Press Release

January 9, 2020 

 

VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK'S STATEMENT

ABOUT THE PERSECUTION OF DONG TAM COMMUNE

 

 

Hanoi authorities at 4:00 a.m. on January 9, 2020, sent a force of thousands to attack people in their own homes in Dong Tam village, My Duc district, Hanoi, under the pretext of protecting security for Ministry of National Defense units constructing a fence surrounding “national-defense land."

Security forces used guns, explosives, tear gas, and dogs, attacking among others the family of Mr. Le Dinh Kinh, the spiritual leader of the aggrieved Dong Tam residents, and causing his death. The attack also injured many women and infants, and some people were detained and taken away.

In the face of the violence perpetrated by the Hanoi authorities against the residents of Dong Tam, the Vietnam Human Rights Network urgently issues the following statement to compatriots at home and abroad as well as international human rights agencies: 

1.   To condemn in the strongest terms the lethal use of force against Dong Tam residents struggling to protect their land.

2.   To  call on the Vietnamese government to take full responsibility for this lawless violence and to adequately compensate those affected for the loss of life and destruction of property they have suffered.

3. To call on the Vietnamese government to re-establish the right to own land to the people, to immediately stop forcibly seizing the land from rightful owners, which is against international human rights law, and to return the properties confiscated by the State to their legitimate owners. 

4. To call on the United Nations, all justice-loving governments, and human rights organizations around the world, to condemn the Vietnamese authorities’ brutal oppression against the victims of land grabbing at Dong Tam as well as all over the country.

 

 

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