US embassy cable - 04HANOI3417

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 003417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL, BRUSSELS FOR EU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, EU, VM, ETMIN, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: VIETNAM ENGAGES THIRD COUNTRIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
Reftels: A) Hanoi 2193 and previous, B) Hanoi 1615, C) Hanoi 
 
1676, D) 03 Hanoi 3277 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Vietnam has been actively engaging third 
countries in formal exchanges on human rights issues, 
including hosting the annual Canada-China-Norway human 
rights forum, carrying out a bilateral discussion on the 
death penalty with EU countries and conducting the bi-annual 
EU-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue.  While the three fora are 
more focused on process and discussion rather than concrete 
results, Vietnam did pledge to the Europeans to reduce the 
number of crimes subject to capital punishment.  End 
Summary. 
 
Canada-China-Norway Dialogue 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Vietnam hosted the December 9-10 Canada-China- 
Norway Dialogue at the request of the Government of Norway 
(which also funded this year's meeting.)  A Norwegian 
Embassy officer told Poloff that this was the sixth time the 
three countries had held their trilateral dialogue, to which 
an increasing number of other countries in the region have 
been invited.  In addition to the three principals, all 
ASEAN members were represented save Burma, Cambodia and 
Brunei, and delegations also came from South Korea, Japan, 
Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Nepal and 
Pakistan.  Norway wished to invite North Korea, but this was 
vetoed by China on the grounds that "Vietnam does not have 
good relations" with that country.  (Note: Vietnam and North 
Korea generally maintain positive relations as socialist 
brethren, although ties have been strained by after the 
approval for South Korea to fly 458 refugees from Ho Chi 
Minh City to Seoul last July. (Ref A).)  Each national 
delegation consisted of one official participant and one non- 
Government representative, mostly members of NGOs.  Vietnam 
also sent twenty observers, including from the Ministries of 
Justice, Public Security and Labor, Invalids and Social 
Affairs. 
 
3. (SBU) The dialogue was centered on four themes: freedom 
of expression, in which the Canadian Government took the 
lead; women's rights and the effect of globalization on 
human rights, in which China took the lead for both issues; 
and corporate and social responsibility, in which Norway 
headed the discussion.  A Canadian diplomat noted that 
participants questioned her presenter extensively on the 
Canadian Government's limits on "hate speech" and on 
information that could be accessed on the internet.  Vietnam 
repeatedly brought up Article 19 of the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which states 
restriction on speech may be necessary "for the protection 
of national security and public order") in justifying its 
limitations of free speech. 
 
4. (SBU) The Canadian diplomat commented that there was 
"informal and open discussion" at the forum, which was not 
focused around specific goals or results.  The Norwegian 
diplomat said that, at the forum, representatives from 
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Mongolia suggested the 
establishment of an Asian nations-only dialogue on human 
rights, although other countries were tepid about this.  He 
also noted that the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security 
was sufficiently concerned that dissidents would try to use 
the conference to air grievances that it "insisted" on 
posting guards at the entrances to the venue. 
 
Death Penalty Seminar 
--------------------- 
 
5. (U) From November 24 to 26, the EU carried out a seminar 
for Vietnamese officials on the abolition of the death 
penalty, as agreed to in last summer's EU - Vietnam dialogue 
(Ref. B).  The seminar was coordinated by the Danish 
Institute for Human Rights Studies, which brought in experts 
from the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom and 
Eastern Europe to discuss their respective countries' 
experiences with capital punishment.  At the seminar the GVN 
promised to end capital punishment for three crimes right 
away, said that it would "consider reducing" the number of 
crimes subject to the death penalty to 21 (from the current 
29) by 2007, and stated that abolition of the death penalty 
is a "long term objective."  EU participants did not recall 
specifically for which crimes capital punishment would be 
abolished, but said they believed that they are economic 
crimes.  The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) was insistent 
that the death penalty is an important tool in its efforts 
to combat drug trafficking, however. 
 
6. (SBU) European Commission diplomats commented they were 
pleased by the broad range of participation at the seminar, 
which included representatives from several government 
ministries, and also representatives from thirty provincial- 
level departments of justice.  They also noted that only the 
first two days of the seminar involved foreign involvement, 
while the third was for Vietnamese participants only.  They 
GVN has refused to provide to EU missions a readout of this 
final day, but a Dutch diplomat commented that merely having 
the closed-door session suggested serious discussions on the 
issue. 
EU-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue 
--------------------------------- 
 
7. (U) On December 9 and 10, the European Union held the 
full session of its bi-annual human rights dialogue with the 
GVN.  The dialogue is held in Hanoi by the EU Troika 
Ambassadors at mid-year with only MFA counterparts, and at 
the end of the year with representatives from a number of 
GVN ministries.  Participating in this year's session were 
representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA), Public Security (MPS), Justice (MOJ) and Culture and 
Information (MCI), as well as the Committee for Religious 
Affairs (CRA), the Office of the Government and the Ho Chi 
Minh Political Academy.  In this year's dialogue, the GVN 
suggested some future sessions could be held in Brussels. 
EU participants demurred, but proposed study trips to the EU 
could be arranged around specific issues discussed in the 
dialogues. 
 
8. (SBU) Giving Poloff a readout of the dialogue, a Dutch 
diplomat recounted that Vietnam chose four topics and led 
discussion in all of them, and the EU did the same.  The 
GVN's first topic was "Vietnam's approach to human rights," 
in which it declared that the Vietnamese Government is 
solely responsible for the protection of human rights in 
Vietnam.  It also accused the EU of holding Vietnam to a 
double standard on human rights, saying that the Europeans 
had participated in actions "depriving Iraqis of their 
freedom," with which the EU ambassadors expressed their 
disagreement.  Vietnam also led a discussion on the issue of 
"discrimination against minorities and migrants in the EU," 
raising specifically the question of Muslim migrants.  The 
third discussion topic was the issue of "the abuse of the 
issue of human rights by some NGOs in the EU," in which it 
referred specifically to the support that Italy's 
Transnational Radical Party gave to the Montagnard 
Foundation (Ref C).  Finally the Vietnamese discussed 
"detention and treatment of prisoners in the United States 
and United Kingdom," in which it again accused the EU of 
holding Vietnam to double standards and pointed specifically 
to the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. 
 
9. (SBU) The European Union led a discussion on the 
"exercise of fundamental freedoms," in which it focused on 
GVN limits on freedom of expression, the media, freedom of 
religion and freedom of association.  As part of this, the 
Europeans specifically requested foreign journalists be 
allowed longer-term visas.  (Note: Foreign journalists 
resident in Vietnam are currently given three-month visas, 
and visa renewal is sometimes used by the GVN to pressure 
journalists on their story content. End note.)  Responding 
on this discussion subject, the CRA stated that it had 
"developed measures to distinguish between real Protestants 
and Dega Protestants," and would now facilitate the 
registration of "real" Protestant churches.  The MCI stated 
that it is trying to strike a balance between "popularizing" 
the internet and ensuring that no "incorrect information" is 
spread though it. 
 
10. (SBU) On the issue of "ethnic minorities and the Central 
Highlands," the EU raised concerns over the number of people 
detained after protests last April.  In response, the GVN 
said that it is "working with the UNHCR to resolve the 
problem."  On "persons of concern/fair trial/transparency," 
the EU urged Vietnam to ratify the United Nations Convention 
Against Torture, urged access to trials by international 
observers and requested information on a list of prisoners 
previously provided.  The GVN provided little response to 
this, although the MPS acknowledged that Vietnam's laws are 
"not in accordance" with international human rights laws and 
that it is "moving to align them."  The EU's final issue was 
"the death penalty," at which it raised concerns about the 
high numbers of people subjected to capital punishment in 
Vietnam. 
 
11. (SBU) Overall, the Dutch diplomat said that the EU 
participants felt that the "whole atmosphere of the dialogue 
was better" this year as compared to last December's session 
(Ref D).  She noted that, this year, the dialogue was a full 
day -- it had previously been a half-day only -- that there 
was more interaction between the two sides and that the GVN 
participants appeared "more confident."  She acknowledged, 
however, that there had been "no concrete replies" by the 
GVN to issues raised by the EU participants at the dialogue. 
BOARDMAN