CORRESPONDENCE - 85A COMBINED REPORTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM 2012

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Despite being a member of the U.N. since 1977 and having signed on to many core international human rights documents, the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has continued to crush its people's basic and legitimate rights. The purpose of this report is to serve as a partial listing of outstanding violations by Vietnam against the basic human rights in 2011 based on the standards set forth by the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in January 2011 was an important political event in Vietnam affecting the country's social, economic and political conditions including the people's human rights. To cling to their exclusive monopoly of power, the communist authorities do their best to restrict the citizens' freedoms and fundamental rights. As far as freedom of speech is concerned, the communist authorities continue to monopolize information, intensify control on media, and hunt down those who dare express views different from their own, or advocate for victims of abuse of power. The parliamentary election in May, 2011 was only a means to legalize and embellish the dictatorship of the CPV. All political activities outside of the CPV's control are deemed "reactionary," and crushed. Instead of being an independent and impartial authority to protect the citizens against the officials' arbitrary and illegal acts that undermine the citizens' interests or Vietnam Human Rights Network * Annual Report 2011 violate their rights, Vietnam's legal system continued to be highly exploited as an essential means to protect the regime. More than ever before, the violent means of the police state apparatus have been strengthened and directed against the citizens, either to suppress the protests against China's invasion, to restrain land petitioners' gatherings, to put down resistance to illegal forced evictions, or simply to show up the power of the police state's security force. Other basic civil and social rights, especially religious freedom, the freedom to form trade unions, and land ownership rights continue to be seriously violated. As far as religion is concerned, some ceremonial festivities intended to deceive and mislead the world's public opinion are not only allowed, they are even encouraged. But in fact, restrictions of religious freedom have been exercised in many different ways, including obstruction by regulations, control by organizational intervention, and oppression by violence. The Vietnamese communist state claims to represent the interests of all laborers; yet never have the Vietnamese workers and peasants experienced such miserable conditions as they do now under the domination of the red capitalists. Labor unions are so organized and used as a means to control the workers, and independent trade unions are absolutely forbidden. The unjust confiscation and requisition of the people's land for so- called development projects brought injustice to many people, particularly the peasants in the countryside. The gap between the victims of land injustice 2