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Australia is being asked to take advantage of its close ties with Vietnam to demand that its communist government end the “worst” human rights abuses at the age of 17.NS Human Rights Watch (HRW), a human rights dialogue between Australia and Vietnam Said on Tuesday.
The organization also pressures the Australian Government to immediately release all political prisoners and detainees and revise its “Problematic Criminal and Criminal Procedure Code” to meet international human rights standards. I requested.
This call comes after Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Paid a field visit She went to Hanoi in November and confirmed that “Australia sees Vietnam as a priority on a variety of issues such as infrastructure, agriculture, poverty reduction and climate change.”
However, Payne did not publicly raise concerns about Vietnam’s human rights issues, which were reported to have deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Australia should use its influence to pressure Vietnam to take concrete steps to break its worst human rights record,” said Elaine Pearson, Australian HRW Director.
“Many people in Vietnam have been persecuted simply because they tried to exercise the basic civil and political rights that Australians often take for granted.”
The Vietnamese government has a history of “systematic repression” of basic rights such as freedom of expression, association, peaceful gatherings, religion and beliefs, and HRW. I wrote it in the December submission..
“The Communist Party of Vietnam monopolizes power through the government, controls all major political and social organizations, and punishes those who dare to criticize or challenge the rules,” the statement read.
“Vietnam frequently uses ambiguous terms of criminal law to imprison political and religious activists.”
“Vietnam’s highly problematic law on cybersecurity requires service providers to remove content that offends authorities within 24 hours of receiving a request and to tighten already strict restrictions on access to information. I am. “
HRW also called for the release of the Australian citizen Chow Van Kham behind Vietnam for his involvement in Vietnam, a peaceful political organization focused on Vietnam’s democracy and human rights, but the Communist Party of Vietnam. Named “Terrorist”. “Group.
“These men are not terrorists,” Pearson said. “They are simply being charged for alliances with foreign political groups that were seen as a threat to the Communist Party of Vietnam.”
As of December, it has been documented that at least 146 people, including journalists, bloggers, activists, lawyers, religious believers and political opponents, have been imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their basic rights.
Serious concerns were also raised about the Vietnamese authorities’ response to the pandemic, and the administration imposed civil penalties. Blame By foreign Vietnamese media as “inhumane” and “arbitrary”.
A recent controversy arose in October when a Vietnamese man, Hung, traveled 300 km from the hotspot of COVID-19, Long An, and returned to his hometown with 15 dogs. rice field.
Upon arriving at Kamau, the state border, Hung tested positive for COVID-19.
Vietnamese officials then killed and burned 15 of his dogs, alleging that they were due to concerns about the risk of dog-to-human transmission, even though they skipped the medical examination.
“My wife and I tell them (dogs) to look like our children,” he told state media Tien Fong.
Vietnamese people are becoming more afraid of the government’s tense grip in a pandemic, and the media Report on men In Tien Giang province, he fled the police when he found himself exercising outdoors by jumping into a river during the blockade.
Bilateral relations between Australia and Vietnam have continued to grow in recent years. In 2021, Australia Top 10 trading partners With Vietnam.
Vietnam is also one of Australia The fastest growing The trade market in the ASEAN region has an average annual growth rate of 11.9%, the fifth largest in Australia. international student..
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Nina Nguyen is a Sydney-based Vietnamese reporter with a focus on Australian news. Contact her at [email protected].
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