Vietnamese dissidents urge US to pressure Vietnam on human rights

Hanoi - Vietnamese dissidents on Thursday urged US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to raise human rights issues with Vietnam officials during her visit to Hanoi.

Clinton arrived in Hanoi early Thursday to attend the Regional Forum of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday and Friday, and to mark the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States.

"We are people who struggle for human rights, freedom of press, but we meet too much suppression," said Nguyen Thanh Giang, a dissident in Hanoi.

"This is a very welcomed visit by Vietnamese people," said Pham Hong Son, one of the most high-profile activists in Vietnam.

Son has spent four years in prison over his pro-democracy writings online. "Relations between Vietnam and the US are expanding in many fields, but that relation will be more sincere when it is based on common values such as human rights."

ASEAN chair Vietnam's call on Myanmar this week to hold "free and fair" elections would be more convincing if Hanoi improved its own human rights record, Son said."I think Vietnamese officials who gave that call should consider promoting human right progress inside Vietnam to be focus of the [ASEAN] meetings," Son said. "Only by doing so, that call will be more meaningful and valuable."

Activists said the top US diplomat should ask the Vietnamese government to strictly implement the human rights provisions according to signed international conventions.

"In both her public statements and private meetings with Vietnamese officials, Clinton should stress the priority that the US places on strengthening Vietnam's respect for human rights as part of bilateral relations," the Human Rights Watch said.

"Secretary Clinton should make it clear that the US stands with Vietnam's courageous human rights defenders and peaceful democracy activists and will not abandon them to enhance security and trade ties," the organization's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.



(2010-07-22/earthtimes)