To the kind attention of:
Hon. Ambassador Rob Portman
Hon. Dorothy Dwoskin and;
Hon. Barbara Weisel
600 17th Street, N.W.
Washington , DC 20508
United States of America
16 January 2006
OPEN LETTER TO UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
AS US DELEGATION
VISITS VIETNAM :
PLEASE REMEMBER THE MONTAGNARDS - FORMER US ALLIES,
AS OVER 300 MONTAGNARD DEGAR PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
REMAIN IN VIETNAMESE PRISONS
Dear Hon. Ambassador Rob Portman, Dorothy Dwoskin
and Barbara Weisel of the US Trade Office:
I am writing you today on the eve of your delegation
conducting negotiations in Vietnam from 16 to 18 January
2006 concerning Vietnam 's bid to enter the World Trade
Organization (WTO). This issue is of utmost importance
for the well-being of hundreds of our peaceful indigenous
people who have been unjustly imprisoned by the Government
of Vietnam since February 2001. I also stress we do
not harbor ill-feelings toward progress in Vietnam,
but cry out to you for help on behalf of our constituents
in Vietnam who have suffered torture and imprisonment
in Vietnam. Our people merely want freedom from being
repressed and thus we respectfully ask that the fate
of our over 300 prisoners and the ongoing persecution
against our people be raised with Vietnam in your discussions.
We would like our prisoners of conscience to be released
before Vietnam be granted such status with the WTO.
As you may know, the Montagnard people who have inhabited
Vietnam's Central Highlands for centuries, have been
suffering intense discrimination and persecution by
the Vietnamese Government especially since the end
of the Vietnam War when over 40,000 Montagnards served
alongside our American brothers. During that war, our
people the Montagnards largely sided with the US military
actively supporting the effort to stop the victory
of communist forces that, they knew, would have oppressed
our civil liberties, starting with the right to religious
freedom, their indigenous rights, and the right to
our ancestral lands. This religious, social and political
oppression has deteriorated after the fall of South
Vietnam in 1975, especially since our people decided
to stand up for their rights and organize peaceful
mass demonstrations in the central highlands to demand
the Vietnamese Government respect their basic rights.
Both in 2001 and on Easter 2004 the largely peaceful
demonstrations, carried out by the Montagnard Degar
people, in coordination with the Montagnard Foundation
have been followed by a crackdown of the Vietnamese
authorities and deployment of security forces in the
Central highlands, who have killed many of our people
and conducted a widespread campaign of arrests, tortures
and intimidation that is far from over.
Despite some cosmetic gestures by the Vietnamese authorities
almost all the Montagnards imprisoned since 2001 for
peacefully demonstrating for their rights, for fleeing
to Cambodia or for practicing Christian beliefs remain
in Vietnamese prisons.
This widespread repression has been documented by
numerous sources, including the US State Department
which had led to Vietnam being designated as a Country
of Particular Concern in 2005 for violating religious
freedom.
Hon. Ambassador Portman and Hon. Trade Assistants
Dwoskin and Weisel
With this letter I wish to respectfully request if
you can use your influence in the US Trade Office to
help secure the release of all our Montagnard prisoners
arrested following the 2001 and 2004 demonstrations.
I am attaching to this letter a detailed report by
us which confirms and expands on the information on
Montagnards prisoners already confirmed by Human Rights
Watch and Amnesty International. Many of these people
have been beaten and tortured.
We know the world of politics and world trade is complex
but we cry out in desperation to you in order that
you may use some of your influence to help our people
who suffer in prison. Attached is our report list of
over 300 prisoners with over a hundred photos.
Sincerely and God Bless,
Kok Ksor
President of the Montagnard Foundation
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