Senators Urge Clinton to Stress Rights in Vietnam
HANOI - Five U.S. senators, including Vietnam veterans John
McCain and Charles Robb, have urged President Clinton to press
Hanoi for progress on human rights during a historic visit to the
country next month.
In a letter to Clinton dated Wednesday they said Hanoi's
political reform had not kept pace with economic reform and
silencing of critics was a "sad testimony of the ongoing repression in
Vietnam today."
The senators said Clinton would not be remiss in giving
Vietnam credit for progress in human rights in the 25 years since the
end of the Vietnam War, but its broader record remained a source
of major concern.
"Basic rights of free expression and freedom of association are
restricted," the letter said.
"Certain religious organizations, democratic activists, and those
who call for greater pluralism and an end to corruption all continue
to be subject to imprisonment, surveillance, intimidation and house
arrest."
A copy of the letter, also signed by Democrats Dianne
Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California together with Daniel
Akaka of Hawaii, was seen by Reuters on Friday. Robb is a
Virginia democrat and McCain an Arizona Republican.
NEED TANGIBLE PROGRESS
The senators urged Clinton to seek "tangible" progress during
his visit planned for mid-November, including the release of political
and religious prisoners, an end to harassment of freed activists and
easing of media censorship.
Clinton should also urge Hanoi to invite back a U.N. working
group on arbitrary detention that last visited in 1994 and to
implement U.N. recommendations on religious freedom.
The senators said in return it would make sense to offer
Vietnam help to reform its criminal, press and security laws.
Human rights groups say that while Vietnam's rights record has
improved in recent years, with the release of tens of thousands of
political detainees and re-education camp inmates, dissidents were
now subjected to less overt harassment.
This includes constant surveillance and controls on freedom of
movement or ability to work and an ever-present threat of
imprisonment for those who go too far in challenging the authority
of the ruling Communist Party.
Clinton, the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the
Vietnam War, is expected to raise human rights, including the
treatment of unrecognized religious groups, during his visit.
In early September, the State Department's annual report on
religious freedom estimated Vietnam was holding at least 16
religious prisoners, including Buddhists, Protestants and Catholics,
but said the number could be higher.
In late September, Hanoi jailed five members of the Hoa Hao
Buddhist sect for one to three years for "abusing democratic rights"
and slandering the government. Their church said they had
complained of abuses of power by provincial authorities.
Hanoi denies holding religious or political prisoners.
The Los Angeles Times - October 20, 2000.
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