Clinton urged to make stand on Vietnam rights

November 10, 2000
Web posted at: 11:15 AM HKT (0315 GMT)

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Human rights groups and an outlawed Buddhist church on Friday urged U.S. President Bill Clinton to take a strong stand on rights when he makes a historic visit to communist Vietnam next week.

Washington-based Human Rights Watch said although Vietnam had taken steps in recent years to address some violations, it continued to seriously curtail fundamental political, religious and labor rights as well as press freedom.

U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said on Thursday Clinton would encourage Hanoi to strengthen respect for rights and religious freedom during his November 16-19 visit, the first by a serving U.S. president since the Vietnam War.

Human Rights Watch said Washington needed a "more energetic approach to human rights concerns in Vietnam" and its policy should not focus only on a bilateral trade pact signed in July.

"This historic visit is a crucial moment for the U.S. to send a clear signal to Hanoi on how progress on human rights will affect other aspects of the evolving bilateral relationship," it said in a statement.

The group said Hanoi insisted it held no political prisoners but had stated in March that more than 100 people were detained for crimes against national security.

The figure could include political and religious prisoners, while others may be serving sentences under different laws, Human Rights Watch said.

Its calls were echoed by a prominent Buddhist dissident and an affiliated rights group.

Clinton has 'historic choice'

Thich Quang Do, deputy head of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, said in a November 5 letter to Clinton that he should speak out boldly and faced a historic choice.

"Either you support the regime, the all-powerful minority of the ruling Communist Party and thus assist them in stifling democracy in Vietnam, or you support Vietnamese people in their quest for human rights and freedom and truly leave your mark on the history of mankind."

Do, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention or under restriction, said this would give meaning to the deaths of 58,000 American servicemen in Vietnam.

"Whatever one's opinions may be about the rights and wrongs of the United States' policies during the Vietnam War, the sacrifice of these young Americans remains and can never be erased," he said.

"It is in your hands, Mr President, to give a meaning to their sacrifice today."

The Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights praised what it said were Clinton's plans to visit the Catholic Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City Pham Minh Man and protestants.

But it also urged him to meet Do, as he could be "seriously misunderstood" if he neglected the majority Buddhist community.

Five U.S. senators, including Vietnam veterans John McCain and Charles Robb, have also urged Clinton to press for rights' progress, a call Hanoi slammed as interference.

But late last month, a group of U.S. NGOs working in Vietnam suggested Clinton tread carefully on the rights issue and acknowledge the suffering caused by U.S. involvement in the war.

Rights groups say that despite the freeing of tens of thousands of political detainees and re-education camp inmates in recent years, dissidents now suffer less overt harassment.

This includes constant surveillance and controls on movement or ability to work, along with an ever-present threat of imprisonment for those who go too far in challenging the Communist Party.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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