To the kind attention of:
Hon. Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright
Government House, Private Bag,
Wellington , New Zealand
Hon. Prime Minister Helen Clark
PO
Box 18888
Parliament Buildings
Wellington , New Zealand
November 29, 2005
OPEN LETTER TO HON. PRIME MINISTER AND HON.
GOVERNOR GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND IN REGARDS TO OVER
300 MONTAGNARD PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE AND VIETNAM'S
ATTEMPTS TO GAIN MEMBERSHIP IN THE WTO
Dear Hon. Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright
and Hon. Prime Minister Helen Clark
Recently the New Zealand Herald published an articles
dealing with New Zealand 's negotiations with Vietnam
being granted entry into the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and this is the reason I am writing to you today.
This letter is an actual plea of utmost importance
for the well-being of hundreds of our peaceful indigenous
people who have been unjustly imprisoned by the Government
of Vietnam. I also note that our people the Montagnard
Degar people of Vietnam Central Highlands also have
a ancestral heritage with your country's Indigenous
people namely that we also are of Malayo-Polynesian
origins as are the Maori Peoples.
Our people recognize that Vietnam is trying to gain
entry into the WTO, and while we do not harbor ill-feelings
toward progress in Vietnam , we however, cry out on
behalf of our constituents in Vietnam . Our people
want freedom from being repressed and thus we respectfully
ask that the fate of over 300 of our people who are
prisoners and the ongoing persecution against our people
be raised with Vietnam and 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. During that war, 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
and the international community the respect of their
basic rights. Both in 2001 and on Easter 2004 the largely
peaceful demonstrations, carried out by the Montagnard
people, in coordination with the Montagnard Foundation
have been followed by a crackdown of the Vietnamese
authorities and deployment 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. Prime Minister and Hon. Governor General
With this letter I wish to respectfully request if
you can use your influence to secure the release of
all our Montagnard prisoners who are in prison 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 published by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International.
We know the world of politics and world trade is difficult
and 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 you,
Kok Ksor
President of the Montagnard Foundation
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