Chinese and Vietnamese Communists Must Respect Human Rights!

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, we at the Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN) are joining with Amnesty International, Visual Artists Guild, Chinese Human Rights Advocates, and the world community, in a united front to fight for justice and basic freedoms for the Chinese and for oppressed peoples, in general.

We realize that

• the victims of injustice can heal their wounds only when justice is properly served,

• the society can be stabilized only when human rights are fully respected, and

• the country can enjoy peace and prosperity only when freedom and democracy exist.

The pain suffered by the Chinese victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre is insurmountable and completely shared by us Vietnamese, since we also have endured many atrocities caused by the Vietnamese Communists during the last several decades. It is time to end all human rights abuses and atrocities worldwide.

We urgently call on the world community to demand Beijing:

• reverse its official verdict on the 1989 pro-democracy movement, acknowledge the victims' innocence and compensate for their families,

• release all political prisoners, including those incarcerated under disguised crimes, and

• respect all basic human rights as set forth in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

By the same token, the Vietnam Human Rights Network strongly demands that Hanoi immediately release all political prisoners, and let the people fully enjoy all basic freedoms and freely decide on their own form of government.

We are calling on everyone concerned to work together and harder to support the struggle for human rights for the peoples in China, Vietnam, Burma, Tibet and other countries. In particular, we are requesting the US government to discontinue the Bilateral Trade Agreement with China, and with Communist Vietnam, until human rights are respected and all political prisoners are released.

Together we will prevail.

Made in California on the 3rd day of June, 1999

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