Vietnamese Religious Leaders Call on Hanoi to Respect Rights
Tra Mi -
VOA
August
07, 2013
Senior religious leaders of
five major faiths in Vietnam have issued a joint statement calling on Hanoi to
live up to President Truong Tan Sang’s recent pledge that his government fully
respects human rights.
While meeting President Barack Obama in Washington last month, the Vietnamese
president nopted that Hanoi and Washington have different views about human
rights, but he said human rights are highly respected in Vietnam.
Leaders of the Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao faiths in
Vietnam have rejected Sang’s version of events. In a statement issued
Wednesday, they listed a great number of ongoing human-rights abuses in
Vietnam, affecting freedom of religion and expression and other basic human
rights.
Pastor
Nguyen Manh Hung of the Binh Tan Mennonite Church in Vietnam said the statement
covered a wide range of human rights issues.
"The statement asks Hanoi to put its words into action," the cleric said, "by
releasing prisoners of conscience, by suspending Decree 72, which curbs freedom
of speech and restricts information sharing on social media, and by allowing
international observers into the country."
The religious leaders called on the Vietnamese people to speak up to assert
their basic rights, and to protect those who risk their lives to defend human
rights and promote democracy.
The government has not responded to or commented on the statement. Public
declarations critical of the government are rare in Vietnam, which òften detains
those who voice opposition to the communist government's policies.
Internet activists and human-rights groups criticized Hanoi last week over a new
decree that attempts to ban social media users and bloggers from posting
information, including news stories, online.
Decree 72, which was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in July, states
that blogs and social media sites in Vietnam should only be used to share or
exchange personal information.
The law, which goes into effect September 1, says such sites are "not allowed to
quote, gather or summarize information from press organizations or government
websites."