His Excellency Nguyen Tan Dung
Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Embassy of Vietnam
470 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N1
September 20, 2010
Dear Prime Minister Dung:
We are writing to express our serious concerns regarding the Governement of Vietnam’s arrest of four human rights activists and to urge you to take immediate action to ensure their release.
We would like to once again congratulate Vietnam’s positive economic development in the post-WTO accession era. Yet we also believe that the extension and expansion of human rights within the country should be a parallel priority to Vietnam’s economic development.
It has come to our attention that Vietnam now holds in its cells many political prisoners whose only crime was to peacefully advocates for social justice and equality. Of those, we request that you immediately release the following individuals:
- Mr. Pham Minh Hoang, 55 years old, lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, arrested on August 13, 2010 in Saigon.
- Pastor Duong Kim Khai, 52 years old, member of the Mennonite Church of Vietnam, arrested on August 10, 2010 in Saigon.
- Ms. Tran Thi Thuy, 39 years old, merchant, arrested on August 10, 2010 in Dong Thap.
- Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam, 57 years old, farmer, arrested on July 18, 2010 in Ben Tre.
As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Vietnam is expected to respect and uphold civil and political rights of individuals, including the most basic of rights – freedoms of speech, press, expression, religion, and assembly.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Wayne Marston, M.P.
Hamilton East – Stoney Creek
NDP Human Rights Critic
Paul Dewar, M.P.
Ottawa Centre
NDP Foreign Affairs Critic
