WRITTEN QUESTION P-0325/03 by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission. Increasing violations of fundamental human rights of Montagnard population in the Vietnamese highlands.
Date: 2003-02-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Viet Nam, cooperation agreement (EU), government violence, national minority, protection of minorities, religious group, withdrawal from an agreement

C 88 E/10

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

the election process. The Commission’s Delegation in Cambodia, as well as Member States represented in
Phnom Penh, actively participate in the NEC consultations with the aim of ensuring that the elections will
be undertaken in an as fair and transparent manner as possible.

The deployment of an Union Election Observation Mission, following the exploratory mission, is now
under consideration.

(2004/C 88 E/0010)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0325/03

by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Increasing violations of fundamental human rights of Montagnard population in the Vietnamese

highlands

On 18 December Amnesty International published a report entitled ‘Socialist Republic of Vietnam/
Kingdom of Cambodia: No sanctuary: The plight of the Montagnard minority’. On 23 January 2003
Human Rights Watch published a briefing paper entitled ‘New Assault on Rights in Vietnam’s Central
Highlands (cid:1) Crackdown on Indigenous Montagnards Intensifies’.

Over the past few weeks, the following people have been arrested, without explanation:

(cid:1) on 21 December, Y-Cun Hdok, born in 1966, and H’Lem Nie, born in 1968, and on 23 December

Y-Dhiam Buon Krong and Y-Nol Adrong, from the village of Buon Cue;

(cid:1) on 24 December, Y-Blon Hdok, born in 1964, from Buon Kla, and Y-Trao Buon Ya, born in 1969,

from the village of Buon Buor;

(cid:1) on 11 January, Rac and Hom, from the village of Plei Klan;

(cid:1) on 12 January, Hing in Plei Ko and Hnit, from the village of Plei Mor;

(cid:1) on 24 January, Y-Groh Adrong, born in 1960, and on 26 January, Y-Dham Buon Ya, born in 1960,

from the village of Buon Hdok.

Vietnam has not complied with the requests made by the UN Committee on Human Rights on 27 July
2002.

The Commission:

(cid:1) in its response to previous questions denouncing specific cases, it has always stated that it was not in a
position to obtain reliable confirmation of the facts and has undertaken to investigate such matters
through all available channels;

(cid:1) in its answer to Question E-2845/02 (1)

it wrote that respect for human rights and democratic

principles is the basis of the cooperation agreement signed by the EU and Vietnam in 1995.

Among the available channels to which the Commission refers, has it questioned (cid:1) or does it intend to
question (cid:1) the Vietnamese government authorities, with whom it has regular contacts by virtue of the
cooperation agreement, about the specific cases which have been denounced?

Does the fact that the cooperation agreement has not been denounced mean that the Commission
considers Vietnam to be a country which respects human rights and democratic principles? What type of
incident would lead it to denounce the cooperation agreement?

(1) OJ C 192 E, 14.8.2003, p. 81.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2003)

The reference to the respect for human rights and democratic principles of Article 1 of the Community-
Vietnam Co-operation Agreement constitutes the enabling framework for the Human Rights dialogue of
the Commission with the Government of Vietnam. The Commission’s policy towards Vietnam is to
encourage and support continued progress on human rights and democratisation, and to raise concerns
where abuses occur or were a deterioration in the situation becomes evident. The Commission works
closely with the Member States in the framework of regular meetings of the Union’s ‘Politics and Human
Rights Group’ and takes part in Troika meetings with the Vietnamese Government as well as in ad-hoc
missions and through joint Union statements. In this context, concrete cases of Persons of Concern are
also addressed.

The Commission and Member States have 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 again expressed this request recently in their joint declaration at the Consultative Group meeting in
Hanoi in December 2002.

The Vietnamese Constitution guarantees freedom of belief and religion. Vietnam’s Government officially
recognises six religions (cid:1) one Buddhist organisation, the Central Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the Catholic
Church, two Protestant church organisations, Islam, Hoa Hao Buddhism and Cao-Daism. Article 70 of the
Vietnamese Constitution, however, also states that ‘it is forbidden to violate freedom of belief, or religion,
or to take advantage of it to act against the law or the policies of the State’. As the Government of
Vietnam still sees religious movements as a potential element of opposition and disunity, this provision is
frequently invoked to justify the many controls,
limitations, prohibitions and sanctions that restrict
freedom in this field.

Reports of systematic harassment of Christians in Vietnam (especially against the Montagnard Christians
and Hmong Christians) are common and have increased since the uprising in the Central Highlands in
February 2001. Several reports point to the repeated practice by the security forces of forcing highlanders
to renounce their Christian faith and mention accidental deaths or beatings under police custody, although
the authorities strongly deny this happening.

The access to the Central Highlands remains limited and a systematic first hand verification of reports
remains impossible. Nonetheless, in 2002, two local Union-Troika missions to the Central Highlands took
place with Commission participation, the latest in November 2002. Following the latest Troika mission to
the Central Highlands the Commission, in close coordination with the Member States, has offered to the
Government of Vietnam to support (cid:1) in the framework of its co-operation programme (cid:1) possible
activities, involving ‘inter alia’ the ethnic minorities, to reduce poverty in the Central Highlands and thus to
deal with some of the root causes of the problems in the area. At the end of January 2003 the
Government of Vietnam agreed that an exploratory mission of the Commission should visit the area in the
coming weeks.

The Commission and Member States will continue to closely monitor the human rights situation in
Vietnam. A decision on appropriate action will be taken in due course.

(2004/C 88 E/0011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0356/03

by Bill Newton Dunn (ELDR)
and Baroness Sarah Ludford (ELDR) to the Commission

(12 February 2003)

Subject: Human rights abuses in Honduras

The Commission will be aware of the human rights abuses, notably the frequent murder of street children,
which continue in Honduras.