For Immediate Release
New UN Human Rights Council Member Not Living Up to Commitments
(New York, December 3, 2013) – The amended constitution Vietnam adopted on
November 28, 2013, failed to address popular aspirations for change and reform,
Human Rights Watch said today. Vietnam’s donors and development partners should
redouble their efforts to press the Vietnamese government for constitutional
and legal reforms to protect basic rights, such as freedom of expression and
association.
When the amendment process began on January 2, the Vietnamese government
and National Assembly urged members of the public to make recommendations for
changing the constitution. Hundreds of thousands of people responded, in an
unprecedented display of public participation in a legal reform process in
Vietnam. Many comments were critical of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party,
with large numbers of calls for ending one-party rule and instituting genuine
periodic elections. On October 22, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Vietnam’s
National Assembly urging it to accept amendments to promote and protect rights.
“While proposed amendments were vigorously debated, hard-liners prevailed
and the new constitution has tightened the ruling party’s grip,” said Brad Adams, Asia
director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of responding to popular demands and
international human rights commitments, Vietnam remains a one-party state with
a constitution that allows authorities to restrict basic rights on vague
grounds whenever it suits them.”
Read more:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/12/02/vietnam-amended-constitution-missed-opportunity-rights
