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Vietnam hides human rights abuses
to prevent jeopardizing US trade treaty
Martial law and repression of
Christian hill tribes Vietnamese authorities continue to enact martial law in the Central Highlands
putting entire villages under house arrest and restricting independent access to the region.
However, reports of torture, deaths and brutality are escaping through Vietnam's tightly controlled
media. Journalists and independent monitors have since been denied free access to the troubled
region. Refugees are now fleeing the repression and crossing into Cambodia. In early February
peaceful demonstrations by Montagnard Christians led to martial law which was sparked by the arrest
and torture of two of their members. Some Montagnards even attended the peaceful demonstrations
riding on elephants. Vietnamese authorities responded however, by attacking the ethnic Montagnards
with tear gas and batons. Long noted for its intolerance of government criticism, Vietnam
immediately sent in the military. Helicopters began buzzing Montagnard villages and the region has
since been under tight military control. Repression is common in Vietnam however, the US State
Department reported in its Human Rights Report on Vietnam released in February 2001 that " the
(Vietnamese) government continued to repress basic political and some religious freedoms and
numerous abuses by the Government continue." US Companies lobby for trade with Vietnam US
companies have recently lobbied hard for open trade with Vietnam. US companies wrote to President
Bush in January asking for the "trade agreement" to be ratified. In the wake of the
highland unrest Pete Petersen the US Ambassador to Vietnam left Vietnam to kickstart the trade
negotiations again as the recent brutality by Vietnam threatened the process. But what of human
rights? What of the repression continuing in Vietnam? What of America's loyalties to its past
comrades? Vietnam War Allies Is the world aware that over 40 thousand Montagnards served with the
US Army during the Vietnam War? Is the world aware that over 200,000 of these people died during
the Vietnam War - many serving alongside the US military? Is the world aware that Vietnam enacted a
genocidal revenge against the Montagnard race because of this association with the US? Does the
world know that Montagnards were thrown in labour camps, publicly executed, had their culture
outlawed, their lands stolen? Does the world know the Vietnamese government aggressively pursues
sterilizations of Montagnard women today, now, in the year 2001? These are facts of history, though
forgotten by some… Economic Prostitution If the United States caves in to US Companies ready to
pounce on untouched Vietnamese markets, what can be said of the world today? Is money all that
matters? Will human rights and loyalty be sacrificed for this trade treaty? It will be a grave
injustice to reward Vietnam with a trade treaty - while they continue with their persecution of a
race of people - a race of hill tribes who have suffered one of the worst examples of brutality.
Some sources inside Vietnam indicate that martial law will only end once the trade treaty has been
signed. Vietnam it seems is now afraid of having the world know the extent of the human rights
violations enacted in the strife torn highlands.
· For more information on forced
assimilation and genocide of the Montagnard/Degar peoples - see the
Montagnard Foundation Human Rights Report 2001.
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