Stop Vietnam from joining the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2014-2016.

Dear Honorable UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Leaders

Ref: Stop Vietnam from joining the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2014-2016.

In a matter of days, the election of 18 members of the Human Rights Council will be held during on 12-16 November 2012 . UN’s stated criteria that members must “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Also Candidates must be evaluated based on their domestic human rights records .



In Vietnam, serious human rights violations continue to be committed. It strips basic freedoms from the people including freedom of religion; it conducts cruel persecutions, illegal arrests and arbitrary detentions of its citizens. Vietnam's human rights violations are systematic and widespread. The Vietnamese government continues to suppress dissenting opinions . Recently, a Vietnamese court issued a sentence to a roughly 26 years in total prison time to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and crackdown on citizens’ use of the Internet .
Nguyen Van Hai, who has written under the pen name Dieu Cay, got 12 years. Ta Phong Tan received 10 years and Phan Thanh Hai got four years. On October 14th 2012 , a 20 years old College student Nguyen Phuong Uyen was arrested for distributing anti-China patriotic poetry and being held in jail since her arrest.

International human rights bodies such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch have frequently condemned for its human rights abuses.

UN’s stated criteria that members must “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Also Candidates for joining the UN Human Rights Council must be evaluated based on their domestic human rights records .

Yet Vietnamese regime do not meet any of these criteria, We urge you to prevent Vietnamese communist government from joining the UN Human Rights Council.

Best Regards