
With assistance from the Central Government, which has sent more than
1,000 tonnes of rice and disbursed 25 billion VND in relief aid, the
province is working hard to provide food for almost 67,000 people
affected by droughts, said the provincial People's Committee Chairman
Huynh Tan Thanh.
Food for its 120,000-head animal stock is another priority on the
province's working agenda at this point, he said.
Like many other provinces across Vietnam charaterised by a mixed
culture, Binh Thuan has worked out a number of policies to develop
economic, social and cultural conditions for its ethnic minority people,
said Thanh. The province has issued two resolutions, one on
comprehensive development for ethnic minority people and the other on
human resource development for ethnic minority communities in the
2002-05 period. Under the two resolutions, the province has allotted
3,606 ha of cultivated land to almost 3,000 families of ethnic minority
groups in 15 villages. The province has also signed contracts on forest
tending and protection with 2,500 families, helping them earn between
3.5 and 4 million VND a year each.
Binh Thuan has taken many measures such as granting soft loans for
household economic development and financial support for ethnic minority
groups to reduce the poverty rate among ethnic minority groups to 19.99
percent from 42.33 percent several years ago.
The province has also planned to lift 17 of the 30 villages on the list
of those with special difficulties from the Government's financial
support programme by the end of this year. - VNA
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Associated Press
April 6, 2005 Wednesday 12:05 AM Eastern Time
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
DISTRIBUTION: Asia; England; Europe; Britian; Scandinavia
LENGTH: 260 words
HEADLINE: Vietnam jails two hilltribe members for organizing others to
flee country
DATELINE: HANOI, Vietnam
BODY:
Two hilltribe members were sentenced to up to seven years in jail for
organizing others to flee Vietnam's restive Central Highlands into
neighboring Cambodia, an official said Wednesday.
Rolan Hloe, 38, and Kpuih Chonh, 47, both members of Jarai ethnic
minority group, were sentenced to seven and five years in prison
respectively in a one-day trial last week in Gia Lai province, deputy
provincial chief judge Dinh Minh said.
Hloe arranged for 10 Jarai ethnic minority members to flee to Cambodia
last June in exchange for 3 million dong (US$190), Minh said.
Chonh and Hloe were arrested by Vietnamese border guards a month later
after arranging for 58 others to flee, he said.
The two have 15 days to appeal their sentences in the March 28 trial.
Tens of thousands of ethnic minority members, collectively called
Montagnards, took to the streets in the Central Highland provinces of
Daklak, Dak Nong and Gia Lai on Easter weekend last year to protest the
communist government's restrictions on their Protestant religious faith
and confiscation of their ancestral lands.
International human rights groups say that 10 protesters were killed in
clashes with police, but the government says only two people died after
being pelted by rocks thrown by other protesters.
Dozens of people have been jailed for organizing the protests or
encouraging the exodus of asylum seekers to Cambodia.
Hundreds of asylum seekers are being cared for by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees at four shelters in the Cambodian
capital, Phnom Penh.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_04_06/english/cauchuyenthoisu.htm
US report not beneficial to Vietnam-US relations
The report says that the Vietnamese Governments human rights record
remained poor, and that it continued to commit serious abuses. It even
says last year Vietnam significantly restricted freedom of religion,
speech, press, assembly and association through a number of means.
All this information is a gross distortion of the fact in Vietnam. It
is worth mentioning that last year the US accused Vietnam of oppressing
ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands. In fact, hundreds of
ethnic minority people who were incited by bad elements to flee the
country have voluntarily returned to their homes. They have received
great assistance from local administrations and people to rebuild their
lives from scratch.
Although the country is still facing difficulties caused by natural
calamities, including severe floods and prolonged droughts, the State
and Government have poured thousands of billion of Vietnam Dong into
infrastructure upgrades in the Central Highlands to develop local
economy, transportation system, culture, health care and education.
Vietnam has many times reiterated that it persists in creating
favourable conditions for religions to operate in the country. There is
no denying that Vietnam now has more than 10 big religions with nearly
20 million religious followers in total a sharp increase in the number
compared to the pre-Doi Moi (Renewal) period. Thousands of pagodas and
churches have been built or refurbished. Last year, Vietnam also issued
the Ordinance on Protestantism and it has been welcomed by Protestant
pastors and followers.
When jumping to conclusions that Vietnam restricts freedom of religion,
speech, press, assembly and association, the US paid no heed to the
fact that Vietnam now has more than 600 press agencies with more than
700 publications; radio and television broadcasts cover more than 90
percent of the countrys territory, and many people have access to
Internet services.
In their practical activities, the Party, State and Government of
Vietnam always implement consistent policies for the people and for a
real democracy. Democracy in Vietnam is carried out in various forms
and in all aspects of life and is ensured by the law.
On the way to development, the country is still facing difficulties. As
a point of fact, corruption occurred here and there and several
officials committed offences in economic management, and in exercising
democratic rules. But all this was caused by some individuals and did
not reflect the true nature of our regime. The Vietnamese State has
strictly dealt with those individuals who committed offences. It is
impossible to jump to conclusion that the situation of human rights and
democracy "remained poor", which are merely based on some individuals.
Presumably, the US should be the first country in the world to be
included in the list of countries for serious violations of human
rights and democracy. Some US energy and telecommunications groups went
bankrupt due to financial frauds. Even some US officials were alleged
to accept bribes from wealthy economists.
Obviously, the US wants to make use of its judgements to change
political regimes in countries which do not follow its instructions. It
is the external policy of the US.
It is not by chance that when accusing Vietnam and other countries of
violating human rights and democracy, the US dwelled on its goodwill
and generosity to support and promote human rights in these countries.
To do this, the report says, the US will allocate more than US$1billion
for this purpose and will help Vietnam and other countries with
personnel training and developing other resources.
To support the report and its intention, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice stated that: "Freedom, democracy and human rights are
not American principles or Western values. These ideals are shared by
all people. They are the non-negotiable demands of human dignity."
If so, the world public wonders why the US forces other countries to
follow its concepts of human rights and democracy, without referring to
their history, nationality and cultural characteristics. If they are
common values, they should be discussed and agreed by all nations. By
saying "They are the non-negotiable demands of human dignity", the US
gives itself the right to impose the "so-called" values of human rights
and democracy on other countries. There is no doubt that the US aims to
intervene in the internal affairs and undermine the sovereignty and
security of these countries.
Like other countries in the world, Vietnam rejects and condemns the US
report as it clearly runs counter to the aspirations and interests of
the two countries people and is not beneficial to bilateral relations
particularly when the two countries are anticipating the 10th
anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
- - - - - [this is not a joke] - - - - -
X-URL: http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_04_06/english/xahoi.htm -or-
http://tinyurl.com/4zxpg -or-
http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_04_06/english/xahoi.htm#Theology%20course%20of
fered%20to%20clergymen,%20religious%20believers%20in%20Central%20Highland
s
Theology course offered to clergymen, religious believers in Central
Highlands
Nearly 50 clergymen and religious believers are attending a six-month
course on theology in PleikuRoh village, Pleiku city, Central Highlands
Gia Lai province.
The course, the first of its kind in Gia Lai province, which is jointly
organised by the PROVINCIAL PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE and the Seminary of the
Protestant Church in southern Vietnam, aims to help participants
systematically improve their understanding of their RELIGION AND THE
LAW in the spirit of "Living with the gospel and serving the Fatherland
and the Nation".
On finishing the course, trainees will be granted the title of pastor
and assigned to manage chapters of the Protestant Church in the
province.
DGVREIMAN
"Dai Uy" <Dai...@Hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Dai-Uy-CA7C6B....@orngca-news04.socal.rr.com...
>
> X-URL:
> http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_04_06/english/cauchuyenthoisu.htm
>
> US report not beneficial to Vietnam-US relations
>
> The report says that the Vietnamese Governments human rights
> record
> remained poor, and that it continued to commit serious abuses.
> It even
> says last year Vietnam significantly restricted freedom of
> religion,
> speech, press, assembly and association through a number of
> means.
>
> All this information is a gross distortion of the fact in
> Vietnam. It
> is worth mentioning that last year the US accused Vietnam of
> oppressing
> ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands. In fact,
> hundreds of
> ethnic minority people who were incited by bad elements to
> flee the
> country have voluntarily returned to their homes. They have
> received
> great assistance from local administrations and people to
> rebuild their
> lives from scratch.
Doug Says: They received great assistance all right - a bullet
to the head! The only way to deal with Vietnamese communists is
with a B-52 raid. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone that
would return to that pesthole and suck up to the commie butchers.
Regardless of how many Vietnamese whores some of these village
rats and "civilians" might have married, I for one could care
less what they and their whores think about all those poor little
commie butchers. Nothing is more low and vile on this planet
that a Vietnamese Communist other than some poor stupid GI that
might marry one.
Doug Grant (Tm)
ELCHINO
He should be a shame on the US Armed Forces
Pepperoni
"ELCHINO" <ElChinoBoa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1113034301.9...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> He should be a shame on the US Armed Forces
>
>
We can prove no connection to any U.S. Armed Force. Doogie claims to have
served both in the Marine Reserve and the U.S. Army, but his stories lack
detail and verifiable factual content.
While the freedom to express personal opinion is an implicit right of
Usenet; such vile and offensive opinions should not be construed as common
to other posters nor representitive of the viewpoint of any established
group of citizens.
Pepperoni
i2p6 west
>
> Doug Says: They received great assistance all right - a bullet
> to the head! The only way to deal with Vietnamese communists is
> with a B-52 raid. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone that
> would return to that pesthole and suck up to the commie butchers.
> Regardless of how many Vietnamese whores some of these village
> rats and "civilians" might have married, I for one could care
> less what they and their whores think about all those poor little
> commie butchers. Nothing is more low and vile on this planet
> that a Vietnamese Communist other than some poor stupid GI that
> might marry one.
>
> Doug Grant (Tm)
Sir, I am forwarding a copy of all your posts to Hanoi, with the hopes
that they will sue the shit out of you because of your dishonest, libelous,
and slanderous statements.
ya fuckin moron.
Ha!
ngocchung
military. Cheers./.
"Pepperoni" <wasteba...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MOydnXFO8sC...@comcast.com...
Dr. Qwerty. LTD
although this is a great deal of doubt the Vietnamese ever assisted a 'yard
in anything but his pending demise, you blindly blunder forward with your
comment....a comment directed by you (unknowingly like most of your
comments) towards the one people that helped the American Military the most
during the Vietnamese conflict.
I won't bother to include the URL from Google because you don't seem to
comprehend the fact that Google could possibly provide your very words to
you, a nutcase, in a nutshell.
"DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote in message
news:WLSdnfPH5uV...@comcast.com...
Pepperoni
"ngocchung" <ngoc...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:UOP5e.416$gI3...@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
> Mr . Pepperoni needs to ignore Elchino. He did not know anything about
> military. Cheers./.
>
I don't often agree with ELCHINO, but we both know an idiot when we see one.
Pepperoni
Dai Uy
"DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>
> Doug Says: They received great assistance all right - a bullet
> to the head! The only way to deal with Vietnamese communists is
> with a B-52 raid. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone that
> would return to that pesthole and suck up to the commie butchers.
> Regardless of how many Vietnamese whores some of these village
> rats and "civilians" might have married, I for one could care
> less what they and their whores think about all those poor little
> commie butchers. Nothing is more low and vile on this planet
> that a Vietnamese Communist other than some poor stupid GI that
> might marry one.
>
> Doug Grant (Tm)
Dai Uy says:
tick-
tock
tick-
tock
tick-
tock!tick!tock
tick!tock!tick!tock
tick!tock!tick!tock tick
tock!tick!tock!tick tock
tick!tock!ticktocktick
tock-tick-tock-tick/
tock-tick-tock-tick
tock-ticktock-tick
!tock-tick-tock/
!tick-tock-tick!
Nigel Brooks
Abuse report filed with Comcast
--
Nigel Brooks
Pepperoni
>
> Dai Uy says:
>
>
> tick-
> tock
> tick-
> tock
> tick-
> tock!tick!tock
> tick!tock!tick!tock
> tick!tock!tick!tock tick
> tock!tick!tock!tick tock
> tick!tock!ticktocktick
> tock-tick-tock-tick/
> tock-tick-tock-tick
> tock-ticktock-tick
> !tock-tick-tock/
> !tick-tock-tick!
Even nature mocks Doogie.
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/clouds.jpg
Harmony of Nature, etc.
Red Jacket
"Dai Uy" <Dai...@Hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Dai-Uy-B21338....@orngca-news04.socal.rr.com...
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.active.org.au/sydney/webcast/front.php3?article_id=1697
The Washington Times
April 7, 2002
Commentary: FORUM section
Creeping genocide in Asia
I commend Michael Benge's Commentary Forum contribution (The Washington
Times, Jan. 13, "Terrifying abuses in Vietnam") for highlighting the
truth about Vietnam's treatment of the Montagnards.
The International Commission of Jurists has also concluded that the
Vietnamese government is committing systematic persecution of these
indigenous people (ICJ Report: Australian Section, July 2001) - namely
through torture, killings, religious oppression and confiscation of
ancestral lands.
It is disturbing however, to note attempts to downgrade Vietnam's
unspeakable brutality (See: Forum, March 10, "True labeling or
red-baiting," by Andrew Wells-Dang). Such reporting only serves to
legitimize Vietnam's human rights abuses while prolonging the suffering
of innocent Montagnards. Mr. Wells-Dang should be reminded that no
country (communist or noncommunist) should be excused for human-rights
abuses and that inside Vietnam's central highlands today, thousands of
soldiers and security forces have brutally enforced martial law. While
this persecution may not be classed as "international terrorism" in a
"al Qaeda" context, I can assure him that a Christian Montagnard chained
to the floor in an underground cell and paralyzed from electric shock
torture, would still consider it an act of "terrorism".
There is evidence that not only are U.N. population funds being used
for forced abortion in China (The Washington Times, Jan. 29, "Population
fund at U.N. protested") but that these funds are being used by the
Vietnamese communist government to eliminate the Montagnard hill tribes
through "forced and coercive" sterilizations programs.
This is most disturbing given that "imposing measures to prevent
births" is defined as a crime of genocide under the U.N. Convention on
the Crime and Punishment of Genocide. The Montagnard Foundation has
documented more than 1,000 cases of Montagnard women who were sterilized
by the Vietnamese authorities through force, coercion, bribery, threats
of fines or imprisonment. The total figure however, is unknown as the
Montagnard's homelands remains under martial law and hidden from
international scrutiny.
In July 2000, another lawyer and I questioned Eric Palstra, the Senior
External Relations officer of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
in Geneva on Vietnam's "sterilization policies." He confirmed the UNFPA
and World Bank do indeed fund family planning programs in Vietnam, but
nervously shifted all blame from the United Nations. His exact words
concerning the sterilizations were "In Vietnam there is not always a
trickle down effect of proper implementation." I asked if he knew
whether Vietnam was targeting the Montagnards "specifically" and how
U.N. monies for these procedures are monitored. On this he could not
give me an answer.
On Aug. 8, 2001, I watched as the Vietnamese ambassador to the United
Nations, Nguyen Quy Binh, faced the U.N. Committee for Elimination of
Racial Discrimination. His response to questions of forced and coerced
sterilizations was that the Vietnamese government offers "incentives and
fines only" for sterilizations of Montagnard women. He denied these
sterilizations are "forced." These "fines" and "incentives" are however,
themselves nothing less than grave violations of the international
standards regarding reproductive rights. The U.S. government even passed
a law (Tiarhart Amendment), which prohibits the granting of U.S. monies
to programs by countries conducting such violations of women's rights.
Montagnard women continue to recount that during 1996-2001 Vietnamese
authorities entered their villages daily to round up women of
childbearing age and forced, bribed and threatened them to undergo
surgical sterilization. One woman sobbed when she told me how her sister
died during the operation. In the early 1990s, the communist authorities
conducted sterilizations using an acid chemical "quinicrine," in pellet
form which, when inserted into the uterus, would dissolve and burn the
uterus shut. The British Medical journal Lancet (1993, 342, July 24,
pages 213-217) reported more than 31,000 women being sterilized in
Vietnam by this method.
While it is unknown whether Vietnam still uses this "acid," it seems
Hanoi has an agenda to lower the population of the Montagnards.
Recently, Vietnam Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien stated that Vietnam
intends to achieve a zero growth rate, especially in rural remote areas,
by the year 2005 (Asia Pulse, "Vietnam plans target 0 percent population
growth in rural areas by 2005," Dec, 27, 2001).
"Rural remote areas" is notably, where the Montagnards reside and,
given Vietnam's escalating repression against them, this prospect of
zero growth warrants urgent investigation. Sterilizations however, are
just the tip of the iceberg of persecution confronting the Montagnards.
Since 1975, the Vietnamese government has arrested, imprisoned and
tortured them, while confiscating their ancestral lands and persecuting
them for converting to Christianity. The revenge for the Vietnam War
continues, for more than 40,000 Montagnards had once served as allies to
the U.S. during that conflict.
Over the past year, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, two
European Parliament Resolutions, various nongovernmental organizations,
U.N. bodies, and U.S. members of Congress have condemned Vietnam's
abuses of the Montagnards. The U.S. State Department and Human Rights
Watch even reported how Montagnards were made to drink animal's blood
while being forced to renounce their Christian beliefs. More than 1,000
Montagnards who have escaped into Cambodia now suffer an uncertain fate
as they languish in emergency refugee camps set up by the United
Nations. Vietnam has offered "bounties" for their capture, while both
Vietnam and Cambodia have blatantly ignored international law and sold,
beaten, kidnapped and arrested many fleeing refugees.
The situation is deplorable and full support should be given to the
members of U.S. Congress who are appealing to President Bush to exercise
his discretionary powers over funding destined for family planning
programs by nations who violate women's rights.
In Vietnam's case, justice would also demand that all aid and trade
benefits to Vietnam be halted immediately until persecution of the
Montagnards ceases. I echo the words of Former Deputy Ambassador to the
Republic of Vietnam, Wolf Lehman (The Washington Times, Jan. 30) "that
Vietnam must address abuses." America's loyal allies from the Vietnam
War must not be abandoned to continually face the revenge enacted by
Hanoi. It is thus America's duty to now assist the Montagnards.
While President Bush and the State Department should be highly
commended for the recent offer of asylum to the 1,000 Montagnard
refugees who escaped to Cambodia, we must not forget the underlying
problem inside Vietnam. Forced from their ancestral lands and allocated
small plots to farm, the Montagnards continue to suffer malnutrition and
poverty. If they voice a protest, they face torture, imprisonment or
death.
Vietnam's intent becomes quite clear - it is practicing "creeping"
genocide.
The lies and denials by Vietnam's official spokespeople on the
Montagnard situation is criminal, as is Massachusetts Democratic Sen.
John Kerry's refusal to permit the "Vietnam Human Rights Act" from being
voted on in the U.S. Senate. What reason can Mr. Kerry have for holding
a "human rights" bill from being voted on? Vietnam remains one of the
worst violators of human rights in Asia and its reign of terror against
the Montagnards must cease. In the name of humanity - the international
community must act urgently and force Vietnam to end the persecution of
these indigenous peoples.
SCOTT JOHNSON
International Commission of Jurists, West Australian Branch
DGVREIMAN
"ELCHINO" <ElChinoBoa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1113034301.9...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> He should be a shame on the US Armed Forces
Doug Says: The only shame on the US Armed Forces in Vietnam
were the village rats that married whores and made little
whorelets. If those Village Rats want to return to Vietnam they
should stay there - they certainly are among their kind of
people. Whores and Communists. The only thing the USA should
send to Hanoi is a B-52 raid. I respect the Vietnamese people
that escaped, tried to escape and fought against the communists.
But those Americans or Vietnamese that now want to support a
vile Communist government in Vietnam with their tourist dollars
or by any other means I despise.
Doug Grant (Tm).
DGVREIMAN
>slink back into Vietnam and support Charlie with their tourist
>money?
Doug Grant (Tm)
DGVREIMAN
Doug Says: Threat for more libel and defamation acknowledged.
Doug Grant (Tm)
Dr. Qwerty. LTD
boys club? you think his posts regarding the Communist treatment of ethnic
Vietnamese is promoting tourism? you dumb fuck.
simply fucking amazing
Dai Uy
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 8, 2005, Friday
05:13:56 Central European Time
SECTION: Miscellaneous
LENGTH: 400 words
HEADLINE: Three ethnic minorities arrested in Vietnam restive highlands
DATELINE: Hanoi
BODY:
Three Montagnards have been arrested and 26 others have turned
themselves over to local authorities in Vietnam's restive central
highlands region, officials said Friday.
"The three men have lured ethnic minority people to follow Dega
Protestantism and to join Dega State since 2000," said Do Tan Bo, deputy
police chief of Mang Yang district in Gia Lai province.
Dega Protestantism is a movement that links religious belief with a
desire for an ancestral homeland for various ethnic minority groups
collectively known as Montagnards.
Following the arrests in early March, 26 hill tribe people, including
four women, decided to voluntarily report themselves to their local
authorities on Thursday, according to Nguyen Hong Phuoc, vice chairman
of Ayun peoples committee in Gia Lai.
"The people were allowed to return home after making written pledges to
local authorities on not listening to and letting themselves to be lured
by any bad forces again," the vice chairman said. "They also apologized
to their villagers for their wrong doing."
Protests are rare in one-party Vietnam, but the central highlands has
experienced large demonstrations in 2001 and in 2004.
Local officials and central government have repeatedly stated that the
cause of the protests was incitement forces hostile to the communist
regime, but rights groups and locals have said that religion, land
rights and discrimination were all factors that spurred the protests.
During the protests in April 2004, thousands of people took to the
streets in at least three provinces, and at least two people were killed.
Local officials claimed that the deaths were caused by other protestors
throwing rocks, but eyewitnesses said that at least one of the victims
was shot by a soldier.
Since the mass protests in April 2004, at least 25 Montagnards have been
tried and sentenced to jail terms of between three and 11 years.
Most were convicted of "undermining national security and unity" and
"distorting the policies of the Communist Party and government."
Following the protests in April 2004, hundreds of people fled to
Cambodia, and around 700 ended up in the capital Phnom Penh.
Around 36 Montagnards have returned to Vietnam under an agreement
between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and
the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia signed in January.
Dai Uy
"DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
> "Dai Uy" <Dai...@Hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:Dai-Uy-B21338....@orngca-news04.socal.rr.com...
> > In article <WLSdnfPH5uV...@comcast.com>,
> > "DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Doug Says: They received great assistance all right - a
> >> bullet
> >> to the head! The only way to deal with Vietnamese communists
> >> is
> >> with a B-52 raid. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone
> >> that
> >> would return to that pesthole and suck up to the commie
> >> butchers.
> >> Regardless of how many Vietnamese whores some of these village
> >> rats and "civilians" might have married, I for one could care
> >> less what they and their whores think about all those poor
> >> little
> >> commie butchers. Nothing is more low and vile on this planet
> >> that a Vietnamese Communist other than some poor stupid GI
> >> that
> >> might marry one.
> >>
> >> Doug Grant (Tm)
I apologize to ALL Vietnamese who post to this newsgroup. Doug
Grant does not speak for Viet Nam veterans nor for Americans. His
comments only reflect upon himself. He has never shown any interest in
the ongoing human rights abuses against the Montagnards in the Central
Highlands. His purpose now has nothing to do with Viet Nam nor the
Vietnamese he only wishes to attack me for challenging the fantasies he
has posted concerning his Viet Nam war exploits on the <alt.war.vietnam>
usenet newsgroup.
On the behalf of all real American veterans of the Viet Nam war,
please accept my apology.
-Thomas H. Rau a.k.a. Dai Uy
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2005-04-11-voa1.cfm
Plight Of Montagnard Refugees
10 April 2005
Nine ethnic Montagnards returned recently to Vietnam from Cambodia.
Under an agreement among Vietnam, Cambodia, and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, Montagnards in Cambodia who are found not to
be refugees, or who choose not to resettle in a third country, are
supposed to be allowed to return to their homes in the Central Highlands
without prosecution or persecution by Vietnamese authorities.
"I want to thank the U-N for the food and shelter you provided, but now
I need to return," one refugee told a Reuters news reporter. "I don't
know what will happen to me", he said, "but I am willing to find out
because I miss my wife and children so much".
The nine returnees are among forty-three Montagnards who have agreed to
leave Cambodia and return to their homes in Vietnam. They are among
thousands of Montagnards who have fled repression by Vietnamese
authorities since January 2001. Reports by Human Rights Watch and other
non-governmental organizations document beatings, arrests, land
confiscations, and church closings suffered by the Montagnards at the
hands of the Vietnamese government.
Many Montagnards have fled to Cambodia in the mistaken belief that the
United Nations could help them get back land confiscated by the
Vietnamese government. "I am disappointed the U-N cannot get my land
back and I am nervous," said one returning refugee. U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Marie Huhtala says the Montagnards "have
put themselves in a very unusual situation":
"They seem to think by leaving their own country and going into a
second country, Cambodia, that they can somehow prevail on the
international community to redress the problems they have back home in
Vietnam. . . .Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way."
Ms. Huhtala says the agreement among Cambodia, Vietnam, and the U-N
should encourage the Montagnards to return to their homes. But once the
Montagnards are repatriated to Vietnam, their rights will need to be
protected.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Huhtala says the U.S. is in
continued dialogue with the government of Vietnam on this subject. She
says the U.S. sends its diplomatic officers to the Central Highlands on
a regular basis. The U.S., says Ms. Huhtala, will follow up any instance
of persecution or other problems against the Montagnards once they go
back.
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States
government.
Dai Uy
Montagnard Refugees Need International Support
OpEd for the Cambodia Daily
by Brad Adams, Asia director, Human Rights Watch
Unrest has rocked Vietnam's Central Highlands since February 2001, when
thousands of indigenous Montagnards took to the streets to protest
widespread confiscation of their ancestral lands and religious
repression.
The latest wave of Montagnards fled their villages after a bloody
government crackdown a year ago during Easter weekend protests.
Vietnamese security forces blocked key bridges and intersections. When
the demonstrators refused to turn back, police fired tear gas, beating
people when they fell down. Suspected organizers of the protests were
dragged away and arrested. Afterwards, the police entered the villages,
ransacking houses and beating villagers as they searched for activists.
By Easter evening, the provincial hospitals were full of wounded
Montagnards, bloody from cracked skulls and broken arms and legs. At
least ten Montagnards were confirmed to have been killed.
The government's repression of activists, church leaders, and families of
people who fled continues, generating a small but steady flow of refugees
into neighboring Cambodia.
Many refugees whose protection is precarious in countries of first asylum
around the world hope for resettlement to other countries where asylum is
more secure. But in an unusual development, more than 250 Montagnards in
Cambodia -- including many U.N.-recognized refugees -- have refused
resettlement to a third country outside the region. Some are fearful
that
they may never see their spouses and children again. Others say they want
to wait in Cambodia until the problems in the Central Highlands are
resolved, so they can then safely return home. Many remain afraid of
what awaits them if they return home now.
Fears among Montagnards in Cambodia are high after a January 25 agreement
between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
governments of Cambodia and Vietnam stating that Montagnards who do not
agree to return to Vietnam or resettle abroad are to be forcibly returned
to Vietnam. Montagnards under U.N. protection in Phnom Penh at the time
the agreement was signed had to make their decision by last week whether
to resettle or return to Vietnam.
Many are afraid because Vietnam does not allow UNHCR or other independent
monitors into the Central Highlands to ensure their safe return. The
January agreement states that the Vietnamese Government and UNHCR will
"consult and cooperate" on visits to the returnees "at an appropriate
time," but Vietnam has made no commitment to turn these vague words into
access.
Though the Vietnamese government has promised not to punish those who
fled for the fact that they did so, it has made no commitment to refrain
from punishing and prosecuting returnees for practicing their religion or
expressing their political opinions. Indeed, approximately 180
Montagnards have been sentenced to prison terms in Vietnam of up to
thirteen years since 2001 for their political and religious activities,
or for attempting to flee to Cambodia. The most recent trial, of three
Montagnard men, was conducted the same day the January 25 agreement was
being negotiated.
Human Rights Watch has documented recent cases of beatings, arbitrary
arrests, and harassment against returnees from Cambodia (see
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/09/vietna9967.htm). We continue to
receive reports of a stepped-up military and police presence and ongoing
arrests and torture of suspected activists. Local authorities are
convening meetings where they pressure villagers to renounce Christianity
and harangue them not to count on help from the international community.
From time to time, Cambodia has succumbed to pressure from Hanoi to
forcibly return Montagnards. In one notorious case, in early January,
Cambodian police removed a family of Montagnards who were inside a UNHCR
compound in Phnom Penh and sent them back to Vietnam.
Cambodia is a state party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. This means
it must provide protection to refugees and ensure that no one is forcibly
returned to a place where he or she might face persecution. Cambodia is
also bound, by human rights treaties, not to forcibly return people to a
place where they will suffer torture or other inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. With the support of UNHCR and interested
governments, such as Canada, the United States and European governments,
Cambodia must resist the pressure to forcibly return any refugees or
asylum-seekers.
By signing the January 25 agreement, UNHCR has implicitly agreed to the
return of recognized refugees to a country that is actively persecuting
such people and with no meaningful guarantees of their protection. UNHCR
hopes that the agreement at least allows those who manage to reach UNHCR
to remain very temporarily in Cambodia until they decide either to
resettle or return. But UNHCR should also be making it clear to both
Vietnam and Cambodia that it will not tolerate forced return of
Montagnard refugees from Cambodia, even if those concerned do not agree
to resettle.
While refugees all over the world are forced to make difficult choices,
it is important to remember that these are difficult and personal
decisions and that there is no immediate or objective reason for the
option of asylum in Cambodia to be ruled out. Refugees should not be
stripped of their right to be protected from forced return to
persecution simply because they are reluctant to resettle on another
continent.
It is commendable that, since February 2001, Cambodia has offered
temporary shelter to several thousand Montagnard refugees, despite
intense pressure from Vietnam to send them all back. Allowing such a
small number of asylum seekers to remain creates little true burden on
Cambodia. The U.N. and private agencies pay for their welfare. The
problem is therefore one of political pressure from Vietnam, which
Cambodia succumbs to from time to time, at great human cost to
individuals who need protection the most.
Of course, the source of the problem is in Hanoi. It is the Vietnamese
government's policies that lead to unrest in the Central Highlands and
cause continued flows of asylum seekers.
International pressure was key in persuading Vietnam to provide
guarantees and access that made repatriation of large numbers of "boat
people" a viable option during the 1990s. The international community
should once again step in and insist that Vietnam grant full access to
UNHCR monitors. No one should be returned to Vietnam unless there are
firm guarantees that any such returns are genuinely voluntary and
sufficient safeguards are in place to protect returnees and their
families.
This is not some abstract policy issue. It's about real people, most of
them poor, who have few choices in life. As one Montagnard, who fled to
Cambodia after being beaten with an electric baton by police for
demonstrating, explained: "I abandoned my wife, my house, my children.
I want the international community to understand clearly that I didn't
come here to get rich or to resettle abroad. We just want our land. When
we have our land, we can support our families and live freely."
Dai Uy
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 11, 2005, Monday
05:39:53 Central European Time
SECTION: Miscellaneous
LENGTH: 445 words
HEADLINE: 24 Montagnards come out of jungle hiding in Vietnam
DATELINE: Hanoi
BODY:
Twenty-four ethnic minority people - including four religious activists
- who had been hiding in Vietnamese forests following rare protests in
April 2004, have turned themselves in, local authorities said Monday.
"These people decided to turn themselves in after receiving our
encouragement and explanation about the government's policy of tolerance
via their family members who still stayed home, having normal lives
after they fled," said Nguyen Dung, Chairman of the People's Committee
of Chu Se distict in Gia Lai province.
Last week, authorities in the restive central highlands region announced
that three people had been arrested and another 26 had voluntarily
turned themselves in after their involvement in the protests in 2001 and
April 2004.
Authorities said the 24 have been allowed to return home after
apologizing to local residents and writing self criticisms.
State-run media reported that four of the 24 who turned themselves in
over the last month were members of the executive board of the Dega
Church. They were also reportedly members of FULRO, a French acronym for
the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races.
Dega is a form of Protestantism that links religion with a desire for a
homeland for the many ethnic minority groups known collectively as
Montagnards.
Religious groups not recognized by the state are illegal in communist
Vietnam. The government frequently links the Dega church to FULRO, a
disbanded separatist group that fought for regional independence between
the end of the Vietnam war and 1994.
The central highlands experienced large-scale protests in 2001 and again
in April 2004, when thousands of people took to the streets in three
central highland provinces and clashed with security services.
Vietnam blamed foreign instigation both times, but rights groups and
local people said land rights and religion were factors furling the
unrest.
Human Rights Watch has said that at least 10 protestors died in the
clashes, but local authorities said only two were killed.
Following the riots, hundreds of Montagnards tried to flee the region
into neighbouring Cambodia. Around 700 ended up at the office of the
United Nations United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in
the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
The governments of Vietnam and Cambodia and the UNHCR signed a
trilateral agreement in January about the repatriation of some of the
refugees. Since then, around 36 have left Cambodia to return to Vietnam.
Vietnam tightly controls access to the restive region, permitting only
infrequent, tightly chaperoned visits by journalists and diplomats.
Dai Uy
Xinhua General News Service
April 9, 2005 Saturday 8:30 AM EST
SECTION: WORLD NEWS; Political
LENGTH: 205 words
HEADLINE: Cambodia, Vietnam to strengthen cooperation on security
DATELINE: PHNOM PENH
BODY:
Cambodia and Vietnam agreed to further strengthen the exchange and
cooperation in maintaining state security and the public order.
An agreement was signed here on Saturday by Cambodia's Co- Ministers of
Interior Sar Kheng and Prince Norodom Sirivuth and visiting Vietnam's
Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh.
The two sides affirmed the respect for each other's independence,
sovereignty and territorial integrity, and decided to step up their
cooperation on combating transnational crimes, including money
laundering, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and the trafficking of
women and children.
Moreover, the two countries also hope to further promote the exchange of
information on security in order to prevent and fight against any
attempt to damage the relations and unity between the two countries.
On the border issues, both sides expressed their hope to resolve the
outstanding border issues through peaceful way in order to maintain the
security and stability of the common border.
Vietnam also promised to continue to train police officers for Cambodia.
Le Hong Anh and his delegation is here for a four-day visit. He met with
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday morning.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/23092CFCE802D130C1256FE
000549492?opendocument
KOK KSOR, of Transnational Radical Party, said in the year 2005,
Montagnard refugees continued to be hunted down by Vietnamese police who
paid bounties to Cambodian police for arresting them. Upon their return
to Viet Nam many refugees were subjected to harsh reprisals, torture and
imprisonment. On 25 January 2005, the Governments of Cambodia and Viet
Nam and UNHCR had signed a memorandum of understanding regarding over
700 Montagnard asylum seekers currently in Cambodia. Their fate remained
in question and representatives of more than 300 refugees in Phnom Penh
had asked the group to deliver this appeal to the United Nations. The
current memorandum was flawed and dangerous because it did not contain
any explicit guarantees that Montagnard refugees who were returned to
Viet Nam would be effectively protected by UNHCR.
Dai Uy
Begin forwarded message:
Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
April 13, 2005
LENGTH: 152 words
HEADLINE: CAMBODIA TO REPATRIATE 75 MONTAGNARDS TO VIETNAM'S CENTRAL
HIGHLANDS
BODY:
Text of report in English by Vietnamese news agency VNA web site
Phnom Penh, 13 April: Cambodia, Vietnam and the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on 11 April agreed that the 75 ethnic
minority people who migrated illegally from the Central Highlands into
Cambodia and who were denied refugee status by the UNHCR, must return to
Vietnam next month.
The agreement was reached at a meeting between the three sides in Phnom
Penh, which was held to prepare for a meeting scheduled for next month
in Geneva to discuss this issue.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Raja Panpay, UNHCR's Deputy
Regional Director, said that the continued presence in Phnom Penh of the
75 people and others who have been denied refuge status by the UNHCR may
prompt Cambodia to turn away other refugees.
Source: VNA news agency web site, Hanoi, in English 13 Apr 05
) BBC Monitoring
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1344304.htm
ABC Radio Australia
Radio Australia - News - Vietnamese Christian activist loses appeal
against jail sentence
Last Updated 13/04/2005, 12:47:05
A Vietnamese court has rejected an appeal by a prominent Christian and
human rights activist against a three-year jail sentence.
Nguyen Hong Quang, from the outlawed Vietnam Mennonite Church, was
found guilty last year of preventing people from carrying out their
official duties.
Five other church members were sentenced to between nine months and two
years' jail on the same charges.
The arrests followed scuffles in March 2004 between police and several
Mennonites who had photographed undercover officers carrying out
surveillance of Quang's home.
Red Jacket
"Dai Uy" <Dai...@Hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Dai-Uy-5426CE....@orngca-news04.socal.rr.com...
ELCHINO
years too harsh.
The Vietkong/Cong An should see hard sentencing of political dissidents
to maintain social and political stability here in Vietnam as using
morphine to reduce the pain in a cancer patient,.
Too much morphine might kill the pain but also might kill the patient.
The Cong An might get addicted to the use of morphine too because it is
easy to get result.
Therefore, The Cong An should find a way of reducing the growing pains
of Doimoi which is not, fortunately, a terminal cancer not with
narcotics or jail terms but with a well thought out roadmap to satisfy
the need of the MennonitesA as well as of the Catholics with whom they
achieved the best results and with the Buddhists first with people like
Monk Thich Nhut Hanh, then with the Unified church of Thich Hue Quang
and Thich Quang Do
Cong An Tienlen
Mnemonites Tienlen
Unified Church Tien Len
Vietnam Tienlen
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.aim.org/guest_column/2863_0_6_0_C/
UN Shafts Montagnard Christians
By Mike Benge | April 15, 2005
After the atrocious response to last Easter's peaceful prayer vigil by
the Montagnards in which hundreds were murdered, brutally beaten, and
sent to Vietnam's hidden gulags, a very few legitimate refugees beat the
odds and escaped to Cambodia.
Whoops, the UN has done it again! The resignation of U.N. refugee chief
Ruud Lubbers over sexual harassment charges isn't the only scandal in
the U.N.'s refugee program. Recently, the United Nations High Commission
on Refugees (UNHCR) signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam
and Cambodia to settle issues related to the 750 Montagnard Christian
refugees who fled persecution in Vietnam and are now in Cambodia. The
MOU is the Vietnamese communists' attempt at a "final solution"?putting
an end to outsiders learning of the shameful scandal of the persecution
of Montagnard Christians through their presence as refugees in Cambodia
by closing UNHCR camps there. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me
twice, shame on me." In a never-ending story, UNHCR is doing it again.
The state-controlled Vietnamese media accused UNHCR of stirring up an
exodus of ethnic minorities from Vietnam's restive Central Highlands to
Cambodia. They charged that two UNHCR staff had trained Montagnards to
instigate others in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to flee to
Cambodia. The charges are a "red herring." The facts are that all they
did was to issue UNHCR papers to some Montagnard refugees that are
"supposed" to guarantee safe passage for their return to Vietnam.
In 20001 the Vietnamese communist regime conducted a brutal crackdown
after peaceful protests by Montagnard Christians in the Central
Highlands. Large numbers of Montagnards fleeing persecution managed to
escape to Cambodia before the totalitarian regime could cordon off the
border with a phalanx of army troops and special police units.
In July 2001, I was a member of a team who went to Cambodia on behalf
of a U.S. Congressional Human Rights Committee to investigate conditions
of over 2,000 Montagnard Christians who had fled Vietnam and were
seeking refuge and protection by UNHCR. It was discovered that a number
of Vietnamese communist secrete police?Cong An from the unit Luoc Long
04?had been infiltrated into the camps with the legitimate refugees, and
were providing false information to UNHCR resulting in a number of the
refugees being sent back to Vietnam. These agents also threatened other
refugees in the camps with dire consequences for their families still in
Vietnam if they did not return.
In collusion with the Cambodian government, over 1,000 Montagnard
Christian refugees were forcibly returned, or were duped in an agreement
between UNHCR and Hanoi that included allowing UNHCR representatives to
monitor the safe return of 1,000 refugees and see that they suffered no
repercussions. At that time, the communist regime made a concerted
disinformation/propaganda effort to convince UNHCR and the international
press that all was well in the Central Highlands. Soon after, reports
were received that many of the returnees were then beaten, imprisoned,
sent to the gulags, or "disappeared." Vietnam reneged on its agreement
and kicked UNHCR and the international press out of the Central
Highlands.
After that, Vietnam sealed its border with Cambodia with troops, and
then the draconian communist regime stationed large numbers of
Vietnamese police, not only in Montagnard villages, but also in
individual Montagnard houses in an attempt to totally control their
movements and to prevent them from practicing Christianity. With all
this security in place, a rational person should then question how this
new large influx of Montagnards could make it to Cambodia without being
caught.
After the atrocious response to last Easter's peaceful prayer vigil by
the Montagnards in which hundreds were murdered, brutally beaten, and
sent to Vietnam's hidden gulags, a very few legitimate refugees beat the
odds and escaped to Cambodia. Even with the Berlin Wall, a few Germans
made it out of communist East Germany to freedom in the West; however,
many more were either killed or caught and imprisoned. The same goes
with the Montagnard Christians. Reports eked out of the Central
Highlands that many more were caught; women were raped, a large number
killed, and the few who survived were imprisoned, or "disappeared."
In spite of the draconian security measures in the Central Highlands
and on the Cambodian border, in the last few months an unusually large
number of Montagnards purportedly escaped to Cambodia. How could this
have happened without collusion of the Vietnamese communists? Reportedly
many of the Montagnards are refusing third country resettlement, rather
demanding refuge in Cambodia claiming they were told that UNHCR would
help get back their ancestral lands back that the Vietnamese communists
appropriated. First, the Vietnamese said it was a group of Montagnards
in the US who were spreading these rumors. Then they blamed UNHCR.
However it was neither.
Reports coming out of the Central Highlands indicate that this is yet
another Vietnamese communist disinformation/propaganda effort to
discredit the few legitimate refugees who make it to Cambodia fleeing
continued persecution in the Central Highlands. With the tightened
security in the Central Highlands, there is no way this large number of
Montagnards could leave their villages and get through the cordon along
the border without collusion between the Vietnamese communist party
officials, the police, the army, and Cambodian border guards. Feeding
off the Montagnards' desire to have their ancestral lands returned to
them, Vietnamese communists reportedly have been spreading rumors in
villages that if the Montagnards go to Cambodia, UNHCR will help them
get their land back. Authorities then tell the army, police and border
guards to stand down and let the Montagnards cross the border.
The Vietnamese communist's disinformation program serves several
purposes. First, it identifies potential Montagnard leaders with courage
to defy authorities and run the gauntlet troublemakers in the eyes of
the regime. When returned, they are sent to the gulags so-called
"reeducation camps." Last November 17 Montagnards were convicted of
"forcing" other Montagnards to flee to neighboring Cambodia and of
undermining national security, when in fact they were part of the
Montagnards "Underground Railroad." They were each sentenced to 10 years
in prison. Second, it allows communist cadre to infiltrate the refugee
camps and terrorize legitimate refugees in an attempt to force them to
return to Vietnam. Third, even more important to the communist regime in
Vietnam, this creates the illusion with UNHCR and the international
community that the Montagnard Christians are not fleeing human rights
abuses and religious persecution, but are economic opportunists seeking
land. Lastly, it gives the Cambodian government -- Hanoi's marionette --
the excuse it wants to once again close down UNHCR refugee camps for the
Montagnards as it did in 2002.
New testimony gathered by Human Rights Watch establishes the widespread
and continued use of torture against activists, religious leaders, and
individuals who have been deported from Cambodia or have voluntarily
returned to Vietnam. Arbitrary arrests continue unabated. In the weeks
before Christmas 2004, police rounded up and arrested hundreds of
Montagnard Christians. In Gia Lai province aloneone of five provinces in
the Central Highlandspolice arrested 129 people between December 12 and
24. Many of those arrested during the Christmas crackdown were
Montagnard house church leaders, and wives and even young children of
men who fled the repression in Vietnam (HRW Briefing Paper, 01/10/2005).
After being named a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the
Department of State regarding religious persecution and other human
rights abuses, Hanoi recently staged a charade, making a show of "saving
face" by releasing a few outstanding Vietnamese prisoners from their
jail cells only to be put under house arrest. However, none of the
hundreds of Montagnard Christians who have been detained were released.
Human Rights Watch has recorded the names of 188 Montagnard Christians
who received harsh prison sentences of up to fifteen years since 2001
for their religious activities, and hundreds more not on record have
been sent to gulags termed reeducation camps by the communists. To add
to this travesty, Cambodian police are arresting and forcibly returning
Montagnard asylum seekers as they cross the border, selling them to
Vietnamese police for cash bounties.
It seems as if the Hanoi regime's ruse on releasing a few political and
religious prisoners while arresting others may have been bought by the
Administration. It was recently announced that there would be no
sanctions levied as called for by designating Vietnam as a Country of
Particular Concern for religious persecution and continued human rights
abuses. Does the phrase "Paper Tiger" come to mind?
The Vietnamese communist's strategy during the Vietnam War was talk and
fight. While the U.S. was off guard negotiating, Hanoi used this time to
reinforce their troops and better position them for the next attack.
They use this strategy today in their talks with the US government
regarding CPC and sanctions, while the State Department is negotiating
with them, the Vietnamese communists are turning the screws on their
people. When will we ever learn?
On March 18, Hanoi's Prime Minister signed a decree prohibiting
activities such as taking advantage of citizens' democratic rights to
incite, lure or force other people to gather in crowds to cause public
disorder or carry out illegal activities. (Source: VNA news agency web
site, Hanoi, in English 22 Mar 05)
Shamefully, the new MOU with Vietnam and Cambodia does not provide any
mechanism for UNHCR to monitor and ensure that there is no retribution
by the Vietnamese communists against the returning Montagnards. This is
not only a violation of UNHCR's mandate, but it is a travesty for the
Montagnards given Hanoi's past record of retribution against returnees.
Why isn't the Administration doing anything about this travesty against
the Montagnards who were among America's most loyal allies during the
Vietnam War? Perhaps it is because America is now Vietnam's biggest
export market totaling US $5 billion. But then what is the excuse of
the religious communities in the U.S. who have been conspicuously mute
on the persecution of their Christian brethren. Hypocrisy has no
boundary.
In his inaugural address, President Bush pledged, "All who live in
tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore
your oppression, or excuse your oppressors." Will President Bush live up
to that pledge, or will he ignore the plight of the Montagnard
Christians? Time will tell.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3073
18 April, 2005
VIETNAM
Repression of Montagnards continues
Appeal court upholds three-year sentence imposed on Nguyen Hong, a
Mennonite clergyman defending religious freedom and human rights.
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews/EDA) Persecution of predominantly Christian
Montagnards, who live in Vietnams Central Highlands, goes on unabated.
In recent days, Vietnams Security Minister L Hng Anh and Cambodias
Interior Minister Norodom Sirivudh signed an accord to strengthen
information exchange in order to improve bilateral cooperation and
maintain security and public order in border regions. The accord cites
hostile forces that tend to sabotage the friendship between the two
countries; a not so veiled reference to the Montagnards.
In recent years in fact, many Montagnard tribes have fled into Cambodia
to escape Vietnamese repression.
Cambodian authorities have responded repatriating Montagnards in
violation to United Nations Conventions on political refugees.
In January, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees intervened on behalf of the Montagnards that they may leave for
a third country or return home, but only 35 of the 700 refugees have
opted for repatriation so far.
Last April 6, a court in Gia Lai province tried Rolan Hloe, 37, and Kpui
Chonh, 47, for organising the illegal emigration of several Montagnards
and sentenced them to seven and five years respectively.
Also in early April, two other Montagnards in Dak Nong province were
sentenced to five and two years for threatening national unity: under
Vietnamese law leaving the country illegally is considered a threat to
national unity.
On April 12, the People's Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the
sentences (three and two years respectively) imposed on two Mennonite
leaders whose Church is not officially recognised by the government.
Rev Nguyen Hong Quang, a well-known defender of religious freedom and
human rights, and his aide Pham Ngoc Thach were found guilty of actions
against local authorities, i.e. they protested against the illegal
arrest of other Mennonites.
Repression by Vietnamese authorities stems from allegations that the
Montagnards are secessionist. For this reason, Hanoi has been pursing a
policy of land expropriation at the expense of the indigenous
Montagnards to the benefit of ethnic Vietnamese settlers.
Repression also involves killing. During Holy Week in April 2004,
security forces took the lives of ten Montagnards engaged in a peaceful
protest in Daklak province. (LF)
Copyright 2003 AsiaNews
All rights reserved
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.christiantoday.com/news/miss/332.htm
Persecutions in Vietnam Continue
Posted: Tuesday, April 19 , 2005, 14:52 (GMT)
The persecution of Christian Montagnards living in the Central Highlands
of Vietnam has been reported to have continued unabated.
Over recent years, many Montagnards tribes have fled to Cambodia in
order to avoid Vietnamese repression. However, Cambodian authorities
have been reported as violating United Nation's Convention on political
refugees, as they have responded by repatriating Montagnards.
A few days ago, Vietnamese and Cambodian representatives signed an
agreement to "strengthen information exchange in order to improve
bilateral cooperation and maintain security and public order in border
regions."
The agreement spoke about "hostile forces that tend to sabotage the
friendship between the two countries."
Earlier this year, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees intervened and proposed to Montagnards to leave for a
different third country. However, this option was used only by 35 out of
700 refugees.
Several trials have taken place connected to Montagnards issue. On
April 6, a court in the Gia Lai province tried Rolan Hloe, 37, and Kpui
Chonh, 47 for helping several Motagnards emigrate. The court sentenced
them to 7 years respectively.
Two Montagnards in the Dak Nong province were sentenced to five and two
years "for threatening national unity." According to the law, leaving
the country illegally means to threaten national unity.
On April 12, Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and his aide Pham Ngoc Thach, both
Mennonite leaders whose Church was not recognised officially, were found
guilty of "actions against local authorities".
Rev. Quang was involved in defending religious freedoma and human
rights, and both of them had openly protested against the illegal arrest
of other Mennonites.
Repression towards Christians has also allegedly involved killings, as
security guards were reported to have killed ten Montagnards involved in
a peaceful protest in Daklak province.
Anna Lisa
an...@christiantoday.com
DGVREIMAN
>
> X-URL: http://www.christiantoday.com/news/miss/332.htm
>
> Persecutions in Vietnam Continue
>
> Posted: Tuesday, April 19 , 2005, 14:52 (GMT)
>
>
> The persecution of Christian Montagnards living in the Central
> Highlands
> of Vietnam has been reported to have continued unabated.
>
> Over recent years, many Montagnards tribes have fled to
> Cambodia in
> order to avoid Vietnamese repression. However, Cambodian
> authorities
> have been reported as violating United Nation's Convention on
> political
> refugees, as they have responded by repatriating Montagnards.
Doug Says: What I cannot understand is why all these so-called
"Vietnam Combat Vets" would want to return to that pesthole, and
shove tourist money into the pockets of Charlie? Why would they
want to support communist murderers that will only use that free
money to drag some poor innocent Vietnamese civilian out of his
hooch at night and put a bullet in the back of his head? Did
these village rats "go native" and now they support the very
enemy that slaughtered and murdered so many? The only thing I
would like to take back to Vietnam is a B-52 raid. I say let
them kill each other off as fast as they can - the world will be
a much better place when they do. No trade for Vietnam, and no
sympathy for those ingrates, and no sympathy for the whore
mongering diseased ridden old and pathetic American village rats
that now seem to want to kiss Charlie's ass.
Doug Grant (Tm)
Dr. Qwerty. LTD
email indicating he had something to do with SF (as well as your referrals
to your "team") and then blasts tirades against the 'yards like you do.
could it be you never knew any Dega? I doubt you could count the number
of SF vets who dislike the 'yards on one finger.
I was there when we sent the TF2AE (another of them clubs you yammer about)
'yards packing with their last 'paychecks' and I knew then they were in for
some deep shit....history has proved me correct all too often. btw, I wish
I was good enough to be one of their "village rats"
"DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote in message
news:q7GdnQHpwtm...@comcast.com...
Dai Uy
"DGVREIMAN" <DGVR...@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Douglas,
You are a very, very, sick individual. Seek professional help.
- Dai Uy
(I didn't say sick "man", you don't qualify)
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/asia/688/section/montagards.fear.for
ced.repatriation.to.vietnam/1.htm
Montagards Fear Forced Repatriation to Vietnam
Refugee Vietnamese Montagnards in Cambodia, who are a mostly Christian
ethnic minority, are facing pressure to be forcibly returned to Vietnam
if they do not agree to resettle abroad in a third country.
Wednesday, Apr. 20, 2005 Posted: 4:52:19AM EST
Refugee Vietnamese Montagnards in Cambodia, who are a mostly Christian
ethnic minority, are facing pressure to be forcibly returned to Vietnam
if they do not agree to resettle abroad in a third country.
The situation faced by the Motagnards is a result of a January 25
agreement between the two governments and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees.
Many of the Montagnards under UNHCR protection have refused resettlement
to a third country outside their region.
Some fear that if they go, they may not see their families or children
again. Others want to wait until the religious and political persecution
matters they faced in the Central Highlands of Vietnam are settled so
they can return home safely, according to a report from Human Rights
Watch, a New York based humanitarian aid organization.
According to the report, the Vietnamese government has promised not to
punish Montagnards for having fled the Central Highlands of Vietnam
which are located about 150 miles north of Ho Chi Minh city. However,
there are no guarantees about protection from political and religious
persecution once they return.
Many fear for their safety because the Vietnamese government does not
allow UNHCR or independent monitors into the Central Highlands to ensure
their safe return. The January agreement says only that the government
will consult and cooperate with the UNHCR at an appropriate time
regarding visits to returnees. This has not yet resulted in access to
Montagnards, according to the report.
Presently, about 180 Montagnards have been imprisoned since 2001 with
sentences of up to 13 years for their political and religious
activities, or for attempting to flee to Cambodia, according to the
report.
Last year, Montaganards staged Easter weekend protests condemning
widespread confiscation of their ancestral lands and religious
repression. This resulted in bloody crackdowns that left at least 10
Montagnards dead. The region has been in a state of unrest since
protests began in 2001.
Presently, about 180 Montagnards are in prison since 2001 with sentences
up to 13 years for their political and religious activities, or for
attempting to flee to Cambodia, according to the report.
Francis Helguero
fra...@christianpost.com
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2377
Montagnard Spokesman Decries Repatriation
By Lee Berthiaume
Montagnards who have escaped to Cambodia should not be returned to
Vietnam until international monitors are allowed into the Central
Highlands to guarantee their safety, a Montagnard leader told the UN
last week.
"Any attempt to return Montagnard refugees to Vietnam without
guaranteeing their safety inside Vietnam will fail in the long term as
returned refugees face reprisals," Kok Ksor, president of the Montagnard
Foundation, told the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 11.
The Vietnamese government has refused to allow observers into that
country's Central Highlands to monitor the return of asylum seekers
whose applications have been denied.
"We ask that under no circumstances should the Montagnard refugees be
returned to Vietnam unless international monitors are granted permanent
residence to the region to guarantee their protection," Kok Ksor said,
speaking on behalf of the Transnational Radical Party. He also blasted a
trilateral agreement between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
Vietnam and Cambodia as "flawed and dangerous" because the UNHCR cannot
guarantee the Montagnards' safety when they are returned.
The agreement was signed on Jan 25 and will be reviewed by the three
parties in Geneva later this month. Officials met in Phnom Penh the same
day Ksor made his presentation to discuss the agreement prior to the
meeting in Switzerland.
Human Rights Watch also weighed in this week with their own concerns
about the agreement, saying there is nothing in the document to ensure
repatriation is voluntary and that monitors are not guaranteed but
Vietnam and the UNHCR will "consult and cooperate."
The organization says it has recorded numerous cases of Montagnards who
have returned being persecuted, made to appear before the state media
and jailed.
A UNHCR representative, however, said the agreement complied with
international laws and, while it may not be perfect, the refugee
organization has to work with governments, not against them.
She said the agreement will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting in
Geneva later this month.
As well, the representative said plans for a monitoring trip to Vietnam
are in the works. "We are hoping a mission will be conducted soon," the
representative said. "It's on its way."
Seventy-five Montagnards whose refugee applications have been rejected,
are scheduled to be returned to Vietnam in the next month. They are
being kept together at a government site in Phnom Penh under military
police guard.
Source: The Cambodia Daily
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/1318541.html
Don't Let Vietnam Get Away with Religious Persecution, Urge Campaigners
Patrick Goodenough
International Editor
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Vietnamese rights groups expressed
concern last week that Vietnam's government may be able to dodge
sanctions by offering "token" gestures and making empty commitments to
improve religious freedom.
Campaigners raised the concern after the State Department said it had
asked Congress for more time to discuss with Hanoi how to end abuses
suffered by some religious groups in the communist-ruled country.
Under the International Religious Freedom Act, the administration last
September named Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea as "countries of
particular concern" (CPCs), joining a list already comprising Burma,
North Korea, China, Iran and Sudan.
The 1998 law gives the State Department up to six months to discuss
problem areas with newly-designated CPCs, and to announce punitive steps
to be taken against those not acting to address the concerns.
When the six-month time period ended last Tuesday, the department said
it had asked Congress for several more weeks, and indicated that the
talks were bearing fruit.
"We made some important progress," said department spokesman Adam Ereli.
"We think that with a little bit more time we can take care of some of
the issues that were problematic for us ... we expect decisions to be
finalized and announced in the next few weeks."
Although he did not elaborate, Ereli said "some actions" had been taken
over the past six months.
Final assessments would be made based on what the countries had done
and what they had committed themselves to doing.
The U.S. accuses the Vietnam government of oppressing adherents of
non-recognized religions, especially ethnic minority Protestant
Christians and independent Buddhists.
Hundreds of churches have been shut down, and human rights groups cite
cases of officials trying to force ethnic minority Christians to abandon
their faith. Human Rights Watch says at least three Catholic priests
have been in prison for almost 20 years.
In two recent gestures, the authorities freed several prominent
prisoners of conscience and published a new prime minister's decree
outlawing attempts by officials to force Protestant to abandon their
religion, and saying that some currently unauthorized Protestant groups
would be allowed conditionally to apply for official recognition.
But Helen Ngo, head of the Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam,
expressed skepticism about the moves.
She said the recently-released leaders were unable to move around
freely, but were constantly being followed around by members of the
special police.
One of them, Thich Thien Minh of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam (UBCV), had been in jail since 1979. He spoke after his release
about the regime having exchanged his small prison for a bigger one, Ngo
said.
Regular contact with people inside Vietnam, she added, made it clear
that persecution and harassment were continuing.
Ngo cited a recent incident in a village in the north-west province in
which police who were harassing three ethnic Hmong Christian families
were challenged by a seven-year-old girl who protested when they helped
themselves to several household pigs.
The child was beaten so badly she could not walk for a week. When her
father - who was detained at the time of the assault - was released he
wrote a petition letter to a senior official, but was told in reply:
"You are a Protestant. I can't do anything for you."
The new prime minister's decree allowing some Protestant groups to
apply for recognition was also seen as little more than an empty
gesture, Ngo said.
"Talk about things improving in Vietnam - I don't think that's true."
The committee hoped the U.S. government would impose measures that
would affect the regime financially -- "money is very important to the
Vietnam government" -- such as reducing non-humanitarian aid or opposing
new World Bank loans.
'Appeasing the Americans'
Trung Doan, the general-secretary of Australia's 200,000-strong
Vietnamese community, saidthe recent steps taken by the Vietnamese
government were "token."
"The number of prisoners released, compared to the number in prison, is
only a small percentage," he said. His group had a list of 110 known
"religious prisoners" and the real number was likely to be much higher.
The prime minister's decree was also not meaningful, Doan charged. When
a Christian house meeting was broken up a few days ago, police had
laughed when the protesting believers cited the new policy document.
"The local police know very well that this decree is just there to
appease the Americans," he said. "If it is only there for diplomatic
purposes, why should I follow it? That's what a local cadre would ask
himself."
"We believe the U.S. government should not let Hanoi off the hook,"
Doan said. "The American government is probably the only power in the
world that has the power and the will to put some pressure on them."
Earlier, Human Rights Watch also called into question Hanoi's
commitment to improving religious rights.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the organization
said the latest decree "advances Vietnam's official stance that
religious freedom is a privilege to be requested and granted by the
government, rather than a fundamental human right."
The Vietnam government claims that some ethnic minority Christians have
links to "subversive" groups.
The decree links recognition of Protestant churches to their
renunciation of groups accused of organizing anti-government protests.
The U.S. ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, John Hanford, held
talks in Vietnam last week.
The official Voice of Vietnam reported that deputy public security
minister Nguyen Van Huong had assured Hanford that "there are no
religious prisoners in Vietnam."
Those described as such by the U.S. were in fact "religious followers
who violated Vietnamese laws," Huong reportedly told the diplomat.
The report said Hanoi complained that the U.S. had named Vietnam a CPC
on the basis of "wrongful information" about the situation, provided by
"bad elements."
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=303438
6
Hanoi
7000 prisoners to be released
April 27, 2005
VIETNAM will free 7,751 prisoners, including political prisoners and 19
foreigners, to mark the 30th anniversary this weekend of the end of the
Vietnam War, the police have announced.
President Tran Duc Luong had ordered the amnesty to mark the
anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the former capital of the US-backed
South Vietnamese regime, to communist forces on April 30, 1975, police
vice minister Le The Tiem said.
Among those to be freed by the communist state were political prisoner
Pham Minh Tri, jailed for "propaganda against the Vietnamese state and
sabotage of national unity", Tiem said.
Also to be freed were Dinh Van Be, jailed for "treachery", and Ama Duy,
who was imprisoned for "organising illegal departures" of Vietnamese
abroad.
Tiem gave no details of the cases or when the prisoners would be freed.
Another 13 people behind bars for "public disorder" would also walk
free, including eight members of ethnic minorities in the Central
Highlands where thousands of mainly Christian Montagnards staged
protests last year against the confiscation of their ancestral lands and
religious persecution.
The protests provoked a brutal response.
The foreigners to be released include six Chinese, four Laotians, three
Cambodians, two Canadians, two Australians, a Netherlands national and
an American, Tiem said.
He did not give their names or the nature of accusations against them.
A European diplomat, citing government sources, said that Vietnam would
release six political prisoners, including the Reverend Pham Ngoc Lien,
64, a member of a Christian congregation from the Central Highlands.
It was unclear whether the six mentioned by the diplomat were part of
the number Tiem announced Wednesday.
In late January the state gave amnesty to 8,325 prisoners to mark the
new year starting on February 8, including six who had been jailed for
"violating national security".
The six included notable Catholic priest Father Nguyen Van Ly and
political dissident Nguyen Dan Que.
Critics have long said Vietnam must do a lot more than occasional
prisoner releases to shore up religious and political freedoms.
Human rights groups say released prisoners are rarely allowed to live
without fear of further intimidation.
The United States has labelled Vietnam among the world's worst
offenders in regards to religious freedoms.
AFP
ELCHINO
place
VIETNAM DISSIDENTS TIENLEN
VIETNAM TIENLEN
Dai Uy
"ELCHINO" <ElChinoBoa...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Although half of the dissidents should not be in jail in the first
> place
>
>
> VIETNAM DISSIDENTS TIENLEN
> VIETNAM TIENLEN
>
Think! 7000 prisoners being released -- thieves, pimps, murderers,
corrupt officials, smugglers, criminals of all kinds and Hanoi releases
six (6) ministers and other individuals with the audacity to peacefully
protest their brutal totalitarian dictatorship.
Six!
And you applaud them. Shame!
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GD28Ae01.html
Southeast Asia
Apr 28, 2005
SPEAKING FREELY
Vietnam pushes on 30 years after war
By Lawrence E Grinter
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in
contributing.
Vietnam's climb from the rubble of the Second Indochina War, which the
communist leadership launched in 1961, was slow and painful. The
totalitarian policies grafted on to South Vietnam by Hanoi's hardliners
after "liberation" in 1975 resulted in nearly 400,000 southerners being
sent to "re-education camps"; more than 500,000 southerners escaping
(many taking their chances on the high seas) or bribing their way out of
the territory; and some 2 million people being forcibly resettled into
"economic zones" in the southern countryside. The number of executions
of southerners has never been officially admitted by Hanoi. Add to this
the huge refugee packing into South Vietnam's cities induced by US
bombing and artillery practices, and severe misery characterized the
first few years of Vietnam's "unification".
Le Duan's, Trong Chinh's and other communist hardliners' insistence on
Stalinist economics for the conquered south, which included the
expropriation of southern land, factories and wealth, and the
substitution of class credentials for competence, naturally worsened the
whole country's situation. Per capita incomes fell drastically, economic
growth ended, and the country's gross domestic product (GDP) bottomed
out.
Vietnam's long journey toward economic recovery did not begin until
1986, with the Politburo's acknowledgement of its failed economic
policies and managerial ineptitude. That year the Communist Party
announced its doi moi (renovation) campaign - the same year Soviet
president Mikhail Gorbachev began his policy of perestroika
(restructuring) in the Soviet Union. Even then, it was not until 1989
when Vietnam's economic reforms finally took effect - the same year the
army pulled out of prostrated Cambodia, ruled by the former Khmer Rouge
and Vietnamese client dictator Hun Sen, ending a 10-year Vietnamese
military occupation that had further wrecked the economy.
Today, 30 years after Hanoi's victory over Saigon, Vietnam displays an
economic vibrancy never known before under Indochinese communism. Still
governed by the Vietnamese Communist Party, the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam has a population of 83 million (more than half under the age of
25), a GDP estimated at about US$45 billion (using exchange-rate
formulas and ignoring a large hidden economy), and a countrywide per
capita income of about $500 annually. A new middle class has emerged in
Vietnam's largest cities, where disposable incomes could be six to eight
times the rural average. The south continues to be ahead of the north in
per capita income, foreign investment and entrepreneurship. The former
southern capital of Saigon (officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1975)
provides nearly one-third of the entire country's tax receipts and a
conspicuously wealthy, if still small, nouveau riche shows off its
acquisitions fueled by government corruption, tax dodging and a
speculative real-estate boom.
For the immediate future, Vietnamese authorities are pushing to get the
country into the World Trade Organization (WTO) by December 2005, 10
years after Vietnam's first application. But significant obstacles
remain, including the country's tariff and non-tariff barriers as well
as the lack of banking transparency and poor legal and financial
institutions. Vietnamese bureaucrats are pressing to come up with the
regulations and legal arrangements to satisfy the WTO, but admittance
this year is not a sure thing. Not long ago the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) suspended disbursements to the country because of problems in
Vietnamese state banks.
Vietnam's current economy, what the authorities call a "socialist
market" system, shows promise and pitfalls. On the positive side is a
2004 GDP that grew at 7.5% and exports, helped by crude-oil prices, that
grew at 30%. Given the slow growth of state-owned enterprises (SOEs),
the heavily debt-ridden conglomerates ranging from profitable to
completely insolvent and constituting nearly 40% of GDP, Vietnam's
private sector could be growing at 20-25%. But Vietnam's trade deficit
is also climbing and could now be 15% of GDP. And of course, government
corruption, a seemingly irreconcilable problem in Vietnam, could amount
to 5% of GDP. Nevertheless, the country has blossomed into a robust
trading nation with imports and exports almost equaling the size of the
country's GDP itself. Vietnam is now the world's largest pepper
exporter, and the second-largest coffee and seafood exporter.
Politically, Vietnam is still ruled by a triumvirate of Communist Party
members, bureaucrats and the armed forces, although Communist Party
General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, like President Hu Jintao in China, was
not one of the original revolutionary cadres. (Interestingly, Manh, an
economic reformer, makes no attempt to dispel rumors that he might be Ho
Chi Minh's illegitimate son.) One encouraging development is the rise of
civic and professional associations in both south and north Vietnam,
associations that fill gaps between the Communist Party and the objects
of its constant attention: the people. These associations focus on
issues such as social welfare, street children, AIDS, community affairs,
women's rights, etc. Hanoi, of course, was slower to accept these
interest groups than was Ho Chi Minh City. But today the countrywide
trend is encouraging, and it shows a growing tolerance toward the spread
of civic and interest groups that the party, always zealous,
nevertheless seeks to control.
No active alternative to the Vietnamese Communist Party is permitted in
Vietnam. Citizens cannot change their form of government, there is an
oppressive intrusion by the security organs into people's lives, and the
prisons, of course, are dire, with only meager medical care. Vietnam's
courts are controlled by the party and, so far, no non-party candidates
have been allowed to compete for elections at any level (a contrast to
China, where independent candidates have won at the village level).
Vietnam's National Assembly has a voice on numerous issues, and at times
the government-controlled media can show fortitude on such issues as
corruption, but basically these two elements, like most others in
Vietnam, exist to legitimize the power and policies of the regime. The
Communist Party of Vietnam exerts more penetration and control of
Vietnamese society than the Chinese Communist Party does in China. That
control is shown in party attitudes toward public demonstrations, the
media, religious associations, and education, where the party also
controls university openings.
Vietnam's armed forces remain the largest in Southeast Asia (with about
435,000 troops), a way of employing young men - although the numbers are
down from the nearly 1 million troops Vietnam claimed when it finally
quit Cambodia in 1989, having lost some 50,000 in action during the
difficult occupation to rid Cambodia of Pol Pot. Army doctrine reflects
a developing country with insecure borders run by communist authorities.
Thus the missions of the "People's War", "Protection of the Fatherland",
and "Development".
Senior Vietnamese military officers speak of "hostile outside forces"
cooperating with "reactionary elements inside our country". They are
slowly modernizing the armed forces, given the old Soviet equipment they
are saddled with, which includes antiquated jet fighters and tanks, and
an inadequate navy, given 2,400 kilometers of coastline and episodes of
smuggling and piracy. The Russians left Cam Ranh Bay years ago,
unwilling to cough up the reported $300 million the Vietnamese wanted
for rent. Nevertheless, a deal seems to be in the offing regarding the
purchase of more surplus Russian Su-22s.
Another striking aspect of the Vietnamese military is how deeply
embedded it is in business operations - hotels, restaurants,
construction, mining and evidently gambling. Some of the construction
projects are focused on Vietnam's borders and highland areas where
security is problematic. I encountered estimates that claimed 40% of the
armed forces' budget is earned through commercial enterprises run by
officers. Vietnamese generals I talked to acknowledge the risks of this;
they know how massive corruption has infected the Indonesian, Thai and
Chinese armed forces. But Vietnamese commanders, whom I assume profit
personally from these business enterprises, seem content at this point -
and not worried in public - about the loss of professionalism that
accompanies Asia's "business soldiers". That is all the more striking
since communist Vietnam's armies once defeated the French, Saigon's
US-assisted forces, and the Chinese.
In diplomacy, Hanoi seeks "diversity" and multilateralism in its foreign
affairs. Relations between Hanoi and Washington continue in a formative
stage. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the normalization of
diplomatic relations between the two nations, and is also the fourth
anniversary of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). There are
nearly 1.5 million Vietnamese-Americans (called Viet Kieu by Hanoi) and
another 2 million US veterans of the Vietnam War. Former South
Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Cao Ky visited Vietnam on a 2004
goodwill trip, and US-Vietnamese cooperation continues on POW (prisoner
of war) and MIA (missing in action) issues. Nearly 2,500 Vietnamese are
studying in the US and about 100 non-governmental organizations have
offices in Vietnam.
But 2005 is also the 30th anniversary of Saigon's fall, the 60th
anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence from the
French, and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Indochinese
Communist Party; so US-Vietnam relations, despite pragmatism and shared
experiences on both sides, have a definite sensitivity to them.
Nevertheless, US-Vietnam trade, spurred by the BTA, grew nearly 10% in
2004 to reach $6.5 billion (with a nearly $4 billion US deficit). The
United States now purchases more than 20% of Vietnam's exports. Both
sides see the BTA providing valuable experience for the Vietnamese as
they push for WTO admission, although US organized labor argues that
Vietnam is dumping low-cost goods on the US market.
Other aspects of the relationship show the United States pressing the
Vietnamese on the protection of minority rights (especially the
Montagnards and political dissidents), freedom of religion, and the
pirating of copyrighted merchandise. I witnessed an interesting
give-and-take in Ho Chi Minh City last month as a senior American
diplomat and his Vietnamese counterpart addressed US concerns over
Vietnam's human rights. The Vietnamese official responded: "We are
moving toward a more universal interpretation of human rights. But each
nation has its own norms and values. In Vietnam this can't happen
overnight. And we can't risk disturbances. Our top priority remains
political and social stability. So we cannot accept other political
parties or individuals' right to bear arms. We can't do that."
US-Vietnam military-to-military relations are not close; however, there
have been two US Navy ship visits to Vietnam and a third one is expected
this year. So far Washington provides no economic or training assistance
to Vietnam's armed forces, although Vietnamese officials have broached
the idea of sending officers to US military schools.
Vietnam's other foreign relations show a general conservatism. China is,
of course, Vietnam's most important external relationship, and a country
with 17 times Vietnam's population. The two Communist parties have
cordial relations, particularly since a long-negotiated border
arrangement was finalized in December 1999 and a Tonkin Gulf demarcation
was signed in December 2000. Two-way trade between them is almost $6
billion and one sees cheap, low-quality Chinese goods selling on the
streets of Hanoi. Direct air, land and sea routes now exist, and China
is an official assistance donor to Vietnam. Cambodia, a Vietnamese
client for much of its history, is relatively stable under strongman Hun
Sen (who takes vacations in, and subsidies from, Vietnam). But Cambodia
is also a source of crime, drugs and trafficking that affect Vietnam.
Smuggling and trafficking also occur across the Laotian border.
Vietnam's multilateral engagement crystallized with its admission to the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, which gave Hanoi
the regional legitimation it needed and the diplomatic cover it was
seeking against the enlarging Chinese presence in the South China Sea.
Today, Vietnam belongs to numerous international organizations and seeks
WTO admission. Having relations with 170-plus countries, Vietnam has
conspicuously composed relations with the bigger powers, balancing
between them while avoiding too close an alignment with any single one.
Given America's historic encounter with Vietnam, encouragement of
Vietnam's push toward global engagement is a sensible policy.
Lawrence E Grinter is professor of Asian Studies at the Air War College,
USA. These views are his own and not necessarily those of any US
government agency.
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X-URL: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=23467
Vietnam after three decades of change
Tom Plate
Thirty years after the United States' final pull-out from Saigon,
economic reforms make Vietnam one of the worlds fastest-growing
economies even as pieces of 'old' Vietnam are still in action
Los Angeles --- Do you want to know how much Vietnam has changed over
the last three decades?
Lets put it this way: Would you believe that from May 5-8, the country
will put on its first-ever national golf championship?
The internal aim is to narrow down the field of golfers who will go on
to compete in the upcoming Southeast Asia Games, but the message to the
outside world is: Were no longer that Westerner-eating, fire-breathing,
guerilla-steaming, anti-American screaming, red-neck Commie nation that
hews to its Marx, laps up its Lenin and insists that youre either Red or
dead.
On the contrary, the people of Vietnam celebrating the 30th anniversary
of the United States final pull-out from Saigon Saturday, April 30 are
getting with the market-oriented, rich-is-glorious,
we-love-anyone-with-money (including Westerners), China-clone program of
economic reform (while keeping dissidents under the partys boot) that
will hope to reconcile the internal contradictions of Marxism by making
the Vietnamese people too wealthy and comfortable to even bother to
dissent or try to poop the party.
A prominent conveyor of this with-it message was Ambassador Ton Nu Thi
Ninh, who recently completed a charm offensive in the United States,
hosted here as the guest of the non-profit Pacific Century Institute.
This sharp lady -- Vietnams most internationally prominent woman
diplomat -- is widely known for her Hillary Clinton smarts, Margaret
Thatcher toughness and apparent ease with Westerners that makes her
Vietnams best-liked salesman abroad.
In a wide-ranging interview, Ambassador Ton Nu painted a portrait of a
thoroughly reforming Vietnam (in truth, historically the scourge of
Southeast Asia). Ton Nu claims there is as much raucous internal dissent
and debate now in the Communist Party of Vietnam as in the U.S.
Congress, adding: The top-down format is now rare: Mostly there is a
suggestion from the top for discussion, but the discussion is now bottom
up.
For its part, America, on the whole, seems comfortable with the new
image of Vietnam. Ten years ago -- and two decades after the wars end --
diplomatic relations between Washington and Hanoi were officially
normalized; about four-and-a-half years ago Bill Clinton, in his waning
days as president, made a ground-and-ice breaking official visit there.
A year later the two countries, once so much at each others throats,
actually inked a bilateral trade agreement. How much the times have
changed.
But not everyone has moved on, to be sure. Some of the more than one
million ethnic Vietnamese in America dont buy Ambassador Ton Nus offer
of good will at all. They believe a Red is a Red until hes dead, that
the Hanoi regime remains the proverbial wolf in sheeps clothing.
Replies madam ambassador: Back in Vietnam after the war was over, there
were so many people who lost more. People back home overcame -- why cant
the Vietnamese here in the United States overcome, too?
Its a fair question, but hard to answer sympathetically as long as one
can observe pieces of the old Vietnam still in action. Case in point:
the continuing harsh crackdown against the besieged Montagnard minority.
These are the legendary mountain people of Vietnam; some are Christian
and most are fiercely anti-Communist. They get to see the Vietnamese
government at its absolute worse.
Explains Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International, which has been
working hard to help out the Montagnards: This may seem like a small
issue. But at a time when people are marking the 30th anniversary of the
fall of Saigon and commenting on the wonderful improvements in relations
between Washington and Hanoi, this is one area where the Vietnamese are
up their old, ethnic, Commie-control freak tricks.
When I raise this issue with Vietnamese officials, they take the view
that the Montagnards are enemies of the state and that the question is a
domestic matter, not an international one. But while refugees are
fleeing into Cambodia the Cambodian government is playing a sneaky,
miserable game of silent cooperation with Hanoi; and with the United
States now vowing to accept many of the refugees on to it shores, the
issue had become internationalized. In this age of globalization and
instant communication, there are few purely domestic issues.
Undoubtedly Vietnam -- now easily one of the worlds fastest-growing
economies -- has indeed come a long way over the decades. Whats more,
many Americans appear prepared to continue to improve relations in the
time-honored American spirit of forgive-and-forget. But simple
human-rights sagas like the Montagnards play precisely into the hands
those who will not let go of the memory of the dark days Vietnam. Those
in Vietnam who order these harsh crackdowns ones that inevitably get
played back to the West -- are the unintentional true enemies of the
people.
The country needs more diplomats and charmers like Madame Ton Nu -- and
far fewer Communist warriors who -- in apocalypse-now fashion -- see
dangerous counter-revolutionaries on every mountaintop and insist on the
cracked-heads approach to dissent.
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University of California at Los Angeles professor Tom Plate, a member of
the Pacific Council on International Policy, is a veteran U.S.
journalist who has held senior positions at TIME, CBS, The Los Angeles
Times and Newsday. He established the Asia Pacific Media Network in 1998
and was its director until 2003. He is now founder and director of
UCLA's Media Center.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.news-record.com/news/columnists/ahearn/ahearn_050105.htm
Lorraine Ahearn: After Vietnam, the faces in a waking dream
5-1-05
News & Record
TOM'S CREEK -- "George," she says. "Wake up, George."
It's his wife's voice. His fourth wife. But what's she doing here? He's
been on his belly, inching up this hill to take a shot at the Vietnamese
officer. It's so hot, he's pouring sweat as he grips the rifle. "Wake
up, George."
He wakes up. It's the middle of the night. He's on his belly on a hill,
all right, but he's in 12 inches of snow in his underwear, and there's
nothing in his hands. It's 1996 -- not 1969 -- and he's back in Black
County, Mo. How did he get here?
Well, now, that's a long story. But after looking over George Clark's
service record, the doctor that George finally goes to see hazards a
guess. Hmm. Investigator for the Postal Service. Before that, leading a
platoon of Marine reserves in Desert Storm. A stint as a cop. Um-hmm.
And, ah, yes, four tours of duty in Vietnam, 1967 through 1970, until
being wounded in the Delta on a mission with Mike Force, the mobile
strike forces known as "have gun, will travel."
There were two Americans like George assigned to lead every 167
Montagnard warriors, aborigines in loincloths recruited out of the
jungle, issued fatigues and M-16s, airborne-trained, tough as nails,
blood brothers to the Special Forces in green berets.
"Liberation of the oppressed" is the motto. Hearts and minds. Your
cause is our cause. No man left behind. At least that was the hope,
until the last helicopters evacuated the roof of the American Embassy on
April 30, 1975, civilians crowding like ants around the Chinooks,
desperate to escape as North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon.
Back home at the VFW, the World War II vets didn't understand. You
lost. What's wrong with you? The thing was, it was a different war. You
couldn't fight it the same way. Even his old commander, Sgt. Maj. John
W. Burdge, himself a veteran of St. Mere Eglise, knew that "WWII," the
war to save the free world, the so-called "good war," wouldn't be
replayed in Vietnam.
"You've got your heart in this, George," Burdge had warned him.
"It's gonna get broken."
The first time George met "Charley Dot" was December 1967, near the
Grand Summit Mountains. George and a few others were trapped in a cave
after CIA intelligence had them set down in an oddly placed clearing in
the jungle, George knowing something was wrong from the start. In fact,
they were in the middle of a Vietnamese regiment.
Now, they were pinned down, outnumbered, running out of rounds, aware
that at dawn, they would be done. When all at once, an American
helicopter swooped in, and from the height of a telephone pole, a
Montagnard jumped out and landed on top of two enemy soldiers, breaking
one's back, shooting the other.
His real name was Y Diam Hmouk, but they called him Charley Dot because
a blast of shrapnel left the shape of a dot in his forehead. He would
become George's right-hand man for two years during the U.S.
involvement. It was a lifetime for the Americans, but only a brief
chapter in generations of war for the endangered highlanders.
A native of Banmethuot, the tribesmen's cultural capital in the
mountains, Charley had been fighting since 1940. As a 10-year-old, his
job was to light the fuses on coconuts filled with gunpowder, primitive
bombs directed at the Japanese invaders.
In 1954, he was a paratrooper fighting with the French, who would be
humiliated at Dien Bien Phu. Nor did the Montagnards' war end when the
United States withdrew from Vietnam in the early 1970s: The rebels fled
into the jungle, carrying on a guerrilla war continuing to this day.
Though the Polynesian-descended Montagnards were the first people to
live in Vietnam, they had been chased to the highlands and had then seen
their villages and land appropriated by the Vietnamese government.
For George, Irish Catholic on one side, and on the other, descended
from the Oklahoma Cherokees -- the band that survived the death march
known as the Trail of Tears -- the whole story sounded familiar. You
could change the costumes, switch around who were the cowboys and who
were the Indians, but there are no new movies. Just remakes.
During the war, he'd gotten people back in Missouri to collect big
cartons of supplies and send them over to the villages. It was practical
things, reading books and Big Chief tablets, crayons, desks, and also
goofy stuff -- fake fur coats that the bare-breasted women in the
villages would model for each other, as if they'd been given gold and
jewels.
Maybe if George hadn't fallen in love with the Montagnards, their
loyalty, their absence of guile, he could have disengaged more easily,
not felt this sense of betrayal.
As it was, he tried unsuccessfully to go back as an interpreter during
the evacuation, anything to return. The way he saw it, the Montagnards
were the one true ally -- one that hadn't cost billions and owed no war
debt. All they had done was save American lives, too many to count, and
they'd been abandoned, like those people on the rooftop on April 30,
1975.
Then, just when he thinks these are demons he will take to his grave,
George hears about a Special Forces group helping Montagnard refugees in
Greensboro, some of them straight out of the guerilla war in the jungle,
others out of "re-education camps" for enemies of the Communist regime.
They throw this picnic out in the woods every Memorial Day, vets
wearing their old patches, trading stories over ribs and beer. It's at
one of these reunions that a guy taps George on the shoulder. "Somebody
wants to see you."
He turns around, and it's like waking up from a dream. There's an older
Montagnard facing him. He's gray around the temples, gaunt from 10 years
in "re-ed" camp. His nose sits askew on his face from where a Russian
.155 almost blew it off.
George would know him anywhere. It's Charley Dot. He snaps to salute.
Wake up, George Clark is telling himself. C'mon, wake up.
But he has to admit, the scene before him at the Phnom Penh airport in
March 2005 is weird enough, and familiar enough, to make every muscle of
his body get ready.
George and two fellow veterans from the nonprofit Save the Montagnard
People have unwittingly chosen an inopportune day to arrive in the
Cambodian capital. Also arriving to visit is the prime minister of
Vietnam, of which Cambodia is more or less a satellite, and which wants
to build a superhighway on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
So there are armed troops everywhere, and to welcome the prime
minister, the streets are lined with crowds of people waving red flags
with the yellow star. George is tired after the 27-hour flight from
North Carolina. He remembers what the doctor in Missouri told him after
the dreams started, and George asked, "Why now?"
The answer was, he'd kept himself "pressurized" all this time. Only
when a person "depressurizes," the doctor said, do the memories start to
filter out. It's the mind's way of erasing something. But in order to
erase something, it first has to be brought to the surface.
That's when he reminds himself.
He's in Cambodia on a visa. Nobody's going to shoot him. He and the
others have come with documents to show the U.N. refugee workers --
birth certificates and marriage records proving that Montagnards in
refugee camps are family members of Montagnards in North Carolina and
should be allowed out.
They get two dozen out before they came back to Greensboro, knowing
hundreds more are in the jungle along the Cambodia-Vietnam border,
subject to being shot on sight.
Back home where he now lives in Seagrove, George and the other vets
were tending to the business at hand -- raising money to pay off the
101-acre Montagnard homeland in Randolph County, helping gather baby
furniture for the new arrivals, writing to this or that official in
Washington, pleading the cause of human rights in Vietnam.
Walking the grounds that border Tom's Creek and the Uwharrie River, as
a cluster of stray dogs follow at his heels and a rooster crows from the
coop the Montagnards built, George Clark smokes one Marlboro Light after
another as he tells the story.
But it's funny -- his esophagus doesn't burn lately, the way it did for
years after they hit a chemical mine in Iraq during Desert Storm. And he
no longer has the dreams about Vietnam.
He'd been talking about the day he and Charley went to Fort Bragg for
the dedication of a Mike Force monument, before Charley died of stomach
cancer in 2003.
A reporter from NPR interviewed the two of them about the Montagnard
cause, remarking that after all these years, starting with the Japanese
in 1940, the Montagnard was still fighting.
"Still fighting," Y Diam "Charley Dot" Hmouk had agreed.
"Just not shooting."
Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lah...@news-record.com
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20050504tp.htm
Some pits remain in Vietnam's growing bowl of cherries
By TOM PLATE
LOS ANGELES -- The people of Vietnam -- who celebrated the 30th
anniversary of the United States' final pullout from Saigon on April 30
-- are getting with the market-oriented, rich-is-glorious,
we-love-anyone-with-money (including Westerners), China-clone program of
economic reform (while keeping dissidents under the party's boot) aimed
at reconciling the internal contradictions of Marxism by making the
Vietnamese people too wealthy and comfortable to bother to dissent or
try to poop the party.
A prominent conveyor of this with-it message was Ambassador Ton Nu Thi
Ninh, who recently completed a charm offensive in the U.S. In a
wide-ranging interview, she painted a portrait of a thoroughly reforming
Vietnam. Ton Nu claims there is as much raucous internal dissent and
debate now in the Communist Party of Vietnam as in the U.S. Congress,
adding: "The top-down format is now rare: "Mostly there is a suggestion
from the top for discussion, but the discussion is now bottom up."
For its part, America, on the whole, seems comfortable with the new
image of Vietnam. Ten years ago diplomatic relations between Washington
and Hanoi were officially normalized. About 4 1/2 years ago, President
Bill Clinton made a ground-breaking official visit there. A year later
the two countries, once so much at each other's throats, actually inked
a bilateral trade agreement. How much the times have changed.
But not everyone has moved on. Some of the more than 1 million ethnic
Vietnamese in America don't buy Ambassador Ton Nu's offer of good will
at all. They believe a Red is a Red until he's dead, that the Hanoi
regime remains the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.
Replies the ambassador: "Back in Vietnam after the war was over, there
were so many people who lost more. People back home overcame -- why
can't the Vietnamese here in the United States overcome, too?"
It's a fair question, but hard to answer sympathetically as long as one
can observe pieces of the "old" Vietnam still in action. Case in point:
the continuing harsh crackdown against Vietnam's Montagnard minority.
Some are Christian and most are fiercely anticommunist.
Vietnamese officials say the Montagnards are "enemies of the state,"
and view them as a domestic issue. But while Montagnard refugees are
fleeing into Cambodia, Phnom Pen is only meeting them halfway, only
granting them temporary refuge status under a bad deal involving Hanoi
and the United Nations.
With the U.S. now vowing to accept many of the refugees on to its
shores, the issue has become internationalized. In this age of
globalization and instant communication, it seems, there are few purely
domestic issues.
Undoubtedly Vietnam -- now easily one of the world's fastest-growing
economies -- has indeed come a long way over the decades. What's more,
many Americans appear prepared to continue to improve relations in the
time-honored American spirit of forgive-and-forget. But simple
human-rights sagas like that of the Montagnards play precisely into the
hands those who will not let go of the memory of the dark days of
Vietnam. Those in Vietnam who order these harsh crackdowns -- which
inevitably get played back to the West -- are the unintentional true
"enemies of the people."
The country needs more diplomats and charmers like Ton Nu -- and far
fewer communist warriors who -- in "Apocalypse Now" fashion -- see
dangerous counter-revolutionaries on every mountaintop and insist on the
cracked-heads approach to dissent.
Tom Plate is a UCLA professor. Copyright Tom Plate 2005
The Japan Times: May 4, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
Dai Uy
Subject: Montagnard News Articles I
Date: May 20, 2005 8:35:16 AM HST
To: Monta...@GreenBeret.Net
X-URL:
http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=3358
Posted: 5/20/05
Commission recommends sanctions
against nations violating human rights
By Robert Marus
ABP Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (ABP)-A federal panel charged with monitoring religious
freedom worldwide is asking the Bush administration to take sanctions
against Pakistan, Uzbekistan and several other nations for severe
violations.
Members of the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom released their 2005 annual report and recommendations to the
State Department at a recent press conference in Washington. The 1998
law that created the commission requires it report annually on the
status of religious liberty worldwide and recommend nations that commit
or tolerate severe and egregious violations be named countries of
particular concern.
Commissioners recommended 11 nations for that status-including, for
the first time, Uzbekistan. They recommended 10 other nations named
last year-Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
Members of the independent, bipartisan panel chose not to re-recommend
India as a country of particular concern. Although the commission
tagged India with that status last year in a split decision, the group
this year cited losses in India's nationwide elections by the Hindu
fundamentalist party, whose regional officials have tolerated some
violations of religious freedom.
According to Preeta Bansal, the commission's chair, focusing on
religious liberty is important in an age of global war on terrorism.
"Promoting religious freedom and related human rights abroad is vital
to U.S. foreign policy and to our strategic, as well as humanitarian,
interests," she said, in announcing the recommendations.
"It is only in protecting the universal human rights of each
individual that all individuals and all communities around the world
will be secure."
The law that created the commission requires the State Department to
act on the countries of particular designations within a set amount of
time and enact sanctions on countries it agrees are severe
religious-freedom violators, unless the United States already has taken
measures against those countries.
Several of the nations cited as severe religious-freedom
violators-such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia-have been close allies
of the United States in fighting terrorism. Although the commission has
recommended country of particular concern status for Saudi Arabia for
several years, only last fall did the State Department act on the
recommendation. It has not yet acted on repeated recommendations
regarding Pakistan.
According to the commission's report:
-- Burma is recommended as a country of particular concern because the
nation's ruling military junta "uses a pervasive internal security
apparatus to monitor the activities of all religious
organizations. The government imposes restrictions on many religious
practices, controls and censors all religious publications, and, in
some areas of the country, forcefully promotes the majority religion
over other religions."
-- China is recommended because "the government continues to be
responsible for pervasive and severe violations of religious freedom
and related human rights," particularly against religious minorities,
Catholics loyal to papal authority and unregistered Protestant groups.
-- Eritrea is recommended because its government "continues to ban
the activities of all unregistered religious groups and (has) closed
their places of worship. It has arrested participants at prayer
meetings and other gatherings, and detained members of unregistered
churches and other religious activists for long periods and without
charge."
-- Iran is recommended because the government has encouraged
"prolonged detention, torture and execution of persons, based
primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused. Over the past
year, the Iranian government's poor religious-freedom record has
deteriorated, particularly for Muslims who oppose the regime's
interpretation of Islam, Baha'is and Christians-all of whom have
faced intensified harassment, detention, arrests and imprisonment."
-- North Korea is recommended because it continues to be one of the
most oppressive regimes on earth, where there is "no protection for
human rights," and "freedom of religion or belief is essentially
nonexistent, as the government severely represses public and private
religious activities and has a policy of actively discriminating
against religious believers."
-- Pakistan is recommended because its government "does not provide
an adequate response to vigilante violence frequently perpetrated by
Sunni Muslim militants against Shi'a (Muslims), Ahmadis, Hindus and
Christians." The nation also has an anti-"blasphemy" law under
which allegations, even when false, "result in the lengthy detention,
imprisonment of, and sometimes violence against Ahmadis and Christians
as well as Muslims, some of whom have been sentenced to death."
-- Sudan is recommended because the government continues to commit
violations of religious rights "against Christians, Muslims who do
not follow the government's extremist interpretation of Islam, and
followers of traditional African religions." While the report says
conditions have improved somewhat since the end of the nation's
long-running civil war between its northern and southern regions,
Sudanese officials are now encouraging atrocities in its western Darfur
region, "where the government has exploited ethnic and religious
differences in committing abuses against African Muslim civilians that
the State Department has found to be genocide."
-- Saudi Arabia is recommended because its government "not only
persists in banning all forms of public religious expression other than
that of the government's own interpretation of one school of Sunni
Islam, but also continues to be involved in financing activities
throughout the world that support extreme religious intolerance, hatred
and, in some cases, violence toward non-Muslims and disfavored
Muslims."
-- Uzbekistan is recommended because "the Uzbek government continues
to exercise a high degree of control over the manner in which the
Islamic faith is practiced" and because of a restrictive new
religious-registration law "that severely limits the ability of
religious communities to function."
-- Vietnam is recommended because its government "continues to
harass, detain, imprison and discriminate against leaders and
practitioners of all religious communities," especially the United
Buddhist Church of Vietnam and Christians from the Montagnard and Hmong
ethnic groups in the nation's central highlands.
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X-URL: http://thanhniennews.com/politics/?catid=1&newsid=6795
Thanh Nien News | Politics | Vietnam rejects fabricated information
at UN session
Vietnam rejects fabricated information at UN session
A Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) has
recently refuted fabricated information on Vietnam's situation by the
Transnational Radical Party (TRP).
Nguyen Tat Thanh, minister counsellor and deputy permanent
representative of Vietnam to the UN, said TRP had allowed the
Montagnard Foundation Inc. (MFI), led by Ksor Kok, to take advantage of
UN forums to distribute fabricated information regarding Vietnam.
The TRP is a non-governmental organization with consultative status
with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Speaking at a resumed session of the NGO Committee under ECOSOC in New
York May 18, the Vietnamese representative said: "Vietnam has
consistently objected to the participation of Ksor Kok and the MFI
under the TRP's cover in meetings and conferences of the UN."
Mr. Thanh stressed that Ksor Kok and his organization were "pursuing
separatist goals against Vietnam, and in pursuit of those goals, they
have resorted to violent and terrorist acts."
At last year's session of the NGO Committee, responding to Vietnam's
proposal, the Committee decided to propose that ECOSOC suspend TRP's
consultative status with ECOSOC for three years. However, ECOSOC did
not endorse the Committee's decision.
ECOSOC's decision was unjust and failed to address the issue, the
diplomat said.
He added that TRP's actions were not consistent with the principles and
regulations of an NGO, and violated ECOSOC resolutions because TRP had
supported a member organization which was pursuing a separatist and
terrorist agenda against Vietnam.
Vietnam has evidence to prove that Ksor Kok is a terrorist and his MFI
is a separatist organization aiming to set up the so-called
"independent state of Degar" within the territory of Vietnam, Mr. Thanh
stressed. The move, he added, is a violation of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Vietnam.
Mr. Thanh called on the session to ban the presence of TRP at ECOSOC
forums. He said: "For its support for violent and terrorist activities,
TRP has neither moral nor legal rights to participate in the
Committee's deliberations."
(Source: Vietnam News Agency)
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 20 May, 2005, 11:28:09 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News
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X-URL:
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/newsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=29&NEWS_ID=151735
Viet Nam rejects fabricated information at UN session
05/19/2005 -- 17:09(GMT+7)
(VNA) - A Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations
(UN) has refuted fabricated information on Viet Nam's situation by the
Transnational Radical Party (TRP).
Nguyen Tat Thanh, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Viet Nam to the UN, said TRP, a non-governmental
organisation with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), has allowed the Montagnard Foundation Inc. (MFI) led
by Ksor Kok, to take advantage of UN forums to distribute fabricated
information regarding Viet Nam.
Speaking at a resumed session of the NGO Committee under the ECOSOC in
New York on May 18, the Vietnamese representative said: "Viet Nam has
consistently objected to the participation of Ksor Kok and the MFI
under the TRP's cover in meetings and conferences of the UN. This
individual and his organisation, the MFI, are pursuing separatist goals
against Viet Nam, and in pursuit of those goals they have resorted to
violent and terrorist acts."
According to Thanh, at last year's session of the NGO Committee,
responding to Viet Nam's proposal, the Committee decided to propose
that the ECOSOC suspend the TRP's consultative status with the ECOSOC
for three years. However, the ECOSOC did not endorse the Committee's
decision. The ECOSOC's decision was unjust and failed to address the
issue, the diplomat said.
He went on to say that the TRP's actions are not consistent with the
principles and regulations of an NGO, and violate ECOSOC resolutions
because the TRP has supported a member organisation which is pursuing a
separatist and terrorist agenda against Viet Nam.
Thanh stressed that Viet Nam has evidence to prove that Ksor Kok is a
terrorist and his MFI is a separatist organisation aiming to set up the
so-called "independent state of Degar" within the territory of Viet
Nam. The move, he added, is a violation of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Viet Nam.
Thanh called on the session to ban the presence of the TRP at ECOSOC
forums. He said: "For their support for violent and terrorist
activities, the TRP has neither moral nor legal right to participate in
the Committee's deliberations." - Enditem
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
X-URL:
Viet Nam rejects fabricated information at UN session
05/19/2005 -- 17:09(GMT+7)
(VNA) - A Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations
(UN) has refuted fabricated information on Viet Nam's situation by the
Transnational Radical Party (TRP).
Nguyen Tat Thanh, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Viet Nam to the UN, said TRP, a non-governmental
organisation with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), has allowed the Montagnard Foundation Inc. (MFI) led
by Ksor Kok, to take advantage of UN forums to distribute fabricated
information regarding Viet Nam.
Speaking at a resumed session of the NGO Committee under the ECOSOC in
New York on May 18, the Vietnamese representative said: "Viet Nam has
consistently objected to the participation of Ksor Kok and the MFI
under the TRP's cover in meetings and conferences of the UN. This
individual and his organisation, the MFI, are pursuing separatist goals
against Viet Nam, and in pursuit of those goals they have resorted to
violent and terrorist acts."
According to Thanh, at last year's session of the NGO Committee,
responding to Viet Nam's proposal, the Committee decided to propose
that the ECOSOC suspend the TRP's consultative status with the ECOSOC
for three years. However, the ECOSOC did not endorse the Committee's
decision. The ECOSOC's decision was unjust and failed to address the
issue, the diplomat said.
He went on to say that the TRP's actions are not consistent with the
principles and regulations of an NGO, and violate ECOSOC resolutions
because the TRP has supported a member organisation which is pursuing a
separatist and terrorist agenda against Viet Nam.
Thanh stressed that Viet Nam has evidence to prove that Ksor Kok is a
terrorist and his MFI is a separatist organisation aiming to set up the
so-called "independent state of Degar" within the territory of Viet
Nam. The move, he added, is a violation of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Viet Nam.
Thanh called on the session to ban the presence of the TRP at ECOSOC
forums. He said: "For their support for violent and terrorist
activities, the TRP has neither moral nor legal right to participate in
the Committee's deliberations." - Enditem
Viet Nam rejects fabricated information at UN session
05/19/2005 -- 17:09(GMT+7)
(VNA) - A Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations
(UN) has refuted fabricated information on Viet Nam's situation by the
Transnational Radical Party (TRP).
Nguyen Tat Thanh, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Viet Nam to the UN, said TRP, a non-governmental
organisation with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), has allowed the Montagnard Foundation Inc. (MFI) led
by Ksor Kok, to take advantage of UN forums to distribute fabricated
information regarding Viet Nam.
Speaking at a resumed session of the NGO Committee under the ECOSOC in
New York on May 18, the Vietnamese representative said: "Viet Nam has
consistently objected to the participation of Ksor Kok and the MFI
under the TRP's cover in meetings and conferences of the UN. This
individual and his organisation, the MFI, are pursuing separatist goals
against Viet Nam, and in pursuit of those goals they have resorted to
violent and terrorist acts."
According to Thanh, at last year's session of the NGO Committee,
responding to Viet Nam's proposal, the Committee decided to propose
that the ECOSOC suspend the TRP's consultative status with the ECOSOC
for three years. However, the ECOSOC did not endorse the Committee's
decision. The ECOSOC's decision was unjust and failed to address the
issue, the diplomat said.
He went on to say that the TRP's actions are not consistent with the
principles and regulations of an NGO, and violate ECOSOC resolutions
because the TRP has supported a member organisation which is pursuing a
separatist and terrorist agenda against Viet Nam.
Thanh stressed that Viet Nam has evidence to prove that Ksor Kok is a
terrorist and his MFI is a separatist organisation aiming to set up the
so-called "independent state of Degar" within the territory of Viet
Nam. The move, he added, is a violation of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Viet Nam.
Thanh called on the session to ban the presence of the TRP at ECOSOC
forums. He said: "For their support for violent and terrorist
activities, the TRP has neither moral nor legal right to participate in
the Committee's deliberations." - Enditem
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Montagnards: Vietnamese Christian Released Early from Prison
A children's Sunday school teacher in Vietnam has been released from
jail by communist authorities. The president of Open Doors USA says
public pressure was the key to the prisoner's early release.
Le Thi Hong Lien, 20, was arrested months ago along with five other
leaders of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam. She was given a one-year
prison sentence related to her Christian beliefs. However, Dr. Carl
Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, says Le Thi was released last
week, two months short of completing that sentence. He believes the
early release was a response to public pressure.
"The Mennonite Church in Vietnam feels it was the result of the
international community becoming aware of these human rights violations
that were going on there," Moeller explains. But Vietnamese officials
have stated Le Thi was released early because of a special amnesty
program.
Regardless of the reason behind the release, Moeller says it is obvious
Le Thi was severely mistreated while imprisoned.
"It was very clear from Miss Lien's condition that she had been
severely tortured while incarcerated, including -- as we see -- drug
injections that were used to alter her mental condition. She was
beaten, she was given electric shocks, in addition to being deprived of
food and subjected to almost daily verbal abuse."
A source close to Le Thi told Compass Direct the young woman "has a
long way to go in her physical recovery, let alone her psychological
and spiritual healing. Without God's help, she will never be the same
again." That same source requested that fellow believers around the
world pray for her full recovery.
Personal Experience
Le Thi is but one of millions of Christians worldwide who are being
persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. It is the focus of Open
Doors to highlight examples of persecution, calling for prisoners'
fellow believers to not only pray for their situation but to contact
various national embassies and demand their release. In its ongoing
effort to educate Christ's followers to the reality of persecution,
Open Doors -- in conjunction with its Underground youth ministry -- has
announced "Night of Persecution."
The program is being offered to church youth groups and summer camps as
an opportunity to discover what it takes to stand strong in the face of
persecution. Underground coordinator Jeff Shreve says "Night of
Persecution" will bring home to teenagers the "reality of what life is
like" for persecuted Christians when their prayer group is "invaded."
"Through role playing and other activities, the students will learn
first-hand of some of the stresses and pressures which persecuted
Christians often face every day," Shreve states in a press release.
"For many it will be their first exposure to the Persecuted Church.
They will also see the need to take their own faith more seriously."
The ministry reports that Hume Lake Christian Camps in California has
already booked the event for junior and senior high youth camps this
summer. Beginning in June, approximately 250 youth groups will
participate in the weekly "Night of Persecution" event at Hume Lake.
The event will continue to book dates during July, August, and
September.
According to Open Doors, an estimated 200 million Christians worldwide
suffer interrogation, arrest, and even death for their faith, while
another 200 to 400 million face discrimination and alienation.
Underground states that all funds raised through the "Night of
Persecution" event will toward supporting 900 Christians currently
imprisoned in Eritrea, Africa. Some of those being held, says Open
Doors, are Christian youth who are being held in shipping containers
placed in the hot sun.
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X-URL: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/12/vietna10745_txt.htm
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Vietnam: Religious Persecution Persists in Central Highlands
Religious Reforms Bypass Montagnard Christians
(New York, May 13, 2005) - New evidence shows that Vietnamese
security forces are continuing to mistreat and arbitrarily detain
Montagnards, indigenous hill people from the Central Highlands, Human
Rights Watch said today in a new 16-page briefing paper.
Human Rights Watch said Vietnamese officials are also continuing to
force Montagnard Christians to recant their faith.
Targeted in particular are those perceived as following "Dega
Christianity," an unsanctioned form of evangelical Christianity
followed by many Montagnards, who distrust government-controlled
religious organizations and seek to manage their own affairs. The
Vietnamese government has banned Dega Christianity and charges that it
is not a religion but a separatist political movement.
"Montagnards who attempt to practice their religion independently
still face assaults and live in fear," said Brad Adams, Asia director
at Human Rights Watch. "The persecution of Montagnards for their
religious beliefs and for their claims to ancestral lands continues
unabated."
Human Rights Watch said that recent talks between Vietnam and the
United States on Vietnam's designation by the U.S. as a "Country of
Particular Concern" for religious persecution have produced some
commitments by the Vietnamese government to allow greater religious
freedom. Registration requirements for some churches have been
loosened, and the Prime Minister has issued a regulation banning the
forced renunciation of religious beliefs.
However, the regulation requires religious organizations to obtain
government permission in order to operate. It states that only churches
that have conducted "pure religious activities" since 1975 can
register for official authorization. This effectively eliminates
Montagnard house churches in the Central Highlands, most of which
started up in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In an ominous tone, it
instructs officials to publicly expose "disguised Protestants" and
to "fight attempts by hostile forces to abuse Protestantism to incite
people to act subversively."
According to recent eyewitness accounts obtained by Human Rights Watch,
local authorities in the Central Highlands have used the new regulation
as grounds to arrest Montagnards suspected of belonging to Christian
groups that operate independently. Government officials in Cu Se
district of Gia Lai province summoned Montagnards from many villages
for all-day meetings at district headquarters, where they were warned
not to follow Dega Christianity, and in some cases forced to sign
pledges promising to abandon religion and politics. (The Evangelical
Church of Vietnam/South (ECVN) is the only Protestant organization
authorized by the government to operate in southern Vietnam.)
In March and April, security forces in several districts of Gia Lai
conducted search operations in the forests and midnight raids on
villages, in which they ransacked the homes of women whose husbands
have gone into hiding. Some women and their children were beaten during
these raids. Human Rights Watch said that Montagnards in hiding, as
well as villagers suspected of providing food to them, continue to be
arrested by police and soldiers. Those arrested include not only those
perceived to be Dega Church members, but pastors affiliated with the
ECVN and their relatives. Some of those arrested have been beaten or
tortured in detention, according to credible eyewitness accounts.
"Recent commitments from the Vietnamese government on religious
freedom are welcome, but only if they lead to an end to abuses," said
Adams. "Vietnam should amend the regulations to allow full and
unconditional religious freedom in order to end the official
identification of religion as a threat to the state."
Human Rights Watch said that at this point, the reforms appear to be
having the perverse effect of allowing government security forces to
take fresh action against religious activists.
Human Rights Watch said that it also has received reports of
mistreatment of Montagnards who voluntarily returned to Vietnam from
refugee camps in Cambodia. According to these reports, at least four
Montagnards who returned to Vietnam in March were detained for more
than ten days upon return. During interrogation by police at the Gia
Lai Provincial Police Station, one of the returnees was stabbed in the
hand with a writing pen. Another was punched in the back, the third was
hit in the stomach, and the fourth was slapped across the face. They
were then escorted to their home villages by commune police and local
officials, who placed them under surveillance.
In a recent Memorandum of Understanding signed with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Vietnam pledged that there
would be no retaliation or mistreatment against individuals who return
from Cambodia to Vietnam. However, Vietnam continues to deny
international monitors unhindered access to the Central Highlands to
check on the safety of returnees.
"The general mistreatment of Montagnards and the targeting of
returnees from Cambodia makes it clear that Vietnam is not upholding
the commitments it made to UNHCR in January," said Adams. "Hanoi
must allow international monitors into the Central Highlands to ensure
proper implementation of the agreement. Vietnam should stop denying
that these abuses are happening and start showing the political will to
end them."
Annex: Excerpted Case Examples from the Briefing Paper
· On March 14, commune police summoned a villager from Ia Grai
district, Gia Lai. He was interrogated and held in a dark, windowless
room for one day, where he was asked about the leadership, practice,
and membership of his religious group. He was told that he needed
written permission from the district and commune in order to worship.
He was warned that if he practiced religion without permission, he
would be arrested again.
· In late March, police in Dak Lak province arrested a Montagnard
pastor who is a member of the ECVN and six relatives of another
Montagnard pastor affiliated with the ECVN. Two of those arrested were
subsequently released; one after facing public denunciation in which he
was accused of having preached the gospel illegally and calling himself
a pastor without government approval. The whereabouts of the other five
remains unknown.
· On April 26, Ia Grai district police officers in Gia Lai province
delivered a written summons to three villagers, ordering them to report
to commune headquarters. The police officers interrogated them and
accused them of "heading the separation of the believers" and
ordered them to cease their beliefs on the side of those who have
"separated themselves from the church." The villagers reportedly
admitted being among those who had separated from the church
(presumably meaning the ECVN) and refused to abandon their faith. The
officers slammed their fists on the table and threatened them with
arrest. All three villagers were beaten by the police officers before
being released and allowed to return to their homes. One was slapped
across the face and jaw; another was punched in the chest; and the
third was boxed in their ears.
· In early April, a Montagnard from Cu Se district of Gia Lai was
arrested and detained at the district police station. District police
officers beat him, forced him to drink alcohol, and ordered him to stop
believing in Jesus. They tied his feet and had him hold his arms
straight out, crucifixion style, while they beat him with their hands
and kicked him with their boots. When he lost consciousness they poured
wine into his mouth. He was released that evening.
· On February 25, two police officers from Ia To commune, Ia Grai
District summoned two men and a woman for interrogation. They were
asked whether they followed Dega Christianity or the "Christianity of
[Prime Minister] Phan Van Khai". They were asked who in their village
followed "the religion that is political" and where they worshiped,
and ordered to cease following Dega Christianity. They did not agree to
stop. The police hit one of the men with their fists and beat the
second man until he lost consciousness. The three were released from
detention the same day. They were threatened with arrest if they were
caught practicing their religion again.
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X-URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4540665.stm
Vietnam refugees look to new life
By Guy De Launey
BBC, Cambodia
There was little danger of any of the 27 Montagnards getting charged
for excess baggage.
The group of ethnic minority people from Vietnam's central highlands
arrived at Phnom Penh airport toting just a small holdall each, stamped
with the logo of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The refugees are heading for a completely different environment
Each Montagnard also sported a more discrete IOM sticker on their
clothing, as if they were an organised tour group heading for the
temples at Angkor Wat.
They were going a lot further than that.
Oulu is one of Finland's largest cities. It is in the north of the
country, not too far from Lapland.
In terms of environment, it is about as far as you can get from the
jungles of central Vietnam. That, however, is where this particular
group of Montagnards will have to learn to call home.
They say they were driven to leave their real homeland by religious
persecution and land-grabs.
The Montagnards actually comprise a number of ethnic minority groups,
but almost all of them are members of an evangelical Christian sect
called Dega Thinlan.
Some of them worked with the United States forces during the Vietnam
war. They claim the authorities have punished them by taking away their
land to grow cash crops like coffee and rubber.
I miss my family very much - my father and mother. But I've decided
to go to Finland because I want something good in my life
Montagnard refugee
The numbers of Montagnards coming over the border into Cambodia
increased dramatically after last year's so-called Easter Uprising,
when thousands protested against religious persecution during Easter
week.
The protests were followed by a crackdown. Fearing for their lives, or
simply tired of constant harassment, hundreds of Montagnards fled, many
of them trekking through the jungle to reach Cambodia.
Since then, they have been stuck in limbo. Many of them wanted to fight
for the return of what they said were their tribal lands, but Cambodia
was unwilling to allow the Montagnards to stay.
The choice was clear - accept resettlement to a third country, or
return to an uncertain welcome in Vietnam.
Most of the refugees have now opted for a new start.
They have no choice - it's not permissible for refugees to shop for
resettlement countries
Teresa Woods, UNHCR
Perhaps they had in mind the well-established Montagnard community in
North Carolina in the United States, but the rules on resettlement mean
that some of them are heading for Finland instead.
"If UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]
establishes an agreement with a country willing to accept refugees,
then that's essentially the way it happens," said the agency's
resettlement officer Teresa Woods, as she prepared to see the Oulu
party onto their flight.
"It's not necessarily based on who's already in which countries.
Actually they have no choice - it's not permissible for refugees to
shop for resettlement countries," she said.
It is possible for refugees to refuse to go to a particular country.
But the Montagnards at the airport had accepted their future lay in
Finland.
The men who comprised the majority of the group laughed nervously as
they waited in front of the airport's decorative waterfall, all wearing
pastel-coloured shirts with "New Man" written across the pocket.
"I wouldn't want to go if I had enough freedom in Vietnam," one young
man told me.
"I miss my family very much - my father and mother. But I've decided to
go to Finland because I want something good in my life."
Another, a church activist, had previously returned to Vietnam, before
fleeing once more, leaving his wife and child behind.
"I want to go to Finland because I'm afraid to go back to Vietnam. If I
go back, they might hurt me."
None of them knew anything more than basic facts about Finland. Just an
end to an existence of uncertainty seemed to be enough.
Other Montagnards will follow, and efforts are being made to prepare
them for what lies in store.
Preparing
In a classroom at Phnom Penh's Institute of Public Health, Finnish
holiday brochures lie on a table next to snacks wrapped in banana
leaves.
In front of a whiteboard, a tall African man is explaining the
intricacies of Finland's social security system, while a small group of
Montagnard men listen intently.
Saed Guled was once a refugee himself. He arrived in Finland from
Somalia 15 years ago. Now he works for the IOM, passing on first-hand
knowledge of what it is like to arrive in a place which is completely
different from anywhere you have ever known.
Saed Guled (R) a former refugee himself, gives lessons on Finland
"They ask all kinds of questions," said Saed. "The housing system, the
weather, the climate. I explain to them that we have a long winter,
very dark, the days are very short with only five or six hours of
light. They get confused and they cannot totally understand."
Yet still the Montagnards smile as their departure date approaches.
Other groups will go to Canada and the United States. About 100 have
been refused refugee status and may have to return to Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government insists that any Montagnards who return will
not be punished or persecuted.
It is a line that has failed to convince those who are willing to leave
behind friends, families and homes for a leap into the unknown.
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X-URL:
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Vietnamese Montagnards head to Finland for resettlement
11 May 2005 15:52:19 GMT
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
PHNOM PENH, May 11 (UNHCR) - Months after crossing through the
jungle to seek refuge in north-eastern Cambodia, a group of 27
Montagnard refugees from Vietnam's central highlands are on their way
to Finland to start a new life, in a climate that couldn't be more
different from what they're used to.
The refugees, who were flying on Tuesday night from Cambodian capital
Phnom Penh to the coastal city of Oulu in Finland, were excited but
nervous when UNHCR staff went to brief them on conditions in their new
homeland. They are the first group of a total of 72 Montagnards
accepted for resettlement in Finland.
"There were a lot of smiles and some laughter during our orientation
briefing. Overall they seemed a bit nervous but excited about their new
future," said a UN refugee agency protection officer.
The major concerns of the refugees were about the cost of living, which
they heard was very high in Finland, the availability of schooling and
whether they could work in their new country.
"I have been told that Finland is a very expensive country. I don't
have any money, how am I going to be able to live there?" asked Chung
Rolan, a concerned 30-year-old father of four daughters.
"In my country I was a farmer, I didn't go to school. I am looking
forward to the opportunity to go to school in Finland," he added.
Another refugee said it would be sad to say goodbye to friends and
relatives at the site where they had been living in Phnom Penh.
A second group of Montagnards is scheduled to fly to Finland in early
June after taking a Finnish orientation course this week.
Most Montagnard refugees in Cambodia have preferred to resettle to the
United States, where there is a strong Montagnard community and
connections. Others have gone to Sweden, and Canada is also accepting
Montagnards for resettlement. Cambodia has always insisted that local
integration was not an option for the Montagnards.
Early in November, UNHCR expressed concern about the number of
Montagnards crossing into Cambodia under the mistaken impression that
the agency could help them get back disputed land. Once it had been
made clear that UNHCR could not help them with their land grievances,
some asylum seekers said they wanted to return to Viet Nam. Others who
had already been recognised as refugees overwhelmingly rejected
resettlement.
But since an agreement was signed in Hanoi in January between UNHCR,
Viet Nam and Cambodia aimed at finding solutions for some 750
Vietnamese Montagnards who had fled into Cambodia, the majority of
refugees are now choosing to resettle to a third country.
"Those who want to resettle are desperate to do so, impatient, tired of
waiting. Those who do not want to resettle just don't want to, it
doesn't seem to make any difference that others are leaving," said a
UNHCR protection officer.
In March, 35 Montagnards decided voluntarily to return to Viet Nam
under the terms of the January agreement, under which the Vietnamese
government gave written guarantees that the returnees would not be
punished, discriminated against and/or prosecuted for their illegal
departure.
A further 101 Montagnard asylum seekers were rejected as refugees and
will have to return to Viet Nam. No date has been set for their return.
By Jennifer Pagonis
UNHCR news
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1364619.htm
Last Updated 11/05/2005, 05:07:06
The United Nations refugee agency says 27 Vietnamese who fled to
Cambodia last year are to be resettled in Finland this week.
Hundreds of the ethnic minority hill tribe members began fleeing to
Cambodia after a crackdown by authorities in April last year sparked by
protests over land rights and religious persecution.
A spokeswoman for the UNHCR says the resettlement is taking place under
an accord worked out with Cambodia and Vietnam in January.
She says a number of the remaining 650 Montagnards in UNHCR care in
Cambodia are also being considered by Canada for resettlement.
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X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2455
Montagnards: US Announces Deal with Vietnam on Religious Freedom
Vietnam and the United States have reached an agreement on religious
freedom.
US officials say Vietnam has released a number of religious prisoners
and allowed churches to reopen, among other measures.
Last year, the United States classified Vietnam as a "country of
particular concern" for violating religious freedoms.
But America's special envoy for international religious freedom, John
Hanford, says the new agreement "addresses a number of important
religious freedom concerns".
He says more talks will be held when the US deputy secretary of state,
Robert Zoellick, visits Hanoi.
But Ambassador Hanford also says other important steps still need to be
taken, and the United States will continue to monitor developments in
Vietnam closely.
Vietnam's prime minister, Phan Van Khai, currently in Australia, is to
make a historic visit to Washington next month, the first by such a
senior figure from Hanoi since the end of the Vietnam War.
Mr Khai says the aim of the visit is to improve relations between the
two countries, which will celebrate the 10th anniversary of diplomatic
ties on July 11.
On Sunday, Vietnam marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon,
now Ho Chi Minh City, and the defeat of the US-backed South Vietnamese
regime.
Some three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans were killed in the
fighting.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Montagnards Appeal to Australian Prime Minister
Open letter from the President of the Montagnard Foundation to
Australian Prime Minister John Howard regarding the Vietnamese Prime
Minister's visit to Australia
Dear Hon. Prime Minister John Howard,
As you personally prepare to meet with the Vietnamese Prime Minister,
Phan Van Khai in his visit to Australia, I now write to you and to the
Australian government about the situation of our people - the
indigenous hill tribe peoples of Central Vietnam (Degar people) also
known under the French name of "Montagnards".
In anticipation of Hanoi's past accusations I would like to state
firstly that we are a non-violent organization with no intention of
seeking independence. Our only goal is the guarantee of human rights
and to live on our ancestral lands without fear of repression. We are
an indigenous people (recognized by the UN Working Group on Indigenous
Populations) who desire only to preserve our ancestral villages and
customs as we did for thousands of years.
As you may be aware, our peoples have suffered greatly over the years
but since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 we have faced a systematic
policy by the communist government involving widespread breaches of
fundamental human rights. Last year the United States Government listed
Vietnam as one of the world's worst violators of religious freedom
and our people have suffered not only religious persecution because
many of us are Christians but also confiscation of our ancestral lands,
torture and killings.
To protest the years of abuse perpetrated against our people, in
February 2001 and April 2004 on Easter thousands of our people staged
peaceful demonstrations in the central highlands. Hanoi responded with
brutal force and killed many of our people. Today our homelands have
been sealed off from the world where Vietnamese security forces conduct
rampant human rights abuses and a policy of Christian religious
persecution. Every week we receive reports direct from Vietnam where
our people describe beatings, electric shock torture, arrests, and even
murders conducted by Vietnamese authorities. We believe these human
rights abuses are part of a sophisticated form of genocide directed
against our race. To escape this unbearable situation thousands of our
people have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Cambodia. These camps
have since been unfortunately closed down and now hundreds of our
peoples are in hiding while both Vietnamese and Cambodian police hunt
them down. However, the Government of Vietnam continues persecuting our
people and keeps the region sealed off from independent monitors.
So I appeal now to the kindness of your heart and as the representative
of the Australian people I ask if you can please help our people in
your discussions with Vietnam. We have an advisor and advocate for our
organization who is also an Australian citizen - Mr. Scott Johnson. He
states that "every effort should be made by the Australian government
to ensure Vietnam stops persecuting the Montagnard hill tribes and that
monetary aid from Australia should reflect whether or not Vietnam is
complying with international standard of human rights." We further
ask if you can assist somehow by mentioning human rights with PM Phan
Van Khai, by discussing these issues below with the Prime Minister:
- That, international monitors be allowed into the central highlands.
- That Australian aid to Vietnam include assurances our people will not
suffer further human rights abuses.
- Finally I ask if you can do something to help the hundreds of our
people who have been imprisoned by the Vietnamese authorities. These
included Montagnard Christians named Jana Bom and Ksor Kroih who were
imprisoned in 2001. We have heard these and many other Montagnard
Christians are severely ill in prison.
As President of the Montagnard Foundation, I would like to publicly
clarify that we have hundreds of thousands of supporters inside Vietnam
who would welcome the Australian government's support for our human
rights. I would also like to clarify again that we are an organization
based on the non-violent principals espoused by Ghandi and of
Christianity. There is no word for "independence" in our languages
and we only have a word for "freedom". Contrary to the propaganda
by the Vietnamese government we are not advocating independence but
only seeking the freedom to live on our ancestral lands as indigenous
people and to worship Christ in peace. In the spirit of Christianity I
also extend our prayers to you on your visit and to the Vietnamese
Prime Minister as well as all other Vietnamese authorities, hoping they
may show some compassion for our people.
Thank you and on behalf of the Montagnard Degar people I extend our
gratitude for any assistance you may provide our people.
Sincerely
Kok Ksor,
President Montagnard Foundation
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X-URL: http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200505/FOR20050506b.shtml
Vietnam Dodges Sanctions for Religious Freedom Violations
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The Vietnamese government has
managed to sidestep punitive measures for abusing religious freedom, by
becoming the first country to reach an agreement with Washington on the
matter since the passage of religious freedom legislation more than six
years ago.
After lengthy negotiations with the communist authorities in Hanoi,
U.S. envoy for international religious freedom John Hanford said
Thursday an agreement had been achieved that "addresses a number of
important religious freedom concerns."
As a result, the U.S. government is giving Vietnam a written pledge
"that at this time, we won't take any additional negative action," he
said.
More talks would be held when Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick
visits Hanoi on Friday.
The announcement came shortly after Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai said during a trip to Australia that he would next month become
the country's first leader to visit the U.S. since the Vietnam War
ended in 1975.
The State Department last September added Vietnam to a list of
"countries of particular concern" (CPCs), a designation under 1998
International Religious Freedom Act. The law provides for a range of
diplomatic and economic steps the administration can take against
governments that engage in or tolerate violations.
March 15 was the deadline for announcing actions against newcomers to
the CPC list -- Saudi Arabia and Eritrea were also added -- but the
department said at the time it had asked Congress for several more
weeks, indicating that talks with Hanoi looked promising.
Apart from the pledge not to act against Vietnam, Hanford said Thursday
that the department also undertook "to consider removing Vietnam from
the CPC list" once the government had taken certain specified further
steps.
He described the achievement of an agreement as one that "advances a
key component of the president's freedom agenda."
But while there have been reports of concessions and improvements in
recent months, religious freedom campaigners also have continued to
report on continuing abuses in Vietnam.
"There will be a lot of pressure on the State Department to ensure that
real improvements are achieved before lifting CPC designation,"
Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee spokesman Dan Hoang told
Cybercast News Service Thursday.
Haong predicted that Vietnamese-Americans would protest against Khai
"wherever he goes in the U.S." because of ongoing social injustices,
rather than because of grievances related to the war 30 years ago.
"Khai is coming to the U.S. to mark the normalization of relations
between the two countries, but the Vietnamese communist government has
yet to pursue normal relations with the Vietnamese people," he said.
Improvements reported
Rights campaigners have for years accused Hanoi of oppressing the
followers of non-recognized religions, particularly Protestants
belonging to the Hmong and Montagnard ethnic minorities, Mennonites,
and independent Buddhists.
Religious figures have been jailed, hundreds of churches shut down, and
many Christians allegedly forced to renounce their faith.
In his announcement, Hanford said that Vietnam had in recent weeks
"banned the practice of forced or coerced renunciations of faith,
released a number of prominent prisoners of concern, and has begun to
register and to permit the reopening of churches that had previously
been closed."
It had also enacted new laws which "provide increased latitude and
protection for religious belief and practice," he added.
The government had committed itself to implement the new legislation
and policies fully, and to ensure that local authorities comply.
Hanford said there had been a "disconnect between what the central
government may profess and what local officials do." Training of
provincial and local officials would hopefully ensure that policies
were regularized.
The U.S. would look for further progress, he added, including the
release of remaining prisoners jailed for practicing their faith -- he
could not say how many there were -- and movement on registering
churches and reopening ones previously shut down.
Continuing concerns
Many observers are not convinced about the reforms, however, and
reports of abuses continue to emerge from Vietnam.
In a recent letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Human Rights
Watch noted that the changes announced this year did not entail an end
to Hanoi's "official stance that religious freedom is a privilege to be
requested and granted by the government, rather than a fundamental
human right."
Last week, as part of an amnesty marking the 30th anniversary of the
end of the Vietnam War, Hanoi released Pham Ngoc Lien, a 63-year-old
Catholic priest jailed since 1987. His release cut short by two years a
20-year sentence for "conducting propaganda to oppose the socialist
regime and undermine the policy of solidarity."
Also freed was Le Thi Hong Lien, a 21-year old Mennonite bible teacher
jailed for 12 months last November for taking part in a religious
freedom protest.
According to Compass Direct, a news service focusing on Christian
persecution, just two days after her release Le Thi Hong Lien was
attending a bible study in a home with other Christians when police
raided and took participants to a local police station for
interrogation. By the time she was allowed to go, she was "exhausted
and terrified."
Just last week, the Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House
reported that Hanoi was stepping up its persecution of minority
Christians.
"Sources in Vietnam have provided the center with new accounts of
persecution against Hmong Christians, including recent death threats
which have prompted many to leave the country in recent months," it
said.
"The evidence consists of tape recorded interviews, handwritten
testimony of Hmong leaders, and documentation identifying the names and
positions of many of the Vietnamese officials implicated in the
persecution."
The organization said more than 100 Hmong Christians were reported to
have fled the country over the past two months.
"Whatever recent legislative changes Vietnam has announced, they appear
to provide no improvement at all for the majority of Vietnam's
Protestants who are ethnic minorities in the northwest provinces and
Central Highlands," said the center's director, Nina Shea.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom -- a statutory
body set up under the International Religious Freedom Act -- last month
urged the administration to take action against all three newcomers to
the CPC list.
On Vietnam, the commission said "the government continues to harass,
detain, imprison, and discriminate against leaders and practitioners of
all religious communities."
The 1998 legislation provides for a range of possible measures against
governments on the CPC list, including diplomatic protests,
condemnation in multilateral forums, restrictions on exchanges and
visits, reduction of assistance funds, trade sanctions and withdrawal
of ambassadors.
It also allows the administration to waive actions on certain
conditions, or to negotiate a binding agreement with the CPC government
to cease violations -- as has now happened for the first time in the
case of Vietnam.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
Dai Uy
http://coranet.radicalparty.org/pressreleases/press_release.php?func=deta
il&par=7655
21/05/2005 | UN: VIETNAM RENEWS ATTACK AGAINST TRP
New York, 20 May 2005 In a statement delivered before the Committee on
Non-Governmental Organizations, an ECOSOC sub-body, Mr. Nguyen Tat
Thanh, Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, said that
the Transnational Radical Party had allowed the Montagnard Foundation
Inc. (MFI), led by Ksor Kok (a member of the TRP General Council_, to
take advantage of UN forums to distribute fabricated information
regarding the Vietnamese regime. "Vietnam has consistently objected to
the participation of Ksor Kok and the MFI under the TRP's cover in
meetings and conferences of the UN Said the diplomat, without noting
that Mr. Ksor was sitting in a UN conference room next-door attending
the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the invitation of the United
Nations. For over two years, Hanoi has carried out an unsuccessful
campaign to suspend the TRP from its consultative status with the UN
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a campaign which culminated last
year with a vote at the Council that rejected a recommendation adopted
by the Committee on NGOs through a vote. At the end of his speech, Mr.
Thanh called on the Committee to ban the presence of TRP at ECOSOC
forums, stating that "for its support for violent and terrorist
activities, TRP has neither moral nor legal rights to participate in the
Committee's deliberations." Although such a statement is not reflected
in the UN press release, it shows how Hanoi is preparing the ground for
a new attack at the next session. The TRP, which since the beginning of
the year has been answering questions posed by Vietnam's allies such as
China, Cuba and Russia, has always responded to the Vietnamese
allegations presenting its arguments, but also noting the observations
of several UN bodies, such as the Committee on the Elimination on Racial
Discrimination, the Indigenous Forum and the Human Rights Committee that
have strongly criticized Hanoi for its violations of human rights.
Vietnam's new attack is lodged on the eve of the U.S. visit of its Prime
Minister scheduled for the third week of June.
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Montagnards: Vietnam Renews Attack against Transnational Radical Party
In a statement delivered before the Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations, an ECOSOC sub-body, Mr. Nguyen Tat Thanh, Deputy
Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, said that the
Transnational Radical Party had allowed the Montagnard Foundation Inc.
(MFI), led by Ksor Kok (a member of the TRP General Council), to take
advantage of UN forums to distribute fabricated information regarding
the Vietnamese regime.
"Vietnam has consistently objected to the participation of Ksor Kok and
the MFI under the TRP's cover in meetings and conferences of the UN Said
the diplomat, without noting that Mr. Ksor was sitting in a UN
conference room next-door attending the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues at the invitation of the United Nations.
For over two years, Hanoi has carried out an unsuccessful campaign to
suspend the TRP from its consultative status with the UN Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC), a campaign which culminated last year with a
vote at the Council that rejected a recommendation adopted by the
Committee on NGOs through a vote. At the end of his speech, Mr. Thanh
called on the Committee to ban the presence of TRP at ECOSOC forums,
stating that "for its support for violent and terrorist activities, TRP
has neither moral nor legal rights to participate in the Committee's
deliberations." Although such a statement is not reflected in the UN
press release, it shows how Hanoi is preparing the ground for a new
attack at the next session.
The TRP, which since the beginning of the year has been answering
questions posed by Vietnam's allies such as China, Cuba and Russia, has
always responded to the Vietnamese allegations presenting its arguments,
but also noting the observations of several UN bodies, such as the
Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination, the Indigenous
Forum and the Human Rights Committee that have strongly criticized Hanoi
for its violations of human rights. Vietnam's new attack is lodged on
the eve of the U.S. visit of its Prime Minister scheduled for the third
week of June.
Dai Uy
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/f7d62427cfe2f31fdbb3edca8b
ce91ce.htm
Montagnard returnees to Viet Nam in good shape, says UNHCR
24 May 2005 12:57:24 GMT
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
GENEVA, May 24 (UNHCR) After a three-day monitoring trip last week to
Viet Nam's central highlands to check on the well-being of Montagnards
who had voluntarily returned from Cambodia, UNHCR has reported that the
returnees seem to be in good shape and back in the swing of normal life.
UNHCR's Representative in Hanoi, Vu Anh Son, met with local authorities
and 18 returnee families during his May 18 -21 visit to Gia Lai and Kom
Tum provinces in the central highlands. A total of 35 Montagnards
returned home in March after an agreement was signed by UNHCR, Viet Nam
and Cambodia in late January this year.
Son said all of the returnees he met said they had stopped over in
Pleiku, the provincial capital of Gia Lai, for a period of two to five
days immediately after their return to Viet Nam. They said they were
questioned by the local authorities about the reasons for their
departure and were told about the government policies towards minorities
and Montagnard returnees. They also underwent certain administrative
formalities.
"No one I met amongst the returnees claimed they were beaten or harassed
during their stay in Pleiku or upon their return home," said Son, who
visited the returnees in their homes. "They all seemed in good shape."
Under the January accord, Viet Nam gave written guarantees that the
returnees will not be punished, discriminated against or prosecuted.
As the returnees' homes are spread out in various districts, the UNHCR
Representative had to drive over 650 km in two-and-a-half days to visit
18 returnee families in three districts in Gia Lai and one district on
Kom Tum. Because of the distances involved, Son was unable to meet all
returnees during this visit but there were no constraints by the
authorities concerning access. UNHCR hopes to check on the other
returnees on subsequent visits.
"The returnees seem pleased to be back and have started their lives
again," Son said.
The stories of the Montagnards' return are all quite similar, Son
reported. They mentioned their stay in Pleiku, then the return to their
villages and normal life where most are involved in the cultivation of
crops such as peppers, manioc, cashews and rice.
The returnees are some of the 750 Montagnards who fled to Cambodia over
the past year many on the mistaken notion that UNHCR could help them
resolve property disputes in their villages in Viet Nam's central
highlands. The Montagnards cited religious persecution and land
grievances as the main reasons for fleeing Viet Nam.
The January accord aimed to find solutions for the Montagnards in
Cambodia. The majority of refugees, after initially overwhelmingly
rejecting resettlement, are now choosing to resettle in third countries
such as the United States, Canada and Finland. Some refugees have
preferred to return to Viet Nam, while there are also 114 rejected
asylum seekers, which under the terms of the agreement will have to
return to Viet Nam. No date has yet been set for their return.
By Jennifer Pagonis
UNHCR news
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Dai Uy
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entless.according.to.vietnam.protestants/250.htm
Christian Persecution Relentless According to Vietnam Protestants
May 27, 2005
Protestants in northern and central Vietnam continue to be pressured to
renounce their faith by local authorities, despite the ban of religious
persecution by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai two months ago. According to
a story by ASSIST News Service (ANS), incidents have been described by
Protestants from Lao-Kai, Thai Binh, and Gia Lai provinces that church
members have been harassed or assaulted by local authorities.
In an article reported by Radio Free Asia's Vietnamese service, local
officials were interviewed by RFA reporters but they denied any
assaults. Allegations that the Vietnamese central government authorises
religious persecution or harassment have been rejected.
The Prime Minister Khaiąs order instructed officials to "ensure that
each citizen's freedom of religious and belief practice is observed
[and] outlaw attempts to force people to follow a religion or to deny
their religion," reports the article.
The report asserts that the New York-based Human Rights Watch said only
churches that have carried out "pure religious activities" since 1975
can register for official authorisation, while registration requirements
have loosened up. It eradicates Montagnard house churches which have
started in the late 1980s and early 90s in the Central Highlands.
The article says: "One group of Protestants in the northern province of
Lao-Kai, bordering China, were beaten and had their rice fields
confiscated in April after they refused to break with their church,
according to Protestants who say they were among those targeted."
"They told me, 'The prime ministerąs decree applies only to the area
around Hanoi, not remote areas. Tell the prime minister to come here
with the decree, and we will solve the problem,' " said Giang-A Tinh,
27, a minority Hmong from Ta-phin village in the Lao-Kaiąs Sapa district.
Tinh travelled to Hanoi to complain to the central government and spoke
to RFA's Vietnamese service from Hanoi. Local authorities "took all the
rice fields of 12 families," he said.
Police and local officials had beaten Tinh on 23 April and 29 April,
after he refused to give up his faith in writing. His mother and brother
were also beaten, and his brother has been left bedridden.
"There are 45 protestant families in Ta-phin village. There are more in
other villages but I don't know what happened to them," he told RFA.
Another source confirmed that local authorities, led by village police
chief Thao A Cau, confiscated land belonging to 12 Protestant families,
said the article.
Trąand-A-Cam, a Hmong Protestant of the same village, told RFA that he
and three other villagers were beaten up after refusing to renounce
their faith.
Tinh and Trąand-A-Cam had fled to Hanoi to avoid more beatings and
possible arrest, and to appeal for the central government to intercede.
"The authorities in the village and district let a group of 'brothers'
[cadres and villagers] plunder all our land ‹ they beat us all up in the
Ta-phin Peopleąs Committee office and in the rice fields. Numerous
petitions to the province havenąt helped, so I brought our petition here
to Hanoi to see if they can help," Cam said.
"They produced papers saying I was renouncing my religion and told me to
sign them. When I didn't sign they beat me and others."
Cam said a police officer told him: 'Your God is the God of the French
and the Americans...It's not the religion of Uncle Ho [Chi Minh]. If you
don't put up an altar to the ancestors, you don't have the rice fields
of the ancestors.ą "They told me to sign and renounce my religion, but I
did not sign and did not quit my religion," he said
Trąang A Xa, chairman of the village Peopleąs Council, denied the
beatings. "They don't have altars in their homes for Thien [an ethnic
Vietnamese deity], and that is wrong," Tr'ang A Xa said in an interview.
"You want to follow a religion, you have to register and get the
permission of the local authorities, get agreement from relatives -- and
if they donąt agree, you can't do it."
In the northern province of Thai Binh, village officials looked on as a
protestant preacher and his assistant were being assaulted by ten people
on 14 May.
The preacher, Nguyen Van Cam, said in an interview that the police
officers stopped the two as they spoke with a female follower and
invited them into the Dong Lam village administrative offices in Tien
Hai district, about 100 kms (60 miles) southeast of Hanoi.
"They invited us to the office where they beat brother Dien, a believer
who was with me. They had us report about our relation with a woman
named Ms. Liet and sign a paper promising not to go to her anymore. We
refused, and they said, 'Youąll see what we can do to you with our
hands,' " he said.
May 14, he said that a group of 10 people they didnąt recognise
surrounded them and began to beat them with sticks at about 8pm, about
100 meters from the village administrative office.
Though they called for help before falling unconscious, the several
local officials looked on "watching without doing anything," said Cam.
"I submitted a complaint to Tien Hai district police, and I worked with
them for two hoursŠThey asked me to change the issue from religious
persecution to personal conflict, but I refused," he said. But Bui Quy
Hanh, chairman of Tien Hai districtąs Fatherland Front, denied the
incident.
"I work with local police every day, and I have meetings with them every
week, and I haven't heard about any such incidents," Hanh said. "I've
never heard about any Protestant activities in Tien Hai at all -- I know
only about Buddhists and Catholics here."
"If Protestants come to see us, we always help them, even give them
protection under the law," he said. "I didn't see any problems, no
negative reactions. Everyone was excited," he said, confirming that he
has just distributed the National Law on Belief and Religion to the
regional officials.
According to the RFA article, some ethnic minority Protestants allegedly
were made to sign a formal renunciation document or undergo a symbolic
ritual of drinking rice whiskey mixed with animal blood, to avoid the
threat of their property from being confiscated and physical abuse.
A Mennonite pastor and a preacher who were arrested and forced to
denounce their faith in 2004 were called by police on 19 May this year
in Gia Lai Province in Vietnamąs Central Highlands, and told to renounce
their religion again, they said.
Pastor Y Kor and preacher Y Yan received a note of invitation to come to
the village office at 8am 20 May for a working session with police by
Chu A village police chief Nguyen Tien Mai which was sent through the
Peopleąs Committee of Plei Mo Nu hamlet.
Y Yan was kept at the police station for four hours, during which the
ranking officer told him the Mennonite church was "reactionary" and
illegal, it reported.
"I told them I live and die with the Mennonites, and nobody can tell me
to abandon it," Y Yan said. The said that the police treated him kindly
and urged him to remain calm and list all Mennonites in the village. But
Y Yan refused.
In the RFAąs annual review of human rights around the world which was
released in London on 25 May, Amnesty International reported that Hanoi
had imprisoned protestors and forced religious followers to give up
their faith in the past year.
In RFAąs most recent annual report on human rights around the world, the
U.S. State Department said that while the constitution and government
decrees of Vietnam offer freedom of religion, Hanoi last year "continued
to restrict significantly organised activities of religious groups that
it declared to be at variance with state laws and policies."
"According to credible reports, the police arbitrarily detained persons
based upon their religious beliefs and practice, particularly among
ethnic minority groups in the Central and Northwest Highlands. In 2003
and 2002, there were also reports that two Protestants in those areas
were beaten and killed for reasons connected to their faith," it said.
"Under threat of physical abuse or confiscation of property, some ethnic
minority Protestants allegedly were made to sign a formal, written
denunciation or to undergo a symbolic ritual, which reportedly included
drinking rice whiskey mixed with animal blood. Others refused, often
with no known negative repercussions," the report said.
Jennifer Gold
jenn...@christiantoday.com
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3201609
May 27, 2005, 10:19PM
Vietnamese leader will make first visit to the White House
The trip marks a milestone in post-war relations
By STEWART M. POWELL and JENNIFER A. DLOUHY
Copyright 2005 Hearst News Service
WASHINGTON - The prime minister of Vietnam will visit President Bush at
the White House on June 21 in the first post-war visit by the leader of
the United States' former enemy.
The summit between Bush and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will mark the
10th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1995 between
the United States and Vietnam, White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan said in a written statement issued Friday.
Bush and Khai will "discuss ways to further strengthen cooperation on a
range of bilateral, regional and international issues" in advance of the
21-nation summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum next
year in Vietnam.
The Bush-Khai summit is the latest milestone in the politically delicate
reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam since the end of
the 11-year Vietnam War in 1975 that claimed the lives of more than
58,000 American soldiers and more than 1 million Vietnamese civilians
and military personnel from North and South Vietnam.
John Sommer, executive director of the Washington office of the 2.7
million-member American Legion, said the visit was the inevitable result
of a decade of improving diplomatic and economic ties.
Many members of the American Legion, including the nearly 1 million
Vietnam veterans, will "certainly not look upon this too pleasantly,"
particularly with the White House announcement being made on the
Memorial Day weekend, Sommer said in a telephone interview.
The American Legion will urge Bush to press the Vietnamese official for
greater cooperation in the ongoing search for American prisoners of war
and missing in action and
to improve Hanoi's human rights record in its dealings with the
Montagnards,
U.S. allies during the Vietnam war, Sommer said.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the decorated Vietnam combat veteran who
worked with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to bring about normalization,
said the upcoming visit was "another reminder that Vietnam today is not
just a war, but a country moving slowly towards free markets and
democracy."
Jerry Newberry, of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said his organization
had no immediate comment.
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2563
Montagnards: Human Rights Situation in Vietnam Central Highlands
Worsened in 2004
The human rights situation worsened in the Central Highlands following
demonstrations by members of ethnic minority groups (Montagnards) in
April. The ensuing government crackdown resulted in the deaths of at
least eight protesters and many injured. This was followed by tight
government controls on access and communications with the region.
Freedom of expression nationally remained severely limited. Trials of
political dissidents continued throughout 2004. Repression of religious
denominations not sanctioned by the state continued. A high number of
death sentences and executions were reported.
_Background
Indicators such as life expectancy, literacy, health and living
standards suggested real progress towards the realization of economic,
cultural and social rights. However, ethnic minority areas fell behind
national trends.
Corruption scandals involving government officials dominated the
domestic news. In the first stage of the most significant prisoner
amnesties since 1998, more than 8,000 prisoners were given early
release. No prisoners of conscience were known to have been released. In
October Viet Nam hosted the biennial Asia-Europe (ASEM) meeting. A
parallel non-governmental organization People's Forum attended by some
Asian and European human rights and development groups also took place
under tight control and media restrictions. The Vietnamese authorities
prevented one Cambodian group from taking part. Vietnamese participation
was restricted to organizations under state control.
A new Criminal Procedure Code came into effect on 1 July. A raft of new
Internet regulations were introduced to further control access to
information, especially sites run by overseas Vietnamese opposition
groups. Viet Nam continued to deny access to independent human rights
monitors.
_Central Highlands
On 10 and 11 April, thousands of Montagnard people, including women and
children, protested against government policies in three provinces of
the Central Highlands. Most of the protesters were Christians who had
planned five days of peaceful protests about long-standing land
ownership and religious freedom issues, and about additional
restrictions on freedom of movement, communication and religious
practice imposed since the last major protests in 2001. Disproportionate
and brutal force was used to break up the demonstrations. At least eight
people were unlawfully killed and many hundreds injured in the ensuing
crackdown.
The Central Highlands was effectively cut off for several months after
April. All communication, including telephone contact, was extremely
difficult. Diplomats and journalists were permitted to visit the region
only under close supervision.
Arrests and trials continued of those linked to the 2001 unrest, its
aftermath, and the April 2004 incidents. Hundreds of Montagnard
asylum-seekers continued to attempt to flee to neighbouring Cambodia. At
least 142 people have been sentenced to long prison terms since the 2001
unrest, including 31 in 2004. The fate of hundreds of others arrested
was not known.
Nine members of the Ede ethnic group - Y Hoang Bkrong, Y K'rec Bya, Y
Kuang E Cam, Y Nguyen Kdoh, Y Ruan Bya, Y Tan Nie, Y Tlup Adrong, Yben
Nie and Y Som H'mok - were sentenced to between five and 12 years'
imprisonment by Dak Lak Provincial People's Court on 11 and 12 August
under Article 87 of the Criminal Code. All were accused of łon many
occasions, [having] gathered a large group of Ede people to persuade
them to oppose the state policy on nationalities˛.
_Detention and trial of government critics
Dissidents critical of government policies who used the Internet to
share information continued to be prosecuted. In January a decree was
issued classifying as łstate secrets˛ official documents related to
trials of people accused of national security offences.
In July Dr Nguyen Dan Que, 62, a former prisoner of conscience and human
rights advocate arrested in March 2003, was sentenced to 30 months'
imprisonment following a three-hour trial at which he had no legal
representation. He was charged with łabusing democratic rights to
jeopardize the interests of the State˛ under Article 258 of the Penal
Code. After the trial he was moved to a prison camp in northern Viet
Nam, more than two days' journey from his
family home. Dr Que had previously spent 18 years in prison, also for
his public opposition to government policies. He was in poor health.
Pham Que Duong, 73, a well-respected military historian critical of
government policies, was tried in July and sentenced to 19 months'
imprisonment under Article 258 of the Penal Code. He had already spent
this period in pre-trial detention and was released shortly afterwards.
_Suppression of religious freedom
A new religious decree came into effect in November. It was criticized
by several religious groups in Viet Nam as codifying existing state
control over all aspects of religious life.
Members of unauthorized religious denominations continued to face
repression including harassment, forced renunciation of their faith,
administrative detention and imprisonment. Members of the Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) faced particularly harsh treatment and
their leadership remained under house arrest. Members of evangelical
protestant churches also faced harassment.
Mennonite pastor and human rights activist Nguyen Hong Quang was
arrested and sentenced to three years' imprisonment in November. Pastor
Quang had been outspoken about the situation of religious freedoms in
the Central Highlands for ethnic minority groups, and had defended
farmers in land rights cases.
Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest and vocal critic of government
policies, had his prison sentence reduced for the second time, to five
years, in response to international criticism. He had been sentenced to
15 years' imprisonment in 2001 under vaguely worded national security
legislation.
Thich Tri Luc, a UBCV monk, was tried in March and sentenced to 20
months' imprisonment on charges of having łdistorted the government's
policies on national unity and contacted hostile groups to undermine the
government's internal security and foreign affairs˛. He was released in
late March having already spent 20 months in pre-trial detention, and
gained asylum in Sweden. He had been recognized as a refugee by the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees in Cambodia in 2002, but was abducted
from Cambodia by Vietnamese agents and held for almost a year
incommunicado before his trial. On his release, Thich Tri Luc confirmed
both the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities' role and collusion in his
abduction.
_Death penalty
At least 88 people - including 12 women - were sentenced to death in
2004; 44 for drug offences and six for fraud, according to official
sources. At least 64 people, four of them women, were reported executed.
The true figures were believed to be much higher.
In January, the Prime Minister issued a decree making the reporting and
dissemination of statistics on the use of the death penalty a łstate
secret˛. However, some death penalty and execution cases continued to be
reported in the Vietnamese news media.
In October, the Prime Minister asked the police to consider changing the
method of execution because nervous members of firing squads with
trembling hands frequently missed the target. It was reported that
relatives of executed prisoners had to bribe officials for the return of
bodies which were otherwise buried in the execution ground.
Despite reports that the authorities were considering the abolition of
the death penalty for economic crimes, two executions for fraud were
reported. Some executions continued to take place in public, in front of
hundreds of onlookers.
Tran Thi My Ha, 31, was executed on 17 November by firing squad at Tan
Xuan execution ground in Quang Nam province. She had been sentenced to
death in August 2003 after being convicted of running a network
trafficking counterfeit money.
Nguyen Thi Ha, 48, was executed at Long Binh execution ground in Ho Chi
Minh City on 9 April in front of hundreds of spectators. She had been
sentenced to death for smuggling heroin.
Source: Amnesty International
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X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2558
Montagnards: Vietnamese Protestants Report Abuse
Two months after Prime Minister Phan Van Khai banned religious
persecution, local authorities in northern and central Vietnam are still
exerting heavy-handed pressure on Protestants to renounce their faith,
Protestants from both regions have told RFA's Vietnamese service.
In separate interviews, Protestants from Lao-Kai, Thai Binh, and Gia Lai
provinces have described incidents in which local officials either
harassed or assaulted church members or failed to intervene when others
did so.
Local authorities interviewed by RFA reporters denied that any beatings
had occurred, and the Vietnamese central government rejects allegations
that it sanctions harassment or persecution based on religious beliefs.
Prime Minister Khai's order instructed officials to "ensure that each
citizen's freedom of religious and belief practice is observed [and]
outlaw attempts to force people to follow a religion or to deny their
religion."
But New York-based Human Rights Watch said that while registration
requirements are looser, only churches that have conducted "pure
religious activities" since 1975 can register for official
authorization-eliminating Montagnard house churches in the Central
Highlands, most of which started up in the late 1980s and early 90s.
Rice fields confiscated
One group of Protestants in the northern province of Lao-Kai, bordering
China, were beaten and had their rice fields confiscated in April after
they refused to break with their church, according to Protestants who
say they were among those targeted.
łThey told me, 'The prime minister's decree applies only to the area
around Hanoi, not remote areas. Tell the prime minister to come here
with the decree, and we will solve the problem,'" said Giang-A Tinh, 27,
a minority Hmong from Ta-phin village in the Lao-Kai's Sapa district.
Tinh spoke to RFA's Vietnamese service from Hanoi, where he traveled to
complain to the central government. Local authorities łtook all the rice
fields of 12 families,˛ he said.
On April 23 and April 29, Tinh said, police and village officials beat
him up after he refused to renounce his faith in writing. His mother,
Vang Thi Ria, 70, and brother, Giang-A Pao, 32, were also roughed up,
and his brother remains bedridden, he said.
łThere are 45 protestant families in Ta-phin village. There are more in
other villages but I don't know what happened to them,˛ he said.
Another source who asked not to be named confirmed that local
authorities, led by village police chief Thao A Cau, had seized land
owned by 12 Protestant families.
One Hmong Protestant from the same village, Tr'ang-A-Cam, told RFA that
police beat him and three other villagers after they refused to renounce
their faith.
He said he and Tinh had fled to Hanoi to avoid further beatings and
possible arrest, and to petition for the central government to intervene.
łThe authorities in the village and district let a group of 'brothers'
[cadres and villagers] plunder all our land-they beat us all up in the
Ta-phin People's Committee office and in the rice fields. Numerous
petitions to the province haven't helped, so I brought our petition here
to Hanoi to see if they can help,˛ Cam said.
łThey produced papers saying I was renouncing my religion and told me to
sign them. When I didn't sign they beat me and others.˛
He said one police officer told him, ł'Your God is the God of the French
and the Americans... It's not the religion of Uncle Ho [Chi Minh]. If
you don't put up an altar to the ancestors, you don't have the rice
fields of the ancestors,'˛ Cam said. łThey told me to sign and renounce
my religion, but I did not sign and did not quit my religion.˛
The chairman of the village People's Council, Tr'ang A Xa, denied that
any beatings had occurred. łThey don't have altars in their homes for
Thien [an ethnic Vietnamese deity], and that is wrong,˛ Tr'ang A Xa said
in an interview.
łYou want to follow a religion, you have to register and get permission
of the local authorities, get agreement from relatives-and if they don't
agree, you can't do it.˛
Officials allegedly looked on during beating
Separately, in the northern province of Thai Binh, 10 people assaulted a
protestant preacher and an assistant on May 14 as village officials
looked on, the preacher, Nguyen Van Cam, said in an interview.
Police officers stopped the two as they spoke with a female follower and
invited them into the Dong Lam village administrative offices in Tien
Hai district, about 100 kms (60 miles) southeast of Hanoi, Cam said.
łThey invited us to the office where they beat brother Dien, a believer
who was with me. They had us report about our relation with a woman
named Ms. Liet and sign a paper promising not to go to her anymore. We
refused, and they said, 'You'll see what we can do to you with our
hands,'˛ he said.
About 100 meters (yards) from the village administrative office, at
about 8 p.m. May 14, he said, a group of 10 people they didn't recognize
surrounded them and began beating them with sticks.
They called out for help before Dien fell unconscious, as several local
officials looked on, "watching without doing anything,˛ Cam said.
łI submitted a complaint to Tien Hai district police, and I worked with
them for two hoursŠ They asked me to change the issue from religious
persecution to personal conflict, but I refused,˛ he said.
The chairman of Tien Hai district's Fatherland Front, Bui Quy Hanh,
denied any such incident had taken place.
łI work with local police every day, and I have meetings with them every
week, and I haven't heard about any such incidents,˛ Hanh said. łI've
never heard about any Protestant activities in Tien Hai at all-I know
only about Buddhists and Catholics here.˛
łIf Protestants come to see us, we always help them, even give them
protection under the law,˛ he said. Hanh also said he has just
distributed the National Law on Belief and Religion to officials in the
region. łI didn't see any problems, no negative reactions. Everyone was
excited.˛
'Invited' to police station
On May 19, in Gia Lai Province in Vietnam's Central Highlands, a
Mennonite pastor and a preacher who were arrested and forced to denounce
their faith in 2004 were summoned by police and told to renounce their
religion again, they said.
A note signed by Chu A village police chief Nguyen Tien Mai and sent
through the People's Committee of Plei Mo Nu hamlet invited pastor Y Kor
and preacher Y Yan to come to the village office at 8 a.m. May 20 for a
working session with police.
Y Yan said he was kept at the police station for four hours, during
which the ranking officer told him the Mennonite church was
łreactionary˛ and illegal.
łI told them I live and die with the Mennonites, and nobody can tell me
to abandon it,˛ Y Yan said. The police treated him kindly, he said,
urging him to remain calm and list all Mennonites in the village, but he
refused.
Pattern of alleged abuse
In its annual review of human rights around the world, released in
London on May 25, Amnesty International reported that Hanoi had jailed
dissidents and forced religious followers to renounce their faith over
the last year.
And in its most recent annual report on human rights around the world,
the U.S. State Department said that while Vietnam's constitution and
government decrees provide for freedom of religion, Hanoi last year
łcontinued to restrict significantly organized activities of religious
groups that it declared to be at variance with state laws and policies.˛
łAccording to credible reports, the police arbitrarily detained persons
based upon their religious beliefs and practice, particularly among
ethnic minority groups in the Central and Northwest Highlands. In 2003
and 2002, there were also reports that two Protestants in those areas
were beaten and killed for reasons connected to their faith,˛ it said.
łUnder threat of physical abuse or confiscation of property, some ethnic
minority Protestants allegedly were made to sign a formal, written
renunciation or to undergo a symbolic ritual, which reportedly included
drinking rice whiskey mixed with animal blood. Others refused, often
with no known negative repercussions,˛ the report said.
Source: Radio Free Asia
DGVREIMAN
"Dai Uy" <Dai...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Dai-Uy-3AE0D1....@news-rdr-01.socal.rr.com...
>
>
> X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2563
>
> Montagnards: Human Rights Situation in Vietnam Central
> Highlands
> Worsened in 2004
>
> The human rights situation worsened in the Central Highlands
> following
> demonstrations by members of ethnic minority groups
> (Montagnards) in
> April. The ensuing government crackdown resulted in the deaths
> of at
> least eight protesters and many injured. This was followed by
> tight
> government controls on access and communications with the
> region.
> Freedom of expression nationally remained severely limited.
> Trials of
> political dissidents continued throughout 2004. Repression of
> religious
> denominations not sanctioned by the state continued. A high
> number of
> death sentences and executions were reported.
> _Background
Doug Says: Di Dummy, we do not care about Montagnards, they were
doomed the day Hanoi John Kerry helped sell them down the river
in our Congress. The problem in Vietnam has always been the
same - the Vietnamese people do not give a damn. They are a
nation of ingrates and selfish to the core. They will not
support the Montagnards, hell they would not even support
themselves when it came to communist oppression. They thought
our fighting for them was a joke and we were idiots for doing it.
So if you want to post this boo hoo stuff about all those poor
Vietnamese that stayed in Vietnam - find another newsgroup that
gives a damn. Now if you want to talk about the families of
those ARVN that stood up to the dinks, or those Vietnamese that
had the balls to hop a boat and float out to sea to escape the
commie goons, those Vietnamese I respect deeply. But stop
whining about Vietnam, they made their bed and they should be
required to sleep in it. The only way America should help
Vietnam is with a B-52 raid on Hanoi.
Doug Grant (Tm)
Rita Hansard
>
> "Dai Uy" <Dai...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:Dai-Uy-3AE0D1....@news-rdr-01.socal.rr.com...
>>
>>
>> X-URL: http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=40&par=2563
>>
>> Montagnards: Human Rights Situation in Vietnam Central Highlands
>> Worsened in 2004
>>
>> The human rights situation worsened in the Central Highlands following
>> demonstrations by members of ethnic minority groups (Montagnards) in
>> April. The ensuing government crackdown resulted in the deaths of at
>> least eight protesters and many injured. This was followed by tight
>> government controls on access and communications with the region.
>> Freedom of expression nationally remained severely limited. Trials of
>> political dissidents continued throughout 2004. Repression of religious
>> denominations not sanctioned by the state continued. A high number of
>> death sentences and executions were reported.
>> _Background
>
> Doug Says: Di Dummy, we do not care about Montagnards,
Jeez, will this freak say or do ANYTHING for attention?
Rita
lon...@earthlink.net
DGVREIMAN wrote:
> Doug Says: Di Dummy, we do not care about Montagnards
And just WHO the hell are you to say *we* don't care about the
Montagnards? They (and the Hmong in Laos) were our most loyal allies.
They were courageous, fierce warriors and countless Americans owe their
lives to them. And just because they couldn't get out of Vietnam, you
think we should not be trying to stop the Vietnamese government from
exterminating them?
I have stayed out of this "Doug" affray because quite frankly I don't
know if there's one, two or three "Dougs" and can't tell who is saying
what about whom. But this time, which ever "Doug" YOU are, your callous
disregard for the suffering the Montagnards shows me that you either
don't know a damn thing about them or you don't give a flying F about
loyality.
If its the former, then I suggest you keep your ignorant mouth shut.
and if its the latter - then you can go straight to hell.
Donna
Rita Hansard
<lon...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1117573706.7...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I guarantee you, the first will never happen and the second already has.
Rita
Dai Uy
X-URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/14666
June 1, 2005 Edition
Demonstrations Are Likely During White House Visit Of Top Vietnam
Communist
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 1, 2005
The announcement that the leader of Vietnam's communist government will
visit the White House later this month is drawing the ire of some
Vietnamese-Americans and is likely to prompt protests across America,
activists said yesterday.
In a statement issued Friday, the White House announced that the prime
minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai, would meet with President Bush on
June 21. The trip will make Mr. Khai the highest-ranking Vietnamese
official to visit America since the Vietnam War.
"A lot of Vietnamese-Americans who supported Bush during the campaign
were very mad at Bush, thinking that Bush is now betraying the cause,"
said an Orange County, Calif.-based community leader, Chuyen Nguyen.
The official announcement of the visit came on the Friday before the
holiday weekend, which virtually guaranteed a muffled reaction in the
mainstream press. However, word of Mr. Khai's trip to America quickly
spread through Vietnamese-American communities.
"It's the talk of the town," Mr. Nguyen said. He said the recent
publication of a photo of Mr. Bush meeting with the Vietnamese
ambassador to America also upset Vietnamese refugees who backed Mr.
Bush's re-election.
"There was a lot of campaigning for Bush, saying Bush would defeat
Vietnamese communism. They were very disappointed to see that photograph
broadcast," said Mr. Nguyen, a Democrat who works as an adviser to a
California state senator.
However, a California state assemblyman who is the highest-ranking
Vietnamese-American officeholder, Van Tran, issued a statement that
stressed the potential upside of Mr. Khai's visit.
"I acknowledge the normalized relations that the United States has with
Communist Vietnam and realize that the two countries will continue to
find ways to strengthen cooperation through a policy of constructive
engagement," said Mr. Tran, a Republican. "I would call on the Bush
administration to take this opportunity to pressure Vietnam to improve
its dismal record on human rights and to allow for Vietnamese citizens
to freely worship and select their elected representatives. This is a
golden opportunity for President Bush to bring forth these important and
fundamental issues with the Vietnamese authorities."
Asked in an interview yesterday whether he viewed the visit as a welcome
development, Mr. Tran said, "I don't see it as positive or negative." He
also offered some invective that wasn't included in his written
statement: "You have a representative of a tyrannical regime visiting
the White House. ... There will be plenty of protest," he said.
Last year, Mr. Tran warned his fellow Vietnamese-Americans that the
Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts, could
not be trusted to deal with the communist government in Vietnam. Mr.
Tran stood by that critique yesterday. "I still wouldn't trust Kerry to
be at the same table with the communists," the California lawmaker said.
Mr. Kerry's office had no reaction yesterday to the White House
announcement.
Mr. Tran said the high-level visit was in keeping with the rapprochement
that began during President George H.W. Bush's term. "There has been a
policy of constructive engagement which started under the Bush I
administration and continued through Clinton and into Bush II," Mr. Tran
noted.
The White House statement noted that Mr. Khai's visit comes on the 10th
anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between America
and Vietnam. The announcement made no mention that the trip also marks
the 30th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam to the communists.
A spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy, Chien Bach, said Mr. Khai's
visit to America is scheduled from June 19 to 25, but a detailed
itinerary has not yet been released. "We have a delegation headed by the
prime minister and some senior officials, along with about 80
businesspeople in Vietnam coming to look for partners," Mr. Bach said.
The State Department lists Vietnam as a "country of particular concern"
for its record of violations of religious freedom. However, community
leaders said that before Mr. Khai's visit was announced, State
Department officials had backed away from talk of imposing sanctions on
Vietnam.
"Right now, I'm a little bit uncomfortable with the way President Bush
is handling human rights," said a spokeswoman for the Maryland-based
Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, Hien Ngo. She said she
supports the planned meeting with Mr. Khai, but fears that economic
concerns will drown out other issues.
"If we don't have human rights, the money does not go to the people, it
goes to the highest ranks of the Communist Party," Ms. Ngo said.
At least a dozen senators have signed a letter circulated by Senator
Brownback, a Republican of Kansas, calling on Mr. Bush to put the human
rights issue at the center of talks with the Vietnamese leader. "While
Vietnam has made a number of public statements and gestures that give us
hope, concrete results are lacking," the letter said. The senators point
to harassment and imprisonment of Catholic and Buddhist leaders, as well
as religious members of minority groups, such as the Montagnards and the
Hmong.
A Vietnamese-American attorney and school board member, Lan Quoc Nguyen,
said he is eager to learn if Mr. Khai's trip will include two California
communities that officially disinvited Vietnamese communist officials
last year, Garden Grove and Westminster. "That is something we're
waiting to see. That would be very confrontational," Mr. Nguyen said.
Mr. Nguyen also noted that the California state Senate is considering a
resolution that would declare that the state officially recognizes the
so-called "yellow flag" of the former South Vietnam. The measure could
pass days before Mr. Khai's arrival.
"That would be an affront to the Vietnamese government," the lawyer said.
Dai Uy
X-URL:http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_05_30/english/cauchuyenthoisu.htm
International Amnesty report does not reflect truth
in Vietnam
International Amnesty released its annual report in London last week,
saying last year Asian countries, including Vietnam, continued violating
human rights. Regarding Vietnam, the organisation said that the human
rights situation in the country took a turn for the worse as the
government continued repressing religions and ethnic minority people
living in the Central Highlands.
Commenting on the report, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Dzung flatly
rejected the information as "not objective" as it did not fully reflect
the real situation in the country.
This was not the first time International Amnesty released such
misleading and false information about the human rights situation in
Vietnam. To make an annual report of this kind, International Amnesty
should have sent representatives to Vietnam to inquire into the real
situation in the country before jumping to conclusions. But it did not.
Instead, International Amnesty simply judged from what it called "the
Vietnamese governments repression" of ethnic minority people in the
Central Highlands in April 2004 and "hostile forces distorted
information about freedom of religions and press in the country.
The truth of the matter was that in April 2004 several bad elements,
aided and abetted by reactionaries living in exile, particularly the
Mongtarnard Foundation led by Ksor Kok, tried to deceive and incite
Central Highlanders to participate in demonstrations and cause social
unrest and disorder. Their acts seriously violated the Vietnamese law
and could not be accepted by any country over the world.
The representative of the European Commission who visited the Central
Highlands at that time also affirmed that such acts could not be
tolerated.
But International Amnesty paid no heed to the truth as well as Vietnams
positive development in all areas, and came up with false comments on
the human rights situation in the country.
There is no denying that ethnic minority people in the Central
Highlands, particularly those living in far-flung mountainous areas are
still facing a lot of difficulties in their lives. But in recent years
their living conditions have changed much for the better with no case of
starvation reported anywhere.
In fact, the Party and State have poured thousands of billions of
Vietnam Dong into the region to build basic infrastructure facilities
including bridges, roads, schools, water and electricity supply systems.
Dozens of hydro-electricity power plants of different sizes have been
built in the region, bringing light to every house in far-flung areas.
Thousands of households of ethnic minority people have settled down for
a new sedentary farming life in peace. Even those who were incited to
illegally cross the border into Cambodia have realised their wrong
doings and voluntarily returned to the homeland. They have received
great assistance from local authorities to stabilise their lives.
After visiting some localities in the Central Highlands recently, the
representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
said that returnees were not mistreated and even received assistance
from the Vietnamese government to stabilise their lives and they all
felt satisfied.
**NOTE** This UNHCR report was issued byVu Anh Son, a Vietnamese
national employed by UNHCR.
Since its coming into being, the Vietnamese State has always persisted
in respecting its citizens right to freedom of religions and beliefs.
Such right was clearly stipulated in the national Constitution, and most
recently the Ordinance on Religions and Beliefs, which came into effect
as of November 15, 2004. These documents have provided a legal
foundation for ensuring equality and mutual respect between different
religions as well as between religious and non-religious followers.
Chuck Searcy, vice president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, who
came back to Vietnam recently confirmed that he saw with his own eyes
various religious activities in the Central Highlands. He said there are
many churches, including those for Protestants, and religious activities
are quite normal and very positive. How could International Amnesty deny
such convincing facts by releasing false information about the religious
situation in Vietnam?
**NOTE** Chuck Searcy was a Kerry campaign advisor and former VVAW
conspirator, he is also the recipient of various honors from Hanoi
Since 1986, the National Assembly has approved more than 40 laws and
codes, including those particularly relating to ensuring fundamental
human rights. The current seventh legislative session in Hanoi is
expected to approve 11 other bills, including the revised Civil Code to
guarantee that Vietnamese people will fully enjoy fundamental human
rights. Therefore, Vietnam can never accept any false information about
the human rights situation in the country nor allow anyone and
anyorganization to exploit the human rights issue for the purpose of
opposing the country and its people.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/J
une/theworld_June179.xml§ion=theworld&col=
Three US nationals deported from Laos after Hmong rebels surrender
(AFP)
7 June 2005
HANOI - Laotian authorities have deported three of four US nationals who
were arrested after the surrender of around 170 relatives of ethnic
Hmong rebels, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Three of them have been set free. They were handed over Monday to the
American embassy and immediately taken to the border with Thailand,
foreign ministry spokesman Yong Chantalangsy told AFP.
The four arrested were Georgie and Ed Szendrey from California and two
Hmong-Americans, all members of the Fact Finding Commission (FFC), a
US-based organisation backing the Hmong rebels.
The Szendreys and Nhia Vang Yang were deported. Yong said Sia Cher Vang
is a businessman based in Laos. He had arranged the others visit and we
want to question him further, he added.
US ambassador Patricia Haslach was called in Monday for discussions at
the foreign ministry.
The ambassador assured us she had not been aware of the actions (of the
four), Yong said. It is agreed between the Laotian government and the US
embassy that we will do everything to block people who are out to create
trouble and sow the seeds of discord.
The US embassy in Vientiane declined to comment.
The four said they witnessed the surrender on Saturday of the 170 Hmongs.
Communist Laos does not acknowledge the existence of the rebels, who
were allied with the United States during the Vietnam War three decades
ago and have until recently fought a low-level, ineffective insurgency.
US-based exile groups, including the FFC, have accused the Laotian
authorities of trying to chase and kill the last Hmongs rebels. The
government has vehemently denied the charges.
Last year, several sources in Vientiane said between 500 and 700 rebels
had left their forest hideouts in the north of Laos and had surrendered.
Nothing has been heard of their fate.
In its last human rights report, Amnesty International said the ongoing
internal armed conflict with predominantly ethnic Hmong minorities
continued unabated last year.
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X-URL: http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2005/06/07/1118112547.htm
Laos arrests troublesome Americans
2005-06-07 / Reuters /
Communist Laos has arrested four American "troublemakers" for liaising
illegally with ethnic Hmong villagers, the hill people who once manned a
secret CIA-backed army during the Vietnam War, an official said
yesterday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanhthalansy said the four,
all members of a California-based group of Hmong sympathizers called the
Fact Finding Commission, were detained on Saturday and were being
interrogated in Vientiane.
Bangkok's Nation newspaper said the last communication from the group
was a satellite phone call its leader, Ed Szendrey, made around 50
kilometers outside Vientiane near a major military checkpoint.
The other three were Georgie Szendrey and two Hmong Americans, Sia Cher
Vang and Nhia Vang Yang, the paper said.
"They got tourist visas and they were making trouble with the local
authorities and local people, who reported that they were very unhappy,"
Yong told Reuters by telephone.
"So they have been placed under arrest and are now being interrogated in
Vientiane."
The communist government, installed in 1975 after a long civil war
played out on the sidelines of the U.S. conflict in Vietnam, bars
foreigners from going to the Xaisomboun "Special Zone" north of
Vientiane, where remnants of the Hmong guerrilla army have evaded
government forces for decades.
Ranking with North Korea and Cuba as the only three countries not to
enjoy normal trade relations with the United States, Laos is accused of
human rights abuses against the Hmong.
Thousands have fled to neighboring Thailand before receiving eventual
political asylum in the United States or elsewhere. Szendrey was
reported as saying he had met up with the first batch of Hmong to
surrender - a 170-strong group, including women and children - to
guarantee their safety when they emerged from the jungle to give
themselves up to the authorities.
However, Yong disputed Szendry's account, saying instead that he was
merely interfering in a government program to relocate far-flung jungle
communities in the landlocked southeast Asian nation to improve their
living conditions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
X-URL: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/2005/06/06/laos_us/
In order to maintain good relations between the U.S. and Laos, the Lao
government decided to deport three of these bad U.S. elements. As for
the fourth, also a U.S. national, licensed to do business in Laos, he is
still detained for further investigation. -- Lao Foreign Ministry
spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy
Laos Deports 3 U.S. Nationals, Holds 1 for Questioning
2005.06.06
BANGKOKA Lao government spokesman has said three of four U.S. nationals
held in Laos since Saturday have been deported to Thailand and a fourth
remains in custody. The group witnessed the surrender of some 170 people
related to ethnic Hmong rebels over the weekend.
In order to maintain good relations between the US and Laos, the Lao
government decided to deport three of these bad U.S. elements. As for
the fourth, also a U.S. national, licensed to do business in Laos, he is
still detained for further investigation, Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman
Yong Chanthalangsy told RFAs Lao service.
Chanthalangsy said the four had been detained since late Saturday
afternoon. Three were deported to Thailand late Monday and the fourth
remains in Lao custody in the capital, Vientiane, for questioning.
U.S. Ambassador to Laos Patricia Haslasch has been summoned to the
ministry and been informed of the situation, Yong said. He declined to
give further details.
Outside observers sought
Last year 500 to 700 rebels surrendered to Lao authorities in the
northern provinces of Laos. Lao and Hmong leaders and human rights
groups had asked the Lao government to allow international observers to
witness the surrender to be sure that they were treated humanely. The
surrender on Saturday was expected to be followed by thousands of
others, winding up the Hmongs decades in the wilderness.
The group met up Saturday with a group of 170 Hmong women, children and
old men in the central province of Xieng Khouang just before they
trekked out of the jungle to turn themselves in to authorities.
The Associated Press quoted one of them, Ed Szendrey of California, as
saying they had been welcomed by the local police chief, also an ethnic
Hmong, and didnt encounter any soldiers.
Szendrey, his wife Georgie, and Hmong-American Nhia Yang were freed and
deported together, while their driver, Hmong-American Sia Cher Vang,
remained in jail.
We were doing really fine there with the local authorities, he said. On
their way back, their bus was stopped at a military checkpoint and the
four were seized, along with their satellite phone, cameras, and film,
he said.
Foot soldiers for the United States
The Hmong, advised by the CIA, fought on behalf of a pro-American
government during the Vietnam War, only to find themselves all but
abandoned after their communist enemies, the Pathet Lao, won a long
civil war in 1975.
More than 300,000 Lao refugees, mostly Hmong, fled after the takeover,
with many resettling in the United States. Thousands stayed behind, some
adjusting to the new hard-line regime and others staying in the jungle,
where they faced continuing attacks.
In recent years, the Szendreys helped found the U.S.-based Fact Finding
Commission, which seeks to publicize the plight of the Hmong.
Szendrey said he and the others were not mistreated in custody. But he
described their situation as "very uncomfortable," saying they were
interrogated on their first night in detention about the commissions
work and accused of fomenting trouble.
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X-URL:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8707066
Laos frees four American 'troublemakers'
Mon Jun 6, 2005 10:58 AM ET
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Communist Laos said it had freed four American
"troublemakers" on Monday after detaining them for illegal contacts with
ethnic Hmong, the hill people who once manned a secret CIA-backed army
during the Vietnam War.
"We informed the U.S. consular people to pick them up and they were sent
out via the Lao Friendship Bridge" into Thailand, Foreign Minister
Somsavat Lengsavad told Reuters by telephone.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanhthalansy said earlier the four,
members of a California-based group of Hmong sympathisers called the
Fact Finding Commission, were detained on Saturday and were being
interrogated in Vientiane.
Bangkok's Nation newspaper said the last communication from the group
was a satellite phone call its leader, Ed Szendrey, made around 50 km
(30 miles) outside Vientiane near a major military checkpoint.
The other three were Georgie Szendrey and two Hmong Americans, Sia Cher
Vang and Nhia Vang Yang, the paper said.
"They got tourist visas and they were making trouble with the local
authorities and local people, who reported that they were very unhappy,"
Yong told Reuters by telephone.
The communist government, installed in 1975 after a long civil war
played out on the sidelines of the U.S. conflict in Vietnam, bars
foreigners from going to the Xaisomboun "Special Zone" north of
Vientiane, where remnants of the Hmong guerrilla army have evaded
government forces for decades.
Ranking with North Korea and Cuba as the only three countries not to
enjoy normal trade relations with the United States, Laos is accused of
human rights abuses against the Hmong.
Thousands have fled to neighboring Thailand before receiving eventual
political asylum in the United States or elsewhere.
Szendrey was reported as saying he had met up with the first batch of
Hmong to surrender -- a 170-strong group, including women and children
-- to guarantee their safety when they emerged from the jungle to give
themselves up to the authorities.
However, Yong disputed Szendry's account, saying he was merely
interfering in a government program to relocate far-flung jungle
communities in the landlocked southeast Asian nation to improve their
living conditions.
"We are trying to regroup all the hamlets into bigger villages so we can
help supply them with social services like drinking water and
electricity," Yong said. Somsavat said the publicity campaign about the
so-called surrender was engineered by former Hmong leader Vang Pao, who
now lives in the United States.
The U.S. ambassador had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear
the government's "unhappiness that these American citizens are violating
our laws," he added.
U.S. embassy officials in Vientiane could not be reached for comment.
Dai Uy
X-URL:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002331347_fugees12.htm
l
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/06/13/2003259112
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050612-1017-refugeejourney.htm
l
Prospect of new life is unnerving for Montagnards fleeing Vietnam
By Miranda Leitsinger
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia Coming from one of the poorest and most remote
parts of Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese refugees were understandably
confused and amused as they learned about their new home.
Saunas, snow, supermarkets.
The 17 sandal-clad farmers who fled their homeland, clambered through
the Cambodian jungle and were rescued by the United Nations were
preparing to reach their final stop: Finland.
They are Montagnards hill-tribe people who fled Vietnam's Central
Highlands last year over land confiscations and their Protestant faith,
which they say arouses the suspicions of the Vietnamese communist
authorities. The United Nations cares for about 650 of the refugees in
Cambodia, and more are trickling in.
Last month, with 78 Montagnards preparing to leave for Finland, Saed
Guled of the U.N.-affiliated International Organization for Migration in
Helsinki was giving them a lesson on what to expect: an apartment,
language classes, help from a social worker and translator.
That sounded like the easy part. Then came an introduction to ATM cards
(they looked curiously at the card he showed them); the subway (they
seemed to have some difficulty imagining a train running under ground);
and the supermarket (no bargaining permitted, Guled cautioned.)
Some wrote key words on their arms, such as euro and Nokia, the name of
the Finnish mobile-phone maker, and peppered Guled with their questions
and fears.
Siu Giuh, about 20, asked whether he would make Finnish friends and
whether they would visit him at his home. Guled, himself a refugee from
Somalia who fled to Finland 15 years ago, assured him that he would,
provided he became active in his new community.
He also asked what would happen if he got lost. Ask any passer-by, said
Guled, or a police officer a notion that drew laughter, since the
Montagnards apparently aren't used to turning to the authorities for
help.
I'm afraid to cross the road, said one man. Another said he didn't know
Finnish, so could he still go there? The language would come to him in
time, Guled said.
Many asked about family reunification. Guled said their families would
be able to join them.
The keys to success, he told them, were learning Finnish and being
active.
Outside the counseling session, Guled acknowledged his anxieties for his
charges, some of whom are illiterate and speak only their minority
language.
"They have to start from zero ... They have to go through the basics,
study how to read and write, and then they must also deal with a
different culture. I hope that they don't give up."
About 3,000 Vietnamese live in Finland, but none are believed to be
Montagnards.
Shown a video about Finland, the farmers sighed and mouthed clicking
sounds at the sight of snow. "It seems so cold," remarked Hving Nang, 36.
The idea of saunas got a mixed reaction. Guled told them of his own
shyness about entering a sauna naked. Some Montagnards chuckled at the
idea; some said they'd try it, while others appeared unconvinced.
Not all the Montagnards will settle in the same place. Twenty-seven have
left for Oulu, about 360 miles north of Helsinki. Guled said his class
of 17 would probably settle in the area of Hanko, a tourist resort of
10,000 people on the southernmost tip of Finland.
For many, the journey to a strange land thousands of miles from their
families and villages is bittersweet.
"I am so sad because ... I left my family and my country. I am so far
from my country," said Hving Nang, who grew rice, coffee and sweet
potatoes. He hopes to have his wife and two sons join him in Finland.
Siu Giuh, who wants his brother to join him, wondered if he would ever
be able to return to Vietnam.
"Every one of us, we have a dream that one day we can go back," Guled
told him.
lon...@earthlink.net
Dai Uy wrote:
> **NOTE** Chuck Searcy was a Kerry campaign advisor and former VVAW
> conspirator, he is also the recipient of various honors from Hanoi
Don't know if its true or not, but someone said they saw Searcy at the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial a while back and he was wearing a Ho Chi Mihn
pin. Person was very upset about it, not only being worn at The Wall,
but by someone who works with/for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
Donna
leto...@nospam.net
>Dai Uy wrote:
>Donna
Joe, is that you? Joe McCarthy? Joe... the kooks miss you...
Dai Uy
Bushs Shame: State Department Gets President to Abandon Democracy Pledge
for Vietnam
by Jeffrey T. Kuhner
Posted Jun 16, 2005
It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of
democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with
the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. These powerful words,
uttered by President George W. Bush in his second inaugural speech, have
inspired millions of pro-democracy activists in places such as Belarus,
Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon. However, there is one country where the
President is abandoning his pledge: Vietnam.
Next week, President Bush will be meeting Vietnams Communist Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai for talks at the White House. The event is being
hailed by Hanoi as another crucial step in the normalization of
relations between the two countries. However, the meeting represents a
betrayal by President Bush not only of his foreign policy aims, but of
American veterans who fought and died in Vietnam.
The current regime in Hanoi is one of the worlds last communist
autocracies, along with North Korea, Cuba and China. Vietnam continues
to be a one-party Leninist state, which tramples on human rights and the
religious freedoms of it citizens. Numerous political dissidents have
been imprisoned. Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and Buddhist monks
are routinely tortured and prohibited from practicing their faith.
Human Rights Watch reports that Vietnamese security forces have launched
a vicious crackdown against Christian Montagnards, an indigenous hill
people from Vietnams Central Highlands. Montagnard men have gone into
hiding for fear of being jailed or killed, while women and children have
been beaten during government-backed raids. HRW says that Vietnamese
officials are waging a campaign to compel the Montagnards to renounce
their faith. In particular, those that are targeted tend to be followers
of Dega Christianity, an unsanctioned form of evangelical Christianity
that rejects state control of organized religion.
Yet the State Department insists that Mr. Khai still be given an
official audience with President Busheven though other notorious thugs,
such as former Palestinian strongman Yasser Arafat, have not been given
this kind of recognition. A major reason is trade. The United States is
now Vietnams largest export market, totaling over $5 billion. Hanoi is
imitating Chinas model of Market Leninism, fusing capitalist reforms
with authoritarian rule. U.S. businesses are now clamoring for greater
access to Vietnams growing private sector. Therefore, the administration
is hoping to forge closer ties with Hanoi. It is even considering
backing Vietnams entry into the World Trade Organization.
The famous British statesman, William Gladstone, perceptively once said
that what is morally wrong can never be politically right. This is the
case with Washingtons approach to Vietnam. The communist authorities are
not interested in genuine reform; they simply want to use Americas good
will and more importantly, American money to help maintain their grip on
power.
This is the same communist regime that fought a war against the United
States, in which nearly 60,000 Americans lost their lives to save
Vietnam from totalitarianism. This is the same regime that, since
America left Vietnam in 1975, has slaughtered millions of Vietnamese,
Cambodians and Laotians; expelled countless ethnic Chinese and Hmong
from their ancestral lands; sent hundreds of thousands into slave labor
camps; waged wars of aggression against Cambodia and Laos; and subjected
an entire generation to the miseries of Marxist rule.
It has been over 30 years since the communist takeover of Vietnam. Yet
it is remarkable how little the country has changed since U.S. forces
pulled out. Vietnam remains mired in poverty, corruption and government
repression. The countrys per capita income is little more than one-tenth
that of nearby Thailand.
By agreeing to meet with Mr. Khai, President Bush is providing
legitimacy to a scandal-ridden and brutal government. It is another
betrayal of the oppressed people of Vietnam.
For decades, the Vietnamese communists have succeeded in duping U.S.
diplomatsfrom supposed peace talks during the war to the status of
American POWs to Hanois current claims of liberalization. Mr. Khais
communists are not seeking real reconciliation with Washington or real
political and religious pluralism at home. Rather, they remain what they
have always been: radical, anti-American leftists who are using the
United States to further their ideological agenda.
President Bush should not be meeting with Mr. Khai or any Vietnamese
government leader until Vietnam embraces democracy and human rights.
Such a policy honors America, struggling Vietnamese democrats and
especially, those Americans who gave their lives for a better, freer and
more prosperous Vietnam.
Copyright 2004 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.