MEMBERS OF THE
ITALIAN PARLIAMENT QUESTION THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT THE
COMMERCIAL AND COOPERATION AGREEMENTS WITH VIETNAM
Following the initiative
of Marco
Pannella, Member of the European Parliament, and of the Transnational
Radical Party, who tabled on November 19, 2002 a parliamentary
question to the European Commission about the killings October 29,
2002 of three Montagnards detained in the jail of Buonmathuot, today
20 Members of the Italian Parliament, belonging to all the political
groups (except the Communist group), signed and tabled parliamentary
questions to the Italian Government about that grave episode, both at
the Chamber of Deputies and at the Senate (see MIP’s list below).
The members of the
Italian Parliament questioned in particular the support showed by the
Italian Government to the Vietnamese authorities, through a series of
commercial and cooperation agreements, despite the increasing
oppression of fundamental human rights against Vietnamese citizens and
in particular, against the Montagnard minorities.
The Montagnard
Foundation whishes to thank the Members of the Italian Parliament who
supported the initiative of the Transnational Radical Party and of
Radicali Italiani for tabling the parliamentary questions, and
confirms the cancellation of the public Christmas celebrations in
Vietnam due to the increasing persecutions against the Montagnards in
the Central Highlands.
In fact, Since February
of 2001, martial law has reigned in the central highlands of Vietnam where the
indigenous (hill tribe) Degar Montagnards reside. Thousands of Degar
Montagnards continue to suffer as the communist Vietnamese government
tries to repress their faith: Christianity. This month - December 2002
- the Vietnamese government has mobilized more soldiers in the region
to harass, to arrest and to prevent Montagnard Degar Christians from
celebrating Christmas. Communist security forces have surrounded Degar
villages and are preventing villagers from entering or leaving their
villages. The Hanoi government has demanded that all Montagnards
follow communist ideology and unequivocally reject Christian beliefs.
As confirmed by the
Report released by Amnesty International on December 18, 2002, (No
sanctuary: The plight of the Montagnard minority,
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/ ASA410112002! Open)
the Vietnamese regime is seriously cracking down on the Christian
Montagnard minorities. Furthermore, if the whereabouts of hundreds of
people are unknown, the fate of dozens of thousands of other
Montagnards is even more so in danger.
The closure of the
Central Highlands by the Vietnamese Government to Human Rights
monitoring teams since February of 2001, clearly continues to violate
the requests formulated by the UN Human Rights Committee in its
Concluding Observations adopted at its 75th session on July
2002, an put a great responsibility upon the international
institutions and Governments which continue to financially support
Vietnam.
List of MIPs who tabled the Parliamentary questions:
Members of the Senate: Natale D’Amico (Margherita), Alessandro
Battisti (Margherita), Gabriele Boscetto (Forza Italia), Renato
Cambursano (Margherita), Luigi Compagna (UDC), Antonio Del Pennino
(Mixed Group -PRI), Paolo Guzzanti (Forza Italia), Enrico Morando
(DS), Celestino Pedrazzini (Northern League), Riccardo Pedrizzi (AN),
Enrico Pianetta (Forza Italia), Patrizia Toia (Margherita), Giorgio
Tonini (DS), Stanislao Sambin (FI) e Giampaolo Zancan (Greens).
Members of the Chamber of Deputies:
Roberto Giachetti (Margherita), Marco Boato (Mixed), Valerio Calzolaio
(DS), Giampaolo Landi di Chiavenna (AN) e Alfredo Biondi (FI).
For
more information, see
http://hrw.org/reports/2002/vietnam/
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