HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN VIET NAM

Human Rights Committee
75th session
12 July 2002
Afternoon




Viet Nam Should Gradually Abolish the Death Penalty,
Chairperson Says



The Human Rights Committee today concluded its consideration of a second periodic report from Viet Nam, with the Chairperson saying that the State party should take steps to confine the death penalty only to serious offences like murder or treason and should gradually move towards its complete abolition.

Committee Chairperson Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati said that although it was submitted late, the report was quite comprehensive and the Government should be congratulated for submitting an addendum updating the human rights situation up to November 2001.

He, however, expressed concern about a decree on administrative probation under which a person could be put under house arrest without trial for up to two years on suspicion of violating national security. The situation was in contravention of article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, he said.

Responding to questions raised by Committee Experts this morning and this afternoon, the members of the delegation said that the issue of sterilization of women of a minority group, to which some Committee Experts had alluded to, was «ridiculous» and the Government had no knowledge of such measures.

The delegation also said that trafficking of women and children had become a serious issue, with unexpected developments in recent years, and the Government had enacted a series of preventive and punitive measures against that crime.

The 18-member Committee will issue its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Viet Nam towards the end of its three-week session to be concluded on 26 July.

Viet Nam is among the 149 States parties to the International Covenant and as such it must provide the Committee with periodic reports on its activities designed to implement the provisions of the treaty. An 11-member delegation was on hand during three meetings to present the report and answer questions raised by the Committee Experts.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m on Monday, 15 July, it will meet in private before starting its consideration of the situation of human rights in Gambia in the absence of a report in the afternoon.


Questions by Committee Experts

Committee Experts continued to raise questions on a number of issues with regard to the report of Viet Nam. An Expert said that individuals in Viet Nam could apparently be detained for up to one year by police officers who had no judicial powers for being a «threat to national security». In the past, trials of dissidents had been common. Although such trials had now been abandoned, they had apparently been replaced by administrative trials. Moreover, reliable sources had affirmed that families of some detainees were unable to trace the whereabouts of their relatives. The delegation was asked if a list of detainees, including those in rehabilitation centres, were available to concerned relatives.

Another Expert asked about the competence of the judiciary council in the appointment of judges; what were the criteria for the appointment of judges; did the judges have to be members of the Communist Party and continue to be so throughout their tenure; were the assessors trained lawyers; and what were the grounds for removal from the bench?

The Expert also asked who determined the need for re-education programmes for individuals; was there any mechanism to lodge complaints?


Response by Viet Nam

In response to the questions raised by Committee Experts during the previous meeting and this morning, the members of the delegation said that despite the difficulties it had encountered during the implementation of the right to development, Viet Nam had continued to progress in achieving positive results.

With regard to the role of the Communist Party, the delegation said Viet Nam could not survive without the promotion of the collective rights of the people. The issue of obligations and rights of individuals could not be considered out of the context of collective rights and obligations. Collective and individual rights were not contradictory. The Communist Party was the leading power in the nation, and it was supported by the population in its role as a promoter of socialist ideas. It also reflected the rights of the majority.

The delegation said that the adoption of a comprehensive legal system had helped to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other treaties. During the last ten years, some 10,000 laws had been adopted by the State party. For a country like Viet Nam, which had been affected by war, a transition period of ten years was not long. Within the last ten years, things had moved fast and many results had been achieved. However, there were still shortcomings to be resolved.

The delegation asked why the reports of some UN agencies working in Viet Nam did not reflect the reality in the field. Other non-governmental organizations had also reflected negative attitudes against the country which were contrary to reality.

Concerning the «Montagnard minority», the delegation said that the name itself was coined by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the war between the United States and Viet Nam. The delegation also refuted the allegation that indigenous lands were used for the expansion of coffee plantations.

With regard to the issue of sterilization of women of a minority group, the delegation said that it was «ridiculous» to hear such allegations which the Government had no knowledge about. Some individuals had been spreading these allegations, saying that the Government had diverted the funds provided to it by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) for sterilization purposes.

This was untrue. In fact, Viet Nam had been awarded a prize in 1999 for its excellent achievements in the implementation of family planning.

Asked about the functioning of the principle of democratic centralism, the delegation said that those who were elected by the people were directly accountable to their electors. The principle of democratic centralism applied to enhance the functioning of the system, and citizens were not affected by the process. The grass-roots democracy was an additional system for direct democracy involving the citizens themselves.

In Viet Nam, all State powers belonged to the people, the delegation said. For that purpose, an alliance had been created among the peasants, workers and the intellectuals -- an alliance that did not deny individual rights.

Responding to a question on the position of the Fatherland Front, the delegation said that its ideals originated from the resistance against France. The Front made final recommendations concerning candidates for elections for different State branches. The Front was not a State organ.

Domestic violence was new to Vietnamese society, the delegation said. However, violent husbands could not be prosecuted because they were protected by their wives who did not file complaints. The 2001 statistics showed that only one per cent of court cases related to wife-beating.

Ninety per cent of the deputies in the National Assembly were also members of the Communist Party, the delegation said. In the Assembly, there were no party caucuses, only interest groups, and members expressed their opinion in the name of their electors, and not on behalf of the Communist Party. For the forthcoming national elections to be held on 19 July, the names of 125 non-Party members had been retained by the Fatherland Front to run for election.

Concerning the role of non-governmental organizations, the delegation said that the Government was thankful for the assistance provided by national and international organizations to the people of Viet Nam. On the issue of monitoring the implementation of the provisions of the treaties, there were organizations doing that job in collaboration with national organizations. The Government had doubts about the independence of organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch whose work was politically motivated. Those two organizations had already visited the country in the 1990s.

The delegation said the Government had withdrawn 15 offences from the list of crimes which could be punished by death. It was also contemplating to abolish the death penalty in the future. In addition, convicted individuals on death row had the right to file petitions to higher courts. The death sentences handed down in the past had been mainly related to crimes of drug-trafficking.

With regard to corruption crimes, the delegation said that there were a number of crimes relating to corruption, including bribery. In recent years, there had been two major cases of bribery corruption involving Government agents in exchange of favours to commercial enterprises.

The criminal procedures of Viet Nam allowed only cases related to state secrets and issues of ethics to be examined in closed trials, the delegation said.

A judge was appointed for a five-year tenure which could be extended, the delegation said. Judges might be removed on disciplinary grounds, in which case they were asked to resign. The other reason for dismissal was if judges were found guilty in court cases. To be qualified as judges, candidates should have a university degree in law.

Viet Nam had 45 prisons throughout the country holding 70,000 prisoners, the delegation said. While serving their sentences, inmates received educational and vocational training, as well as regular medical treatment. The act of fettering in prisons was a disciplinary measure which could continue for a period of seven days. It was not applied to women. The measure was not considered to be cruel.

The members of Vietnamese delegation continued to reply to remaining written questions prepared by Committee Experts in advance under the main subjects of prohibition of slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour; freedom of movement; privacy; freedom of religion and conscience; freedom of opinion and expression; and dissemination of information relating to the Covenant.

On the issue of measures taken to prevent violence against women, the delegation said that educational programmes had been implemented to raise public awareness against domestic violence. In addition, timely investigations and strict prosecutions had been carried out. Communal reconciliation activities had also been held.

There was no forced labour in prison in Viet Nam, the delegation affirmed; and that situation had been confirmed by reports of diplomats after their visits to prisons in the country. The penitentiary law specified the working and training conditions for prisoners, and pointed out that labour was a form of re-education and a source of income for the detainees after their prison terms were concluded.

On the issue of child labour, Vietnamese law strictly prohibited any form of child labour, the delegation said. Viet Nam had already adopted ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour. The Criminal Code provided criminal penalties for those who violated the law against child labour.

Trafficking of women and children had become a serious issue with unexpected developments in recent years, the delegation said. The Government had enacted a series of preventive and punitive measures against that crime. From 1991 to 1999, Vietnamese police had discovered 2,015 cases of trafficking in women and children. In that connection, 3,376 individuals had been detained and 1,336 cases involving 2,805 defendants had been prosecuted.

The delegation said that freedom of movement was recognized as one of the fundamental rights of the Vietnamese citizens; and its enforcement was ensured by the Government. Restriction of that right was only applied in certain specific cases, such as relating to convicted persons.

With regard to some people belonging to the Central Highlands ethnic groups who had illegally crossed the border to Cambodia, Viet Nam's policy was to ensure their repatriation with safety and due respect of their dignity, the delegation said. The tripartite agreement between Viet Nam, Cambodia and the High Commissioner for Refugees signed in January this year was a constructive effort to resolve the problem. Those who returned home from Cambodia had been warmly received without punishment or any discrimination.

Viet Nam had abolished the exit visa requirement for Vietnamese citizens since November 1997, the delegation said. The information that some religious leaders had not been granted exit visas for attending conferences abroad was inaccurate.

Over the past years, followers of all religions in Viet Nam had been encouraged by the State to participate in educational, charitable and humanitarian activities, the delegation said. In addition, favourable conditions were created for religious organizations and individuals to conduct international exchanges and training abroad.

There were only 150 out of 600 journals and magazines in Viet Nam that belonged to the State, the rest belong to civil societies and NGOs, the delegation said. The press was not subjected to censorship prior to publication.

The delegation said that the so-called «administrative detention» was in fact an «administrative probation», not based on court verdicts. The person subjected to administrative probation was restricted in his movement and was assigned to stay in a limited area, involving administrative surveillance. The administrative decision restricting movements of persons could be appealed.

In Viet Nam, there were three kinds of prison accommodations divided into categories depending on the duration of the sentences being served by the convicts, the delegation said. The first category concerned individuals serving 20 year sentences and above; the second was for persons sentenced from 5 to 20 years imprisonment; and the third was for those whose sentence was below 5 years. Minor convicts were placed in the third category prisons.

The delegation said that according to the 1999 revised Criminal Code, there were 29 offences whose highest penalty was death; they applied only to extremely serious cases of crimes such as treason, subversion, sedition, and acts of terrorism, among others. According to the statistics provided by the People's Supreme Court, during the period from 1997 to 2002, there had been 931 court verdicts of death penalties. Of the total figure, 535 cases were related to violations of the right to life, 310 were convicted of drug crimes, 24 were cases of corruption, and five were cases of violations of the right to property, among other things.

The National Assembly had received 15,000 letters of complaints last year from citizens, the delegation said. The eight parliamentary committees were charged with examining the complaints on behalf of the Assembly. Concerning the process of petitions by prisoners, the Government had put in place a mechanism through which complaints could be lodged by prisoners.


Questions by Committee Experts

Members of the Committee continued to ask questions on various issues invoked by the Vietnamese delegation. An Expert asked why control was exercised over officially recognized religions in the country. Preaching of some religions practised by people living in the mountains was restricted. The delegation was requested to comment on the reasons for the need for strict control on the practice of religion.

Women were punished by their families for their behaviour, for having extra-marital relations for example, an Expert said. If that was the case, what measures were taken to protect women from such punishment inflicted by family members. Turning to the issue of sterilization, the Expert said that the incentives given to women to encourage them to undergo sterilization should be closely monitored.

An Expert asked if sectoral controls were exercised by the police to prevent people from meeting foreigners or citizens from other sectors. With regard to the right to the freedom of religion, the Expert said that members of the Buddhist United Church were being hampered from fully exercising their religion. A distinguished leader of the Church was still in prison. Some leaders of the members of the Catholic Church had also been put into prison. The adoption by the Montagnards of the Protestant faith had also caused them problems.


Response of Viet Nam

The members of the delegation said that they would take note of the remarks of the Committee Experts concerning the administrative probation decree.

The involvement of people in public works was not considered as «forced labour», the delegation said.

The number of lawyers in Viet Nam was limited and in principle a lawyer could not serve two clients at the same time according to the code of ethics, the delegation said. In all the administrative regions, bar associations were set up for the 3,000 lawyers in the whole country.

According to the existing press law, private publications were not yet allowed in Viet Nam, the delegation said.

Family planning was carried out in the country on a voluntary basis, the delegation said. The contraceptive methods were applied by communal medical personnel. There were no more financial incentives provided to persons willing to accept family planning programmes.

In Viet Nam, no one was persecuted on the basis of his or her beliefs, the delegation affirmed, adding that only those who offended the country's laws could be prosecuted.


Concluding Statement by Chairman

PRAFULLACHANDRA NATWARLAL BHAGWATI, the Committee Chairperson, expressed concern about the unduly long delay in the submission of the second periodic report of Viet Nam. Though submitted late, the report was quite comprehensive and the Government should be congratulated for submitting an addendum updating the human rights situation up to November 2001.

Mr. Bhagwati said that the report reflected the progress made by Viet Nam in its implementation of the Covenant rights but there still remained several concerns which needed to be addressed by the State party. He expressed concern that the Covenant was not incorporated in domestic legislation. If any law passed by the legislature was in conflict with the Covenant rights,

the law would prevail and the Covenant rights would have to give way. That would be in breach of the State party's international obligations. The Covenant should be given superior status over domestic laws.

Mr. Bhagwati also related his concern to decree CP-31 on administrative probation under which a person could be put under house arrest without trial for up to two years on suspicion of violating national security. There were no provisions for such persons being brought before a judicial officer or the judicial officer considering the charge and deciding whether the house arrest should be continued or not. The situation was in contravention of article 9 of the Covenant.

There was also a concern about the large number of offences for which the death penalty could be imposed, the Chairperson said. Though the number of those offences had been reduced, it was still very large and it included economic offences like corruption. The State party should take steps to confine the death penalty only to serious offences like murder or treason and should gradually move towards its complete abolition.

Mr. Bhagwati said that there was concern about the independence of the judiciary; and the five-year tenure of judges could also affect their independence.

The concept of national security was vague in its definition, he said; the fact that the Special Rapporteur on religious freedom was prevented from meeting with a Buddhist priest was of concern.

It was also a matter of concern that abortion was too often resorted to as a means of family planning, Mr. Bhagwati said.


Concluding Remark by Delegation

One of the members of the delegation, speaking on behalf of the team, said that Viet Nam would continue to discharge its international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The dialogue was fruitful and would help them in the preparation of the next periodic report. The opinions expressed by some Experts had been influenced by some non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Many other NGOs were assisting the country in its development efforts. Viet Nam had regained back its independence and the Government was endeavouring to construct the nation.



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