Advocacy groups urge US to pressure Vietnam on human rights

Jul 19, 2010, 13:53 GMT

Hanoi - Activist groups on Monday urged US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to raise human rights issues with Vietnam officials during her upcoming visit to Hanoi.

Clinton plans to attend the Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Thursday, and to mark the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the US.

'Mrs Clinton can underscore the link between human rights and development by calling on her hosts to repeal Orwellian censorship policies,' Duy Hoang, spokesman for the exiled pro-democracy Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party), said Monday.

'No person should be harassed or imprisoned for reading a blog or posting an article online.'

Hoang claimed that Vietnam's Communist Party monopolizes political power and imprisons peaceful dissenters. The Vietnam Reform Party is banned from operating in Vietnam.

Ngai Nguyen, vice secretary of the US-based Democratic Party of Vietnam, urged Clinton on Monday to discuss 'ongoing religious and human rights violations' with Vietnamese officials.

Ngai cited the February imprisonment of prominent lawyer Le Cong Dinh, whom Ngai claims was imprisoned unfairly.

The US-educated Dinh was convicted in part for attending a seminar on non-violent political activism in Thailand organized by the Vietnam Reform Party.

In a July 15 letter, 19 US congressmen urged Clinton to discuss alleged human rights violations with Vietnamese officials on her visit to Hanoi. They said Vietnam imprisons hundreds of people for peaceful dissent.

'Respect for human rights must be a parallel priority to Vietnam's development,' the letter said.