November
14, 2013
Following
the mechanisms for electing four out of five candidates for Asia, the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the People’s Republic of China, the
Republic of Maldives, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been
elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016
term. The previous withdrawal of Jordan from the election paved the
way for these four countries to win their seats in an uncontested
manner.
Under
UN Resolution 60/251, as a member state, Viet Nam, including both the
government and its 90 million citizens, are obliged to uphold core
values in promoting and protecting human rights as well as to respect
provisions that Vietnam has voluntarily committed itself to. This
obligation was confirmed by Vietnam's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Pham Binh Minh, after Viet Nam's election, who stated “[Vietnam
shall] fully implement obligations and commitments as a member state
of the UNHCR and the United Nations.”
In
light of Viet Nam's successful election to UNHCR, the Network of
Vietnamese Bloggers holds the opinions that:
To
be a credible member of the UNHRC, Viet Nam must implement its
obligations and commitments through specific actions rather than mere
statements by government officials.
In
particular, Viet Nam should:
1.
Agree to the seven UN requests, not yet been met by the Vietnamese
government, to allow UN delegations to visit Viet Nam to investigate
alleged human rights abuses;
2.
End torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment of
any and all Vietnamese citizens as provided for by the UN Convention
against Torture, to which Viet Nam has been a state party since
November 7, 2013;
3.
Release those who are being imprisoned solely for peacefully
exercising their freedom of expression and other rights based on core
and universal values in UN treaties.
4.
Repeal vaguely-worded laws and decrees which are arbitrarily
interpreted, such as Article 258 of the Penal Code, on “abusing
democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the
legitimate rights of organizations and/ or citizens...”;
5.
End the state monopoly on media and publishing; ensure that all
individuals and organizations are entitled to establish media
agencies and publishing houses; remove firewalls that bar users from
accessing social media networks; and nullify Decree 72 72/2013/NĐ-CP
which tightly restricts freedom of expression and of information
online.
As
free citizens and with the understanding that Viet Nam's membership of
UNHRC means all the 90 millions Vietnamese people are members of the
Council, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers will participate in and contribute to upholding core
values in promoting and protecting human rights and respecting
provisions that Viet Nam has voluntarily committed itself to.
In
particular, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers will call on every Vietnamese citizen to:
1.
Publicly disseminate human rights documents of which Viet Nam is a
signatory, specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, UN Convention against Torture, and
related documents.
2.
Openly facilitate human rights discussions and/ or advocacy events
for human rights, employing diverse means, such as social gatherings,
picnics, and salons, and walking or biking for human rights.
3.
Assign network delegates to UNHRC offices in particular and UN
offices in general to report on human rights in Viet Nam and to
submit petitions and requests for change, so that the Vietnamese
people can truly enjoy universal human rights and establish Viet
Nam’s credible member of UNHRC.
4.
Work with individuals and organizations to build an online database
in order to record human rights violations in Viet Nam, which
concerned individuals and organizations, including government
agencies, can easily access in order to promote and protect human
rights as well as to fulfill the obligation and commitments of a
member of UNHRC.
5.
Conduct the official inauguration ceremony of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers on December 10,
2013 to mark the International Human Rights Day established by the
United Nations.
The
Network of Vietnamese Bloggers
Date: 14 Nov. 2013
ReplyDeleteFrom:
Vietnamese citizens in Vietnam
To:
- Human Right Watch Committee of the United Nations
- The Secretary of the Unites Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.
- European Parliament
- European Union
- US Congress and US government
- The world diplomacy community and the press community are currently working in Vietnam
We are living in the Twenty First Century and in a modern age. The civilized world can’t accept the uncivilized behaviors as what the Vietnam government has been doing. This communism government looks down and ignores all they committed, even commitments they had toward the most noble and powerful world organization as the United Nations.
Beside the manipulation of the communism’s prison system to imprison all the dissidents and the Vietnamese patriots who had their points against China in the invading activities of this country toward the Vietnam territory in Paracel and Spratley, and the East Sea, robbery, oppression, and terrorism are all we can describe about the current actions of the Vietnam communism government, which aim at oppressing the Vietnamese people.
The objection actions against this communism government from Vietnamese people have happened everywhere in Vietnam as you all know about that proves what we are mentioning in this cover letter.
In the viewpoint of this communism government, The Charter of United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mean nothing, and it’s hard for us to find out other words that can describe more correctly of what this very uncivilized government is doing.
For these reasons, we, the Vietnamese people, wish we’ll receive advices from all of you, the United Nations, especially from the Human Right Watch Committee and the General Secretary of United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.
We’ve like to say thank for your time, and we wish you will take our petition into your consideration, and we wish we will receive helps from you soon. May God bless you all.
Respectfully yours.
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