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UN URGED TO HALT ATTACK
AGAINST NGO
NEW YORK, July 20, 2004 -- Leaders of several
non-governmental organizations today urged United Nations to oppose
efforts by the government of Vietnam to sanction the Transnational
Radical Party (TRP), an Italy-based nongovernmental organization
accredited with the UN.
The UN Economic and Social Council is scheduled to vote on the TRP
case Wednesday July 21, 2004 at UN Headquarters in New York.
In a letter sent by Freedom House, UN Watch, and the Democracy
Coalition Project -- members of an international network of
pro-democracy NGOs -- the groups state that Vietnam's charges
against the TRP do not stand up to scrutiny. "If ECOSOC votes to
sanction the TRP, such a decision would stifle legitimate discussion
and criticism in the UN system, and would send a chilling message to
the non-governmental community," the letter reads.
The Coalition also raised serious concerns over the nature of
Vietnam's complaint against the TRP, which it accuses of including
in its delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva a
terroristleader of Vietnam's ethnic Montagnard minority.
The coalition urges ECOSOC members to reject any motion that would
label a peaceful group, such as the hill tribes of Vietnam's Central
Highlands, as terrorist only for speaking out against the
persecutions they have been suffering since the end of the Vietnam
War, which have been documented by the European Parliament, the US
Congress and prominent international NGOs as increasing over the
last two years.
The NGO coalition appealed to democratic governments representing
the majority of ECOSOC's membership, stating "we appeal to the
countries that are part of the Community of Democracies and we call
on them to... respect basic rights such us freedom of speech and to
act jointly inside the UN system on issues pertaining to the respect
of human rights and democracy."
The full text of the letter follows below.
July 19, 2004
Excellency:
In April 2002, the Government of Vietnam lodged a formal complaint
before the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO
Committee) against the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) "a
respected non-governmental organization in consultative status with
the ECOSOC" concerning the accreditation of Mr. Kok Ksor, a member
of the TRP General Council, to the 2002 session of the UN Commission
on Human Rights (CHR). The complaint alleged the involvement of Mr.
Ksor in terrorist and secessionist activities in Vietnam's Central
Highlands. Vietnam charges that allowing Mr. Ksor's presence within
the UN was an abuse of TRP's consultative status.
On May 21 2004, the UN Committee on NGOs took what we believe is an
unreasonable decision by a one-vote majority when it decided to
recommend the suspension for three years of the TRP's Consultative
status. This action, in our view set a worrying precedent, as it was
taken without allowing a substantive consideration of the issues
that were presented by the TRP. The action by the NGO Committee also
denied TRP its "right to defense" before the Committee. We believe
that the way the UN Committee on NGOs has been dealing with
Governments' complaints against NGOs remains an issue of serious
concern for the whole UN NGO community . In fact, the
Secretary-General's Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil
Society Relations, Chaired by Former President of Brazil Fernando
Cardoso, in its report released last month, recommended that the UN
de-politicize the accreditation system for NGOs.
The vote sharply divided the Committee with nine members in favor of
the suspension (Sudan, Zimbabwe, China Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, India,
Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation); eight opposed (Turkey,
the United States, Cameroon, Chile, France, Germany, Peru and
Romania); and two abstained (Senegal and Colombia).
We believe that had there been a full and thorough airing of the
issues involved, the NGO Committee would have acted differently as
Vietnam's charges do not stand up to scrutiny. The fact is that Mr.
Ksor's organization" the Montagnard Foundation Inc." has been part
of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples since its inception in
the early 1990s. He is a respected advocacy leader and analyst of
the repressive conditions under which the Montagnard people lives in
Vietnam and it was in this capacity as an expert and as a member of
the TRP's General Council that he participated in the TRP
delegation. Indeed, when the Vietnamese raised similar allegations
in 2002, the Polish Chair of the 2002 CHR cleared the TRP of any
wrongdoing when questioned by Vietnam. We ask that the ECOSOC take
this important fact into consideration, when it considers whether to
approve the approval of the Committee's recommendation.
Several country delegations to the NGO Committee have already
clearly stated that Mr. Ksor and his organization do not appear in
any lists of terrorist organizations compiled by the UN, by the EU,
or any credible lists maintained at the national level. Several
delegations have also clearly stated that there is no indication by
their intelligence services of any terrorist activities carried out
by Mr. Ksor or his group. Moreover the MFI's website and all the
public statements made by M. Kok Ksor clearly affirm that the only
objective of this organization is to guarantee for the Montagnard
people the respect of the indigenous rights recognized by
international law and the promotion of a more democratic environment
in Vietnam, and not the creation of an independent Degar State. The
Government of Vietnam has been violating and denying such rights for
many years, as repeatedly stated by respected groups such as Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International and national and
international institutions such as the European Parliament, the US
Congress, the Italian Parliament, the UN Human Rights Committee, the
UNHCR and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
As a group of concerned NGOs, we strongly urge you to oppose any
effort to sanction the TRP on the basis of the above facts. We
believe that the effort to sanction the TRP is incompatible with
respect for the basic principles of freedom of speech and open
discussion within the UN system. If the ECOSOC votes to sanction the
TRP, such a decision would stifle legitimate discussion and
criticism in the UN system, and would send a chilling message to the
non-governmental community. In particular, we appeal to the
governments that are part of the Community of Democracies and call
on them to respect the principles agreed upon in the Warsaw
Declaration and the Seoul Plan of Action, which commit democratic
governments to respect basic rights such us freedom of speech and to
act jointly inside the UN system on issues pertaining to the respect
of human rights and democracy.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge you not to support any
recommendation aimed at restricting TRPs participation in any UN
meetings or structures. We urge you to reject any motion that would
label a peaceful group, such as the hill tribes of Vietnam's Central
Highlands, as terrorist only for speaking out against the
persecutions they have been suffering since the end of the Vietnam
War, which have been documented by the European Parliament, the US
Congress and prominent international NGOs as increasing over the
last two years.
As friends of the UN, we respectfully urge that you uphold the
highest international standards of openness, fairness and
impartiality.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Windsor
Executive Director
Freedom House
Theodore Piccone
Executive Director
Democracy Coalition Project
Robert LaGamma
Executive Director
Council for a Community of Democracies
Hillel Neuer
Executive Director
UN Watch
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