WRITTEN QUESTION E-0003/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(16 January 2003)

Subject: Vietnam's legal reform strategy

Despite Vietnam's commitment to move towards the rule of law in accordance with an internationally-funded 10-year Legal Reform Strategy programme, the Vietnamese Government has:

- continued to introduce extensive legislation which seriously restricts human rights and criminalises the peaceful exercise of freedom of opinion, expression, religion, association and the press; recent legislation includes increased controls on the Internet

(June 2002), a prohibition on satellite TV for all citizens except top Communist Party officials and foreigners (June, 2002), directives on residence prohibition and house arrest for released prisoners (Decree 53/ND-CP, August 2001), in flagrant violation of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam acceded in September 1982;

- refused to rescind arbitrary legislation such as Decree 31/CP on administrative detention, which empowers local security police to detain citizens without a court order for up to two years; to review the broadly-defined national security clauses in the revised 2000 Criminal Code under which thousands of citizens are currently detained for the peaceful expression of their political opinions and religious beliefs;

- taken no steps to implement recommendations made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1995), the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance (1999) and the UN Committee on Human Rights (2002) to urgently bring domestic legislation into line with international human rights law. After examining Vietnam's report on the ICCPR in July 2002, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed particular concern that provisions in the Vietnamese Constitution subjugated individual rights to the interest and policies of the one-party State (e.g. Art. 4 of the Constitution on the mastery of the Communist Party) and were thus totally incompatible with the ICCPR.

Is the Commission aware that Vietnam continues to adopt such restrictive legislation in flagrant violation of its commitments to the international community? Could this affect the development of bilateral EU-Vietnam relations, given that the 1995 EU-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement is based on the respect of human rights and democratic principles? In the light of EU support for the Legal Reform Strategy, would the Commission consider blocking funding to LRS until Vietnam incorporates UN human rights provisions into its legal system and rescinds all legislation which impedes the enjoyment of civil and political rights in Vietnam?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(4 February 2003)

The Commission is fully aware that Vietnam had not yet adhered to all United Nations Human Rights Conventions and that shortcomings persist in the implementation of the Conventions that Vietnam has ratified.

It is against this background that the Commission welcomes the decision by the government of Vietnam to draw up an action plan for legal reform, based on the Legal Means Assessment. The Union, has repeatedly urged the government of Vietnam to strengthen its respect for political and religious freedoms, as well as further strengthen economic and social freedoms. They have expressed this request recently in their joint declaration at the Consultative Group meeting in Hanoi in December 2002.

Both the Commission and the Member States would support the Vietnamese government in efforts to strengthen the governance and public administrative reforms, to improve human rights, to prepare for the signing and implementation of additional international conventions in the area of human rights.