On September 3-5, 1999, the Eighth Francophone Summit will be held in Moncton, Canada with the participation of representatives from 50 countries. Among them will be the representatives of the Vietnamese government, which is being protested by many international human rights organizations for its suppression of religions and the freedom of the press as well as its harassment of the dissidents. Events in recent months in Vietnam have shown Hanoi government disregards all international appeals for human rights reforms and insists on adhering to its totalitarian dictatorial policies:
1. The Hoa Hao Buddhist Church, one of the major religions in Vietnam, has been undermined and sabotaged by the Hanoi authorities for decades. Nevertheless, in early July 1999, more than one million followers ignored the government's threats and traveled to the Hoa Hao Holy Land in the southwest area of the country to attend the Grand Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church. After that act of defiance, the government retaliated with the arrest and isolation of many Hoa Hao leaders and lay-people.
2. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), a long existing church in this country, continues to be banned from all activities. Its patriarch, Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, remains in exile in Quang Ngai province for the last 17 years. In August 1999, Venerable Thich Quang Do, Head of the UBCV Institute of Dharma Propagation, was interrogated and harassed for his efforts to bring international attention to the plight of Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the oppression of the UBCV by the Vietnamese government. In April 1999, Hanoi authorities issued Directive 26/CP to further tighten its control over all religions in Vietnam.
3. In July 1999, Tran Do, a retired general who was expelled from the Vietnamese Communist Party for his advocacy of freedom and democracy, submitted his application for permission to start the first independent newspaper in Vietnam. Hanoi authorities not only rejected his request but also launched a campaign of harassment on his family. Meanwhile, the government continues to use the notorious Directive 31/CP to detain various Vietnamese dissidents: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, Ha Si Phu, Bui Minh Quoc, Tieu Dao Bao Cu, etc.
4. In August 1999, Le Kha Phieu, the all-powerful Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, declared at his Party's Seventh Plenum that the leadership of the VCP in Vietnam was "Absolute and Total". It refused to share power with any political forces and condemned all efforts to bring about the respect for human rights, pluralism, and multi-parties system. The statements of Le Kha Phieu and other VCP leaders are in total opposite direction to the spirit of the Francophone, which is to encourage human rights, freedom, democracy, and development.
If the motto "Human is the idealistic center of the Francophone" is true and if the influential democratic member countries like France, Canada, Switzerland, etc. still maintains their policies of defending human rights,
freedom, and democracy, then the Francophone cannot remain silent about the dictatorial conducts and the brutality of the Vietnamese government. The Free Vietnam Alliance, an organization for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Vietnam, realizes its duty to call on the Eighth Francophone Summit to pay attention to the oppressive condition in Vietnam. We also call on the Summit to issue a resolution against Hanoi's oppression of religions, freedom of the press, and the dissidents.
Paris, September 2, 1999