U.N. body presses Vietnam on its rights record
GENEVA - The U.N. Human Rights Committee urged
Communist Vietnam on Friday to curb the number of crimes subject to the
death penalty, end arbitrary detention and lift restrictions on freedom
of
expression.
Ending a three-week review of signatory states to treaties on social and
political rights, the Geneva-based committee said Vietnam had relaxed
some
of the restraints which in the past had raised "serious questions of
gross
violations of rights".
Nevertheless, the United Nations body said it had a number of concerns,
including whether the Vietnamese constitution, with its monopoly power
for
the Communist Party, was even compatible with the 1976 convenants on
political, economic, social and cultural rights which Vietnam had
signed.
The treaties guarantee freedoms of expression and religion and ban
abuses
such as arbitrary arrest.
On specific issues, the committee said it was worried by the number of
crimes that could carry the death penalty and by the continued use of
administrative detention, under which police can hold those suspected of
breaking national security laws for up to two years without trial.
It urged the Vietnamese government to strengthen the judiciary,
guarantee
its independence and put an end "to direct and indirect restrictions on
freedom of expression".
Vietnamese rights groups welcomed the committee's findings, saying that
although they were couched in diplomatic language, they sent a strong
message to Hanoi.
"Their aim is to maintain a dialogue (with Vietnam), so it is
diplomatic,"
said Penelope Faulkner, vice president of the Paris-based Vietnam
Committee
on Human Rights.
"But it is a strong condemnation of Vietnam," she told Reuters.
However, she added that the committee should have been more outspoken on
religious freedom because nearly all the monks leading the banned
Unified
Buddhist Church -- Vietnam's dominant religion -- were under house
arrest.
The committee asked Vietnam, which is supposed under the terms of the
covenants to provide regular reports, to inform it of the number of
people
belonging to religious communities.
Besides Vietnam, the committee also reviewed reports on New Zealand,
Moldovia, Gambia and Yemen.
Reuters - July 27, 2002.
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