Democratic Voice of Vietnam

July 10, 2015

Vietnamese women farmers are disproportionately affected by the local government’s land grabbing policies in rural communes throughout the country. They have therefore been at the forefront of protests against government expropriation of their farmlands with below-market-value compensation, and without effective policies for relocation or alternative income-generation opportunities. Many of these women have been subjected to violence and mistreatment by the authorities. By nature, women tend to suffer disproportionately more than men when subjected to the same form of violence and/or mistreatment.

Local government authorities have mistreated and used violence against these women practically with impunity, which would make violence against woman a social norm. The prevalence and level of brutality have steadily increased in Vietnam. Following are three typical examples that serve as illustration. We will present additional cases if requested.

Our question is whether Vietnam’s central government intends to prosecute the perpetrators, including those at the highest levels in the chain of command, and gave such prosecution the highest level of publicity so as to send a strong message to all local authorities that acts of violence against women will not be tolerated.

As a follow up question, we would like to know whether the Vietnamese government would institute a national program to train cadres, police agents, and all government employees and officials on its policies, regulations and practices to protect women rights.

Finally, we would like to re-iterate our question:

Will the Vietnamese government agree to permit women’s rights advocacy organizations, including Vietnam Women for Human Rights, to serve as the watchdog for CEDAW implementation, speak out on behalf of women who are victims of government actions, and submit annual reports to relevant Vietnamese government agencies as well as UN treaty bodies, while remaining totally independent of the government and the ruling party? VNWHR and other human rights organizations are now required to operate outside the legal framework, since Vietnamese law and government policy require all organizations to submit to the control and supervision of the Fatherland Front and/or the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, which are official organs of the Communist Party. We hope you will agree that revising these policies to allow thorough and honest reporting by genuinely independent organizations will help to identify problems that might not be reported by government- or party-controlled entities, and will therefore lead to better CEDAW implementation.

Cases in Point

Le Thi Cham: 54-year old Vietnamese woman in Hoang Xa Hamlet, Cam Dien Village, Hai Duong Province

Earlier today, July 10, 2015, Mrs. Cham was ran over by a bulldozer and reportedly died later at a local hospital. She joined with other farmers, mostly women, to protest land grabbing by the local authorities. Three unknown men appeared, yelling at them with profanities and threatening to kill them all. They threw the national flags carried by some protesters to the ground. One of these men then drove a bulldozer towards the protesters. As Mrs. Cham bent down to pick up the national flags on the ground, the bulldozer ran over her several times despite all attempts of bystanders and protesters to stop the bulldozer and extract the victim.

“The bulldozer crushed Ms. Cham, breaking both shoulder blades, facial bone and causing profuse bleeding,” reported the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper, quoting a witness.

Video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E-5oih2vGk

Hang Thi Na: 22-year old Hmong woman in Thon 7, Xa Cu Kro, Huyen M’Drak, Daklak Province

On January 15, 2015 officials from the Forest Inspector’s Office came to plant trees on her farmland, claiming that her land belonged to the government. Na protested. Since 2010 the local government has systematically appropriated all of her family’s farmland, with only one acre left for her to plant crops to feed the family. Recently they wanted to take away even that small piece of land.

The officials shocked her three times with an electric rod. As she laid immobile on the ground, they handcuffed her and left. She was with a 9-month old child and pregnant with a second child.

The authorities ignored the repeated begging from her family to have the handcuff removed. On January 20, three police agents came to her home to take note of the situation. They left without any action and were never seen again.

Meanwhile Mrs. Na could not clean herself, eat, or take care of her personal hygiene, let alone feeding her 9-month old child. She became weaker with every passing day as the result of the electric shocks and her being handcuffed.

On January 22, without any other recourse, the family members and neighbors came together to saw off the handcuff. She continues to suffer from that traumatic experience.

Ngo Thi Anh: Xa Xuan Quan, Huyen Van Giang, Huong Yen Province

On April 24, 2012 she joined hundreds of other members of her village to protest the land grabbing policy of the local authorities. Her village was ordered to relocate for a tourism project known as Ecopark, which a UK-based entity was also involved in.

The local government sent police agents in to brutally break up the protest. They beat up two reporters from state-owned publications covering the incident. Ms. Anh, standing nearby, screamed out for help for the two reporters.  The police and militia members quickly surrounded and assaulted her. The incident was captured on video.

On May 2, 2012, Mr. Nguyen Khac Hao, Deputy Chief of Hung Yen Province, stated to the media that the video was fabricated by reactionary elements inside with the support of those outside Vietnam.

Video: https://youtu.be/WsrJ-toozzs