FROM AUSTRALIA ...
Statement of Reba Meagher Member for Cabramatta - NSW Australia 21.6.2001 New South Wales Parliament House
Mr Speaker,
I rise today to speak on an issue of great importance to the community I represent - and also an issue of fundamental relevance to this house. Whatever the differences between us in this parliament we all share the belief that every person should be free. Free to think what they like, free to speak their minds without fear and free to worship as their hearts dictate. We all hold these values as inalienable human rights.
Governments- all governments should seek to preserve and extend them, and in places where they are denied - it is our responsibility as men and women of conscience - not to sit idly, but to act. Our role as a Member of this Parliament is very broad and every day we are confronted by issues of immediate and passionate concern to the people we represent that go beyond the national boundaries of our jurisdiction.
Mr Speaker, as community representatives we are elected to do more than fine tune the levers of taxation and spending - we must also articulate the fears and support and support the aspirations of our constituents. As the Member for Cabramatta I represent the largest single community of Vietnamese Australians in the country. And as their representative in the State Parliament I speak for them on a range of issues like law and order, health, education and training- issues that are the traditional domain of a state legislature. However, the concern that unites Vietnamese Australians is that of Human Rights in their homeland. And they have asked for our support. Many of the people I represent were victims of torture and trauma - political refugees who were forced to flee a repressive and intolerant regime. They have faced things we can only conceive of in nightmares. I personally know many men and women, children who have faced the heartbreaking choice of leaving their family or losing their life.
Mr Speaker, these Vietnamese Australians that I refer to - are good Australian citizens. They participate peacefully and enthusiastically in our democratic process. Many belong to volunteer community organisations that assist the elderly, the young or those that need help with the resettlement process. And while they have contributed immeasurably to Australia’s rich cultural heritage and helped build our reputation as a harmonious multicultural nation, many continue to campaign for the peaceful transition to democracy in Vietnam.
Mr Speaker, their concern are fully justified. There has been a disturbing escalation of human rights breaches in recent times, particularly in the wake of the arrest of Father Van Ly by internal security forces on 17 May this year. Father Ly’s social, humanitarian and educational work in Vietnam has won the support of many of the Vietnamese people and also the respect of the international community. His arrest, coupled with the continued detention of the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang of the Unified Buddhist movement has led to an international outcry for their release and greater tolerance from the Vietnamese Government toward religious freedoms.
Mr Speaker, on Sunday June 3 this year, I addressed a rally organised by Vietnamese Community in Australia protesting the growing religious oppression in Vietnam. The rally was also addressed by leaders of the Unified Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation, the Vietnamese Catholic Community, the Cao Dai Congregation and the Hoa Hao Congregation. It was a rally made significant by the fact that it was the first time in Australia that all of the Vietnamese religious leaders had come together, united in their protest. These too are men and women of conscience and their appeals to us on behalf of former countrymen can not be allowed to fall on deaf ears.
Mr Speaker, I am sure that I speak for the vast majority of Honourable Members when I say that perhaps we take our freedom for granted. That is because we know that they are sacred and inviolate and protected by the full weight of the law and will of the people. But as the experience in Vietnam so clearly shows, there are people who are prepared to suffer great hardship, deprivation and cruelty to gain these same freedoms.
Mr Speaker, we must support that struggle. It is because of men and women like them in OUR history that we have our liberty and the freedom to fully express our individuality.
Mr Speaker, my electorate of Cabramatta is a shining example of how people from all walks of life, from nations all across the globe can live and work together in acceptance and harmony. This comes from the respect we have for each other as individuals and an acceptance, even joy, that comes from our differences. Let us do what we can do to foster these very Australian qualities in other nations.
Mr Speaker, the NSW Parliament is the oldest democratic institution in the country and for that reason I consider it entirely appropriate that we extend such a profound statement of support to Vietnamese Australians.
I commend the motion to the House.
MOTION
Commended by Reba Meagher MP for Cabramatta, and moved by the NSW Parliament on 21/6/01
That this House shares the concerns of the Australian Vietnamese Community in NSW over alleged abuses of Human Rights inVietnam.
Further this House:
b) Supports the Australian Vietnamese Community’s concerns with respect to the restriction of freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association in Vietnam.
c) Supports the Australian Vietnamese Community’s call on the Australian Government to take concrete steps to monitor the human rights situation in Vietnam, including requesting the Vietnamese Government to allow Australian diplomats to visit those alleged to be prisoners of conscience and to do so on a regular basis;
d) Supports the Australian Vietnamese Community’s call on the Australian Government to make regular representations to relevant Vietnamese Ministers and officials in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Embassy in Canberra for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and for accelerated progress in moves to wind back restrictions on democratic freedoms;
e) Supports the Australian Vietnamese Community’s call on the Australian Government to provide the Parliament with regular reporting on its human rights representations to the Government of Vietnam on the responses by Vietnam and the overall human rights situation in Vietnam.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Session document
4 July 2001
on religious freedom in Vietnam
The European Parliament,
A. whereas Vietnam as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has to uphold freedom of religious belief and worship as enshrined in its Article 18,
B. whereas Article 70 of Vietnam’s constitution guarantees freedom of faith and religion,
C. concerned at the further increase in tension between the government and the religious communities in Vietnam as well as the many instances of persecution of religious leaders, following the ninth Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party from 19 to 22 April 2001,
D. concerned at the criticism expressed in March 1999 on religious persecution in Vietnam by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr Abdelfattah Amor,
E. having regard to the persecution of leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, including its Patriarch, the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, detained without charge or trial for 20 years, set free in 1997, but still not allowed to leave his place of detention, and the Venerable Thich Quang Do, amnestied in 1998 after 20 years of detention, but again put under a two-year sentence of administrative detention after he tried to arrange for medical attention for the ailing Patriarch,
F. having regard to the persecution suffered by Catholics, in particular the imprisonment of Father Nguyen Van Ly on 17 May for having practised his religion following a ban issued by the Vietnamese authorities,
G. having regard to the persecution of all followers of so-called non-recognised churches, notably the Cao Dai Church, the Hoa Hao Church and Protestant Churches,
H. having regard to the violent State repression in February 2001 of a massive protest by ethnic minorities of the high plains of central Vietnam, who were protesting against the confiscation of their ancestral lands, religious persecution and the ban on their conversion to Protestantism,
I. whereas respect for human rights and democratic principles is an essential element in the 1995 cooperation agreement between the European Union and Vietnam,
1. Calls on the Government of Vietnam to implement the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, and in particular to guarantee the right of all people in Vietnam to practise the religion of their choice, including the right to freedom of worship and the right of assembly;
2. Calls for the release of all prisoners of conscience, especially the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Venerable Thich Quang Do and Father Nguyen Van Ly, and for them to be granted freedom of movement;
3. Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to respect the religious freedoms of Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants as well as all other so-called non-recognised churches and to stop all anti-religious campaigns throughout the country;
4. Calls on the Vietnamese Government to ensure the "safe, dignified and voluntary" return of those who fled from the high plains of central Vietnam to Cambodia, as agreed with the UNHCR, while guaranteeing freedom of faith and worship;
5. Calls on the ambassadors to Vietnam of the Member States and the European Union to follow developments in this connection with the closest attention and to report to it in the framework of relations between the Council, Commission and Parliament;
6. Asks its Delegation for relations with the Member States of Asean, South-East Asia and the Republic of Korea to plan a visit to Vietnam to meet religious leaders of all confessions, especially those who have been imprisoned;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the representatives of the Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Church, the Cao Dai Church, the Hoa Hao Church, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches.
Vietnam Human Rights Act
Introduced to
US House of Representatives
03 July 2001
A bipartisan group of lawmakers submitted a bill June 28 that would seek to promote "freedom and democracy" in communist-ruled Vietnam.
Representative Christopher Smith (Republican of New Jersey) introduced H.R. 2368, which would set up a Congressional-Executive Commission on Vietnam that would oversee how well the Hanoi regime lives up to internationally recognized human rights standards.
The Commission "shall monitor the acts of the Government of Viet Nam which reflect compliance with or violation of human rights, in particular, those contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," H.R. 2368 says.
In language similar to the legislation that granted China Permanent Normal Trade Relations status, H.R. 2368 would establish a commission with members chosen by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the President of the United States to monitor conditions in Vietnam.
Among the rights the Commission would follow are: the right to engage in free expression; the right to peaceful assembly; religious freedom, including the right to worship and to participate in religious activities and institutions free of involvement of and interference by the government; the right to liberty of movement, the freedom to choose a residence within Vietnam and the right to leave from and return to Vietnam; and the rights of a defendant in a criminal case to basic legal protections common in Western democracies.
The proposed Commission would also monitor Vietnam’s progress in establishing a civil society based on the rule of law.
In its findings, the proposed legislation says Vietnam is a one-party state, ruled and controlled by the Vietnamese Communist Party.
H.R. 2368 also states that the Hanoi regime "denies the people of Viet Nam the right to change their government and prohibits independent political, social, and labor organizations."
That nation’s government, it adds, "consistently pursues a policy of harassment, discrimination, and intimidation, and sometimes of imprisonment and other forms of detention, against those who peacefully express dissent from government or party policy."
H.R. 2368 was co-sponsored by Representatives Frank Wolf
(Republican of Virginia), the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights
Caucus, Benjamin Gilman (Republican of New York), the chairman emeritus
of the House International Relations Committee, Tom Davis (Republican of
Virginia), Zoe Lofgren (Democrat of California), Dana Rohrabacher (Republican
of California), Edward Royce (Republican of California, and Loretta Sanchez
(Democrat of California).
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Increases Pressure to Stop
Vietnam Religious Persecution
(Washington, DC) Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has joined her colleagues Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) in condemning the recent crack down on religious freedoms in Vietnam. Together, they wrote letters to Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson, and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The letters highlighted the persecution and harassment of religious leaders in Vietnam. In particular, they called attention to the cases of Father Nguyen Van Ly, Most Venerable Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do. They also requested from Prime Minister Khai an update on the health and well being of these dissidents.
Excerpts of the letter:
"On May 16, 2001, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Congressional Dialogue on Vietnam co-sponsored a hearing about religious freedom in Vietnam. Religious leaders from many different faiths testified about the continued violation of rights guaranteed to them under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
"Father Nguyen Van Ly was arrested on May 17, 2001 and has been transferred to a military hospital near Hue, where his condition is uncertain. We understand that this is not the first time Father Ly has been punished by the authorities for the free practice of his religion. He has been under constant surveillance since 1977, when he was arrested for distributing two essays by Archbishop Nguyen Kim Dien that protested the lack of religious freedom in Vietnam."
"The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, has been under house arrest without trial since 1982. He is critically ill and in need of serious medical attention. When the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do attempted to escort him to Saigon for medical treatment, Venerable Do was formally placed under house arrest. Presently, the security police maintain a 24-hour cordon around the Venerable Do's pagoda. We respectfully request that you monitor these situations closely."
"As we continue to move forward furthering relations between the United States and Vietnam, it is our hope that the United States will continue its scrutiny of Vietnam's human rights record and treatment of religious leaders.
As you prepare to visit Vietnam in late July we urge you to remember these brave dissidents and the countless other Vietnamese who are prisoners of conscience."