5/2/2014 – Today at the United Nations Human Rights Council office in Geneva (Switzerland), the Vietnamese groups promoting human rights attended in full the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) scheduled for Vietnam. This is the first UPR review in which Vietnam participated as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. We appreciated the questioning and recommendation of other nations, members of the Council, focusing on the improvement of the restricted human rights status in Vietnam.
Even though we acknowledge that Vietnam has had some limited progress in a few areas, we believe that the Vietnamese delegation review does not completely and properly expose the status of human rights in Vietnam, especially the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly and association. In addition to this, the Vietnamese delegation has provided untruthful information and misleading arguments, avoiding the focal point of questions during the Universal Periodic Review process.
We also express our concern about the biased commentaries from China, Russia, Cuba and some other nations on the human rights record in Vietnam. Not only do these commentaries not support the improvement of human rights in Vietnam, they also oppose the human rights promotion and protection principles described in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We especially welcome delegations of the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and of other nations, who questioned Vietnam of its many human rights abuses, and who gave Vietnam concrete and stern recommendations, targeted directly at these issues.
The Vietnamese groups promoting human rights will continue their activities after this Universal Periodic Review. Firstly, we will make a two week campaign beginning on 8 February 2014 in Australia, following invitations of Mr Luke Donellan, Member of Australian Parliament, and of the Vietnamese community in Australia. Afterwards, we will maintain our post UPR activities in Vietnam.
For more information and details about our campaign, please contact Ann Pham on +1.714.325.8276 or email: vietnamupr@gmail.com
SIGNED BY:
Network of Vietnamese Bloggers
Citizen Journalism (Danlambao)
Vietnam Path Movement
Hoa Hao Buddhist Church
No-U Vietnam
Vietnam Political and Religious Prisoners Friendship Association
VOICE.
