APPEAL - STATEMENT
To Heads of State and Governments of the World

• TO STOP VIETNAM'S WAR ON FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY •

• FOR THE RESPECT OF BASIC FREEDOMS AND OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH THEIR RELIGIOUS, ETHNIC AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES •

• FOR THE RESPECT OF THE PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS CLAUSE BY VIETNAM AND THE EUROPEAN UNION •

Whereas:

- Vietnam is still a country based on a one-party system, where the "Vietnamese Fatherland Front" keeps complete control over every political, economical, social and institutional sector, as proven by the elections held on May 28th 20002, during which the Vietnamese found themselves in no condition of choosing their Government nor a different party.

- The UN Human Rights Committee at its 75th session issued a list of concerns regarding Vietnam compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, and, among other issues, in particular including concerns at reports of the on "the extensive limitations on the right to freedom of expression in the media [...]" and as well as on "at the lack of specific information concerning indigenous people, especially the Degar (Montagnard), and about measures taken to ensure that their rights under article 27 to enjoy their cultural traditions; and it was concerned about restrictions on public meetings and demonstrations".

- In February 2001, massive demonstrations, organized in Vietnam's Central Highlands by the ethnic minorities known as the Montagnards, to protest against the forfeiture of their ancestral lands and against religious persecutions they suffer, have been repressed by the Vietnamese army following the orders of the Vietnamese Government.

- the Montagnards keep being denied of the right to their religious, ethnic and cultural identity, and the violation of their civil and political rights do not cease to worsen.

- Vietnamese authorities, in repressing society, keep resorting to torture -including the use of electroshock- to the disappearance of jailed people, to the destruction of churches and sacred objects, and moreover, promising bounties to the Cambodian authorities for the capture and repatriation of Vietnamese refugees.

- Hanoi's authorities impose grave limitations on the use of the Internet and show their will to intensify the control and repression of the Internet and of new technologies in general.

- The European Commission recently adopted a new cooperation strategy with Vietnam for 2002-2006, with an approximate financing of 162 millions of Euros, of which the promotion of human rights and democracy is an integrant element. Within the cooperation agreement between the EU and Vietnam little or no attention has been paid to the respect and to the promotion of democratic principles and of human rights, although the European Parliament has censured, on many occasions, the violations of fundamental freedoms and of civil and political rights of the Vietnamese people by the Hanoi authorities.

- Under the Cooperation Agreements that tie the European Union and Vietnam, the respect of democratic principles and human, civil and political rights, and consequently the respect of the principle of legality by the authorities of the aforesaid country cannot be considered anymore as a matter concerning Vietnam only, but it must be a matter of concern for the European Union and its citizens directly. The European Commission has generally eluded this issue, starting from the recent "Country strategy papers" on Vietnam.

We the undersigned,

Support:
- Thich Quang Do's Appeal in favor of democracy in Vietnam. Thich Quang Do is the leader of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam; this appeal would allow the realization of a true democratization and it has received the support of numerous international dignitaries as well as of more than 300.000 Vietnamese.

- The Appeal to the Hanoi Government, undersigned by 21 Vietnamese dissidents, calla "on the National Assembly to respect the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution", and asks "the international community to put pressure on Vietnam so that it respects the disposition on basic human rights established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights", of which Vietnam is a party since 1982.

Profoundly Worried,

About the fate of the Venerable Thich Tri Luc, member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, who is legally a refugee in Cambodia, but of whom Phnom Penh's office, of the UN High Commission for the Refugees, has been unable to obtain any information of his whereabouts since July 25th.

About the situation of Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, a physician, who on May 1990, acting as representative of the Non Violent Movement for Human Rights, published a manifesto asking the Hanoi Regime to respect basic Human Rights, to accept a multiparty system and to restore the Vietnamese People's right to choose their own form of government through free elections. Doctor Que has been imprisoned twice, from February 1978 to February 1988 and again from June 1990 to August 1998, for a total of 18 years, most of the imprisonment was spent in isolation. Right now Doctor Que is under house arrest.

We Condemn

- The arbitrary arrest of Nguyen Truc Cuong and of Nguyen Vu Viet, nephews of Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly.

- The detention of the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarc of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, detained without indictment and never tried for 20 years, freed in 1997 but still not authorized to leave his place of detention. And the detention of Venerable Thich Quang Do, who had been amnestied in 1998, after a detention that lasted 20 years, but who has been condemned again to 2 years of administrative detention after having tried to look to have the sick Patriarch treated.

- The persecutions sustained by the Catholics, in particular the imprisonment of Father Nguyen Van Ly on May 17th 2001 for having practiced his own religion.

- The persecutions directed against the believers of "non-recognized" Churches, and in particular Chao Dai Church, Hoa Hao Church and the Protestant Churches of the Central Highlands.

We urge

The Vietnamese Government:

• To follow up, with no delay, the recommendations of the 75th UN Human Right Committee

• To free every prisoner of conscience, and in particular the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Venerable Thich Quang Do, Father Li and Dr. Nguyen Dan Que

• To ensure the full enjoyment of civil and political rights and of the basic freedoms of individuals - with their religious, ethnic and cultural identities - in conformity with international treaties, especially as far as freedom of religion is concerned, including that of ethnic minorities like the Montagnard

The Council and the Commission of the European Union:

• To abandon the attitude of tolerance toward the constant worsening of the political, social and institutional situation that, according to the cooperation agreements, should have evolved toward a bigger respect of basic freedoms and of civil, political and human rights.

• To present a report to the European Parliament, before the end of 2002, on the new measures adopted and to announce to the Vietnamese Government the UE intention to proceed to the suspension of the Cooperation Agreement if, from now until the end of 2002, Vietnamese authorities will not have complied with the present demands.

The Governments of Democratic Countries:

• To commit themselves, in every international fora and in their bilateral relations, to urge Vietnam's respect of national and international legality on matters pertaining to basic human rights, starting from civil and political rights.

• To engage themselves to affirm the right to democracy in Vietnam during the Second Ministerial Conference of the "Community of Democracies". This conference will take place in Seoul (10-12 November 2002), where the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs of more than 100 countries will meet to discuss the globalization and democracy.


• I sign the appeal
• I will participate in the World Day of Gandhian- Nonviolent Struggle