2003-2004

2003: Golden days for Talawas (talawas.de), a website founded in 2001 whose founder is the writer Pham Thi Hoai.

End 2003: iCMS, the software product that won the first prize in the Vietnam Intelligence Contest 2003, is found to commit piracy by copying and localizing an international open source software without tribute. The case leads to an ebullient discussion around the topic on Dương Vi Khoa’s Informatics Forum (ddth.com), attracting much attention of the IT community.

2004: On the same occasion, the Informatics Forum sets up box X-café, administered by YunaAdmirer, to discuss social issues. The box will later be expanded to other areas such as history, politics, domestic and foreign policy. Many members join the discussions, but at the same time, many others protest for two major reasons. First, political-socio issues go beyond the spectrum of attention of the forum. Second, sensitive topics discussed in box X-café may get ddth.com involved and closed down.

2005

2005: Yahoo! 360° came to Vietnam after officially launched on June 24th in the US.

September 13: Following Dương Vi Khoa’s decision to close box X-café, which unofficial sources attribute to an order by public security offices, old members of X-café open another, independent forum, X-cafévn.org. Its philosophy is “To respect the difference”, aimed at encouraging open dialogues on political-socio topics.

2006-2008

2006-2008: Yahoo! 360°'s boom years, the dawn of a whole new world of Internet media. Vietnamese net users write, photograph, share files, and get connected with each other. A generation of “net-writers” forms as fiction authors write chick-lit (chicken literature) including novel, short stories, feuilleton, and post their works to blogs everyday. Prominent figures included Trần Thu Trang, Trang Hạ, Hà Kin, Nick D… Most of them are women in their 20s, and most of them stay away from politics, only focusing on their chick-lit works.

Some bloggers try to increase page views by publishing titillation entries and photos, as well as contents related to celebrities: Cô Gái Đồ Long (The Dragon-killing Lady), Only You, Vàng Anh.

There are also a few political bloggers, but none of them are famous yet: Vàng Anh (mainly known for sex-related entries and thrillers), Người Buôn Gió (Wind Trader), Anh Ba Sàm (a former public security officer).

August 25, 2007: The Paracel Data Center (hoangsa.org) is founded.

Blogger Hà Kin launches her book, “New York Love Stories”, a typical “net fiction” that tells love stories of a Vietnamese young girl in New York City.

September 9, 2007: The Yahoo! 360° of Anh Ba Sàm is set up.

September 19, 2007: Điếu Cày establishes the Free Journalists Clubs. Founders include Điếu Cày, Lê Xuân Lập, Huy Cường, Vũ Quốc Tú (aka. blogger Uyên Vũ), and Ngô Thanh Tú (blogger Thiên Sầu). Tạ Phong Tần (owner of the blog Công lý & Sự thật [Justice and Truth]), Phan Thanh Hải (aka. blogger AnhbaSG) join later. From September 2007 to October 2010, when AnhbaSG is detained, there are 421 articles published on this blog, of which 94 articles are written by members of FJVN, and 327 quoted from other sources such as VOA, RFA, the 8406 bloc, Dân Luận, Thông Luận, Người Việt Online, etc.

October 12, 2007: Sex scandal “Vàng Anh” (Vietnamese for canary or oriole) breaks out when a five-minute video tape filming sexual intercourse of Hoàng Thùy Linh, the teen star featuring the female protagonist in TV serial drama “Vàng Anh’s Diary”, is posted to Youtube and, before removed, spreads over Internet at a variety of webpages such as cafechieu, sex9x, etc.

On the evening of October 14th, a whole TV show is devoted by VTV3 to the filmmakers for their “apologies to audience.” On early October 16, another video tape whose length reaches 16 minutes is disseminated on web. On October 25th, four students are arrested for “disseminating debauched cultural products.”

Tắc Kè (Gecko) is the first blog to post the video tapes and “behind-the-curtain” stories related to their protagonists, including the son of a public security officer. Second to Tắc Kè is Vàng Anh, whose nick is named after the female protagonist in the serial drama “Vàng Anh’s Diary.” With their “philosophy” of blogging being “sex, politics and thrillers”, Tắc Kè and Vàng Anh are the two hot bloggers in the period 2007-2008.

Hanoi, December 16, 2007.
Photo courtesy by BBC

Sunday, December 9, 2007: First protests by bloggers in Hanoi and Saigon opposing China’s ratification of a plan to set up “Sansha City” to administer the Spratly and Paracel islands. These are also first people's demonstrations in the communist Vietnam. 

X-café is one of the forums that actively involve in reporting on these anti-China protests in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Its members are also present in these protests.

While the police may not arrest any protester during their rallies, repression begins right afterwards: All bloggers who prove to be “influential” face harassment. 

Late 2007, journalist Huy Đức begins to publish his high-impact articles on the Sài Gòn Tiếp Thị (Saigon Marketing) newspaper and his personal blog, Osin, simultaneously.

2008

February 1: The first X-café magazine is introduced.

April 9: Members of “The Saigon party cell”, including many veteran members of X-café since its times on ddth.com, are summoned by public security officers for interrogation around their X-cafevn.org membership and their articles “defaming the Party and the State, creating a frisson of fear among the society.” They are forced to undertake that they will renounce X-cafevn.org.

April 19: Blogger Điếu Cày is arrested. He will later be sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for “tax evasion”.

April 29: Youths protested at the Olympic Torch Relay in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The scope of the protests was rather small.

Early November: News about the “great project” of bauxite mining in Tây Nguyên (Central Highland of Vietnam) begins to spread on both mainstream media and in the blogosphere. Some intellectuals and pundits make the first petition urging a review of the whole project.

November 28: Admin Tqvn2004 publishes the declaration of “Goodbye to anti-communist extremists” on X-cafevn.org. The declaration is criticized by many veteran members of the forum. Consequently, it is removed and Tqvn2004 resigns himself from admin of X-cafevn.org.

2009

Calligraphy by Hà Sĩ Phu

January 14: VietNamNet publishes a letter from General Võ Nguyên Giáp to Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, dated January 5, regarding the Chinese bauxite mining project in the Central Highlands. He would subsequently send two more letters – one dated April 9, 2009, to the National Seminar on the Bauxite Mining Project, the other dated May 20, 2009, to the Politburo, National Assembly and Government. The degree of his alerts increased over time: from requesting for a review of the project, to advising not to conduct the project, to finally suggesting that the entire project, including any test phases, be canceled.

January 22: Dân Luận is founded in pursuit of a civil press, whose guideline is observing “neutrality, rationality, and pluralism.” Dân Luận shares the same server with X-cafevn.org.

March: A new political Yahoo! 360° blog, “Change We Need”, becomes famous by directly attacking the bauxite mining project.

This blog provided readers with unverifiable information about the government and its relations with Chinese counterparts. “The Tay Nguyen bauxite mining project: a grave the Vietnamese communist regime digs for itself,” it said.

May 24: Trần Huỳnh Duy Thức, CEO of the One-Connection IT company, is arrested.

Mid-2009: Professor Nguyễn Huệ Chi, elementary school teacher Phạm Toàn, and Dr. Nguyễn Thế Hùng set up a website critical of the bauxite mining project (http://bauxitevn.info). It was hacked and subjected to denial of service attacks hundreds of times.

June 11: Lawyer/Activist Cù Huy Hà Vũ filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng for signing the Decision no. 167/2007 in approval of the Tây Nguyên bauxite mining project.

June 13: Lawyer Lê Công Định is arrested. It turned out that Thức and Định were behind “Change We Need.”

June 18: Blog Free Lê Công Định (freelecongdinh.wordpress.com) is introduced.

July 13: Yahoo! 360° is closed down permanently. The community of bloggers in Vietnam splits up. Some automatically move to Yahoo! 360° Plus. Others choose Wordpress, Blogger, Multiply, Weblog, etc.

Ba Sàm blog's logo

Following the closedown of Yahoo! 360°, Facebook soon emerges as the most popular social network. Anh Ba Sàm’s blog becomes a hot “meeting point” for those who pay attention to politics. He calls his blog “Thông Tấn Xã Vỉa Hè” or “The Sidewalk News Agency”, mocking Vietnam News Agency. (Sidewalk news is Vietnamese slang for “gossip”, “canards” or “unverifiable information” that people tell each other when they are fooling away their time at sidewalk cafes).

Many new blogs on politics were created in 2009-2010 as a result of the closing of Yahoo! 360°: Quê Choa (http://quechoa.info), Trương Duy Nhất (http://truongduynhat.vn), Nguyễn Xuân Diện, etc. Quê Choa is the blog of Nguyễn Quang Lập, a fiction writer and scriptwriter, whose humourous, even vulgar style was very popular with audience. Trương Duy Nhất is a mainstream reporter, who declared that he quit professional journalism to focus only on blogging as a free man. Nguyễn Xuân Diện, Ph.D., is a researcher on Vietnam’s ca trù (a Vietnamese folk song genre). Huy Đức's blog Osin is attacked and closed down as of February 5, 2010.

August 27: Người Buôn Gió is detained. Phạm Đoan Trang is detained on the following day, and then Mẹ Nấm a few days later. The three were released respectively after a nine-day detention.

Around September: Facebook is blocked for the first time. Facebookers pass on to each other the guidelines of how to bypass firewall.

Late December: The second blockade of Facebook, which is much more fierce.

2010

January 20: X-cafevn.org and Dân Luận are subjected to denial of service attacks for the first time, coinciding with the court of four political dissidents: Lê Công Định, Nguyễn Tiến Trung, Trần Huỳnh Duy Thức and Lê Thăng Long, accused of “carrying out activities to overthrow the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.

February 28: Hacker group Sinh Tử Lệnh penetrates X-cafevn.org and Dân Luận, stealing private registrations of members and posting them to web at sinhtulenh.org. While this group has previously attacked and damaged “left-sided” blogs and websites, this is the first time they appear under the alias Sinh Tử Lệnh (the Command of Life and Death).

August 23: Danlambao is founded. Danlambao means Dân Làm Báo, “citizens do journalism,” as opposed to state-owned media.

At the same time, Freelecongdinh (the forerunner of Danlambao), Thư viện Hà Sĩ Phu, Thông Luận, Tiền Vệ, X-Cafe, Talawas are all attacked by hackers to become inaccessible.

October 18: Blogger AnhbaSG (jurist Phan Thanh Hải) is arrested, just one day before Điếu Cày completes his prison term. Subsequently Điếu Cày remains in detention under the new charge of “spreading propaganda against the state.” One year later, the third active member of FJVN, blogger Tạ Phong Tần, is arrested on September 5, 2011.

October 26: “Social blogger” Cô Gái Đồ Long, also known as journalist Lê Nguyễn Hương Trà, is arrested for having posted an entry “defaming” a public security officer, General Nguyễn Khánh Toàn, and accused of committing libel.

November 3: Talawas closes down after nine years of operation.

November 5: Legal scholar/ activist Cù Huy Hà Vũ is arrested in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in an apparent ambush by policemen. The arrest triggers a war for public opinion between the official media and alternative media begins. Such battles would continue in all other events of the democracy-human rights movements in the following years which revolve around demonstrations, victims of land grabs, trials against dissidents and bloggers, etc.

2011

April 4: First trial of Cù Huy Hà Vũ. Four months later, on August 2nd, an appeal court will confirm Vũ's sentence of 7 years imprisonment for “disseminating anti-state propaganda”.

Photo courtesy of
Lân Thắng

April 26: Nguyễn Anh Tuấn (born 1990), a student at the National Academy of Public Administration, sends a “confession” to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, requesting to be charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” as was Cù Huy Hà Vũ, for he has also stored “documents with contents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

His request is not resolved and the authorities fail to issue any official decision on the case, but Tuấn was summoned for interrogations and investigation. On May 19, he publishes an open letter, saying “it's a tragedy for nations where good wills is only one-sided – from the people.”

May 26: Chinese maritime surveillance vessels cut seismic exploration cables of PetroVietnam’s Bình Minh 2 (Dawn 2) vessel in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. A burst of anger spreads on the Internet, including the blogosphere and Facebook. The Nhật Ký Yêu Nước (Dairy of Patriotism, a Facebook page created on April 12, 2010, officially launched on April 16, 2010) called for protests against China.

Sunday, June 5: Protests broke out in both Hanoi and Saigon. Nguyễn Xuân Diện and Anh Ba Sàm (now known as Ba Sàm) emerge as prominent rallying points for protesters. Both blogs are regularly hacked and attacked, arguably by both Vietnamese internet police (red guards) as well as Chinese hackers. Whereas Ba Sàm just quoted sources from both mainstream and unmainstream media, adding some satiric comments, Nguyễn Xuân Diện seemed to have “overstepped” by posting even the calls for protests, advertising the place and time to rally. It is said this may be part of the reason why Diện has always been in trouble with policemen and in danger of arrest anytime, while Ba Sàm was apparently safe.

A protest rally in Hanoi on August 14, 2011

Once-famous bloggers Hà Kin, Trang Hạ, Trần Thu Trang, Nick D… are not much heard of now. They keep writing, but there have also been many new faces in chick-lit; thus it looks more difficult now for them to win the hearts of readers. Moreover, when Vietnam is undergoing economic recession, books on such subjects as imaginary romance, home and family, etc. would possibly become less attractive. (This does not necessarily mean that audience will rush to political news and stories instead).

June 9: Chinese fishing boats damaged seismic exploration cables of Viking II, another PetroVietnam vessel.

June 12: Protests in Ho Chi Minh City are suppressed brutally. Photos circulate on Internet showing plainclothes policemen knocking down young protesters on the streets of Saigon.

At the same time, police suppression escalates in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Protesters are intimidated, harassed and isolated. Some are dismissed from their job under police pressure. State-owned media and cyber troops launch massive campaigns against protesters who claim they just peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression.

June 19: Third Sunday of protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was the last “bloggers' protest” in Ho Chi Minh City. In Hanoi, protests continued each Sunday until August 21st, when 47 people were arrested, some of them accused of “disrupting public order” (similar to “inciting social disorder” in China).

August 18: The e-book “The F-Generation” is published online at Dan Lam Bao, Ba Sam, etc. as a collection of writings by Vietnamese bloggers on the three anti-China protest rallies in early summer.

August 23: X-cafevn.org and Dân Luận are hacked for the second time by Sinh Tử Lệnh. All data are removed.

Photo courtesy of blog Thanhvdgt1 

October 30: No-U football club is established. “Sharing a sense of patriotism and anger towards China's aggressive acts, suffering from the same police intimidation and suppression, the protesters find themselves united. Furthermore, football is a sport that can most easily bring people together. The No-U football club is founded in this context.

In the spirit of fighting against the irrational ox-tongue line claimed by China in the Southeast Asian sea dispute, and claiming Vietnamese sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly Islands, the football club has also done many other good deeds, including conducting charity tours in support of indigent people and children in remote areas.” (blogger Nguyễn Tường Thụy).

November 17: Mr. Hoàng Hữu Phước, deputy for Ho Chi Minh City, speaks before the National Assembly, “The majority of people will not support a law on protests and demonstrations because protests and demonstrations, by nature, are vulnerable and may lead to abuses, which can easily lead to chaos.” This position and many other opinions and writings on his personal blog earn Phước the title of “Crazy Deputy” given by bloggers.

November 27: A group of bloggers in Hanoi hold a small demonstration to “support the PM and National Assembly” in promulgating the law on protests and demonstrations. All of them are arrested and kept in custody in Lộc Hà rehabilitation camp until the end of the day. In Sai Gon, blogger Bùi Thị Minh Hằng is arrested and taken to Hanoi after trying to protest against the arrest of her Hanoi companions, then detained in the Thanh Hà education camp, Vĩnh Phúc province, until April 29, 2012, for alleged “disturbing public order.”

On the same day, Sai Gon No-U football club is founded.

2012

January 1: Writer Phạm Thị Hoài, who used to run Talawas, sets up her new blog, Pro&Contra.

Thursday, January 5: The Tiên Lãng shootout breaks out in the suburb of Hải Phòng when two fish farmers, Đoàn Văn Vươn and his younger brother Đoàn Văn Quý, using improvised mines and muskets, resist an eviction by local policemen. Mainstream media and blog community are both driven into the incidence, carrying news, analyses and commentaries.

Tuesday, April 24: A notorious land grab takes place in the district of Văn Giang, on the outskirts of Hưng Yên province. Bloggers go first in reporting news about it, followed by official media. Photos and video clips of the eviction spread virally on the Internet.

Tuesday, May 29: Quan Làm Báo (quanlambao.blogspot.com) is introduced, its first entry being “The Love Story of Tâm and Mạnh.”

The F-Generation 2007-2011. 

June 5: The second edition of “The F-Generation” is published, “reflecting the moods and thoughts experienced by Vietnamese bloggers in each of their “online” and “offline” protests from 2007 to 2011, coupled with tensions in Vietnam-China relations. Among the authors, one is still in detention on this date – jurist Phan Thanh Hải, aka. blogger AnhbaSG; and one was deceased – artist and blogger Đinh Vũ Hoàng Nguyên.

Saturday, June 23: China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) offers for joint cooperation with foreign companies nine offshore blocks which are located in the seas bounded by the notorious “ox tongue line”, well within Vietnam’s exclusive zone and 200-nautical mile continental shelf.

Wednesday, June 27: Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PetroVietnam) holds press conference to protest CNOOC and China’s bidding.

Sunday, July 1: Anti-China protests outbreak in Hanoi and Saigon, and will continue on Sundays of July 8, July 22 and August 5, 2012.

Monday, August 20: Nguyễn Đức Kiên, known as “bầu Kiên” (Vietnamese for “manager Kiên”), a prominent tycoon and soccer manager, founder of the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), is detained. The arrest, which has previously been mentioned on the blog Quan Làm Báo, entails a deluge of information on this blog, which seems to be profoundly haunted by conspiracy theory.

September 24: Trial against Điếu Cày, Tạ Phong Tần and AnhbaSG takes place in Sai Gon. The indictment says, “the crime that the three accused committed is especially serious, continuous, enduring, obviously seen, and has badly affected national security as well as the image of the Vietnamese state on international arena.”

The judges allege Điếu Cày and Tạ Phong Tần to have “stubbornly denied their alleged acts”, while AnhbaSG “has admitted and expressed remorse for his crime, and has requested clemency”. The result is very harsh sentences imposed upon Điếu Cày and Tạ Phong Tần: 12 and 10 years of imprisonment respectively. Anhba SG receives a 4-year sentence in prison.

October 14: Nguyễn Phương Uyên (born 1992), a female student at the Food Industry College, is arrested by the Ho Chi Minh City police at her dormitory and transferred to Long An police. The reason for her arrest is not announced until ten days later, that is her “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code.

December 12: Journalist Huy Đức, also known as blogger Osin, releases on Amazon the first volume, “Liberation”, of his book “The Winning Side”. Printed version of the book is released a few weeks afterwards in the United States. “The Winning Side” incites a harsh controversy among different viewpoints on Vietnam's modern history. It is considered both as “the best Vietnamese history book since 1975” and “a biased look in history”. At the same time, the author's Facebook page becomes a battlefield between ideologies.

The second volume, “Authority”, is released on January 13, 2013.

December 27: Human rights lawyer Lê Quốc Quân, director of Vietnam Solution Ltd., Co., is arrested for alleged “tax evasion”.

December 28: The appeal court hears the case of three bloggers Điếu Cày, Tạ Phong Tần, AnhbaSG, and affirms the sentences. As at the trial court, dozens of people are harassed, arrested and held in detention for coming near the courthouse.

2013

January 19: 72 intellectuals sign on “the Petition for the 1992 Constitution Amendment”, calling for separation of power, for the creation of a constitutional court, and for the new Constitution to be in accordance with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They also call on the military to pledge loyalty to the nation and the people rather than the Vietnamese Communist Party as stipulated in Article 70 of the Draft prepared by the Committee for the Revision Draft of the 1992 Constitution.

March 31: Three students at the Ho Chi Minh City Law University, including Phạm Lê Vương Các, Nguyễn Trang Nhung, Bùi Quang Viễn, issue the “Justice for Đoàn Văn Vươn” Declaration, to persuade and encourage the tribunal to be courageous, independent and impartial in implementing its duty.

April 2: Trial against the fish farmers Đoàn Văn Vươn and Đoàn Văn Quý takes place in Hải Phòng. On April 5th, each of them receive a five-year sentence of imprisonment under charge with “murder”. Nobody died when these farmers fought against the police force coming to confiscate their land.

April 18: The Free Citizens issues the notice of “Human Rights Gatherings”, which are outdoor social gatherings to discuss human rights, to be held on Sunday, May 5, at Nghĩa Đô Park (Hanoi), April 30th Park (Ho Chi Minh City) và Bạch Đằng Park (Nha Trang).

May 5: At the invitation by the Free Citizens group, some people in Hanoi, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City go to public parks to participate in “Human Rights Social Gatherings”. In Hanoi, the picnic turns to a rally of right activists and land-lost farmers (known in Vietnamese as “dân oan”, or victims of miscarriage of justice). Many people are confined by local police in their homes as if they were under house arrest. In Ho Chi Minh City, the police launch brutal crackdowns on bloggers who they think are active participants.

May 16: Nguyễn Phương Uyên and Đinh Nguyên Kha stand on trial court in Long An. Uyên is sentenced six years of imprisonment, Kha eight years, for “conducting propaganda against the state”, violating Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code.

May 26: Journalist and blogger Trương Duy Nhất, owner of the blog “A Different Viewpoint”, is arrested and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state, the legitimate rights and interests of organisations and/or citizens” as stipulated in Articles 258 of the Vietnamese Penal Code.

June 13: Journalist and blogger Phạm Viết Đào is arrested and charged with violation of Article 258.

June 15: Blogger Đinh Nhật Uy, the elder brother of Đinh Nguyên Kha, is arrested also under Article 258.

July 15: The PM signs Decree 72 on “the management, provision and usage of Internet services and online information”, which strictly prohibits the use of Internet to “oppose the State...; threaten the national security, social order, and safety”, and bans personal websites from providing general information. The Decree takes effect as of September 1, 2013.

July 18: A group of bloggers, calling themselves as “The Network of Vietnamese Bloggers”, release Statement 258, urging the government to amend law to demonstrate its UNHRC candidacy commitment, especially repealing Article 258 of the Penal Code. Afterwards, these bloggers meet with a series of international organizations and diplomat missions to hand in Statement 258, including the OHCHR, HRW, CPJ, embassies of the United States, Australia, Sweden, Germany, and the EU-Delegation in Vietnam.

August 16: Appeal is heard in the case against Nguyễn Phương Uyên and Đinh Nguyên Kha for “conducting propaganda against the state.” Uyên is given a suspended three-year sentence, and Kha a four-year sentence of imprisonment. Three months later, on November 29, Uyên is expelled from school.

September 23: 130 Vietnamese people inside and outside of the country sign and release the Declaration on Implementing Civil and Political Rights in Vietnam, and, at the same time, launch a website named “Civil Society Forum”.

October 2: Human rights lawyer Lê Quốc Quân appears before trial court for “tax evasion”. He receives a sentence of 30 months in prison. His company, Vietnam Solution Co., Ltd. is ordered to pay a fine of 1.2 billion dong (equivalent to 56,800 USD).

October 29: Đinh Nhật Uy is put on trial court and given a suspended 15-month sentence.

November 13: The Vietnamese government signs Decree 174 on “administrative sanctions in the area of postal, telecommunication, IT and radio frequency”, imposing a fine of between 70,000,000 and 100,000,000 dong (approximately between 3300 USD and 4700 USD) on those who commit any of a great many acts, including “conducting propaganda against the state”, but not to the extent of penal liability examination.

Đọc Thêm»

In the context of the Southeast Asian Region, the United Nations human rights mechanisms can easily be resorted to since all the Southeast Asian states are members of the UN. Moreover, it is easier to file communications before the UN Mechanism, compared to filling communication before treaty-based bodies (ex. Human Rights Committee for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR).

Within the UN system, the Human Rights Council is the inter-governmental body responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights in the world, and for addressing situations of human rights violations and to make recommendations on these. The Human Rights Council has the authority to discuss all thematic human rights issues (ex. freedom of expression) and situations that require its attention throughout the year. The Human Rights Council meets at the UN Office at Geneva.

Please note that the UN Human Rights Council (a body within the UN system) is different from the Human Rights Committee (which is a treaty-based body under the ICCPR and the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR).

The UN human rights mechanisms include:

- the UN Human Rights Council;

- the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention;

- the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression;

- the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders; and 

- the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, and the UNESCO.

Đọc Thêm»

By Media Defense Southeast Asia

WHAT IS THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE?

The Human Rights Committee is a body established under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to determine compliance by State parties with the said treaty. It is composed of eighteen members who are nationals of the State parties to the ICCPR. (See ICCPR, Article 28)

WHAT COMMUNICATIONS ARE BROUGHT BEFORE THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE?

A “communication” is a compliant filed before an international body such as the Human Rights Committee. A communication before the Human Rights Committee may be filed by an individual who alleges a violation of any right under the ICCPR against a State that is a party to the ICCPR (See Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, Article 1). The concerned state must also be a party to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. 

For a communication against a state to be admissible before the Human Rights Committee, said state must be a party both to the ICCPR and the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. Vietnam is bound by the ICCPR but not a party to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. 

WHO CAN BRING A COMPLIANT BEFORE THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE?

According to Fact Sheet No. 7 (on the Complaints Procedure) published by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights:

“Anyone can lodge a compliant with a committee against a State that satisfies these two conditions, claiming that his or her rights under the relevant treaty have been violated. It is not necessary to have a lawyer prepare your case, though legal advice usually improves the quality of the submissions. Be aware, however, that legal aid is not provided under the procedures. You may also bring a claim on behalf of another person on condition that you obtain his or her written consent. In certain cases, you may bring a case without such consent. For example, where parents bring cases on behalf of young children or guardians on behalf of persons unable to give formal consent, or where a person is in prison without access to the outside world, the relevant committee will not require formal authorization to lodge a complain on another's behalf.” (Fact Sheet No. 7/Rev.1, Complaints Procedure, Page 3)

WHEN IS A COMMUNICATION INADMISSIBLE BEFORE THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE?

A communication before the Human Rights Committee is inadmissible if any of the following occurs:

1) the communication is anonymous;

2) the Human Rights Committee considers the communication to be an abuse of the right of submission of such communication;

3) the communication is incompatible with the provision of the ICCPR;

4) “the same matter in the communication is not being examined under another procedures of international investigation or settlement” or

5) the individual has not exhausted all available domestic remedies.

IS THERE A NEED FOR EXHAUSTION OF DOMESTIC REMEDIES BEFORE I CAN FILE A COMMUNICATION TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE?

Yes. There is a need for exhaustion of domestic remedies before one can file a communication to the Human Rights Committee. As provided by Article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR:

Article 2: Subject to the provisions of article 1, individuals who claim that any of their rights enumerated in the Covenant have been violated and who have exhausted all available domestic remedies may submit a written communication to the Committee for consideration.

WHAT IS EXHAUSTION OF DOMESTIC REMEDIES?

Exhaustion of domestic remedies is explained in Fact Sheet No. 7 (on the Complaints Procedure) published by the United Nations Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights:

“A cardinal principle governing the admissibility of a complaint is that you must, in general, have exhausted all remedies in your own State before bringing a claim to a committee. This usually includes pursuing your claim through the local court system, and you should be aware that mere doubts about the effectiveness of such action do not, in the committee's view, dispense with this requirement. There are, however, limited exceptions to this rule. If the exhaustion of remedies would be unreasonably prolonged, or if they would plainly be ineffective (if, for example, the law in your State is quite clear on the point at issue) or if the remedies are otherwise unavailable to you (owing, for example, to denial of legal aid in a criminal case), you may not be required to exhaust domestic remedies. You should, however, give detailed reasons why the general rule should not apply. On the issue of exhaustion of domestic remedies, you should describe in your original complaint the efforts you have made to exhaust local remedies, specifying the claims advanced before the national authorities and the dates and outcome of the proceedings, or alternatively stating why any exception should apply.”

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Farida Shaheed - One of the key issues for Viet Nam today is the space available for debate and the expression of a plurality of voices. One striking example of this, which is of concern to me, relates to history teaching, as only one history textbook is in use in schools. As stated in my thematic report on the writing and teaching of history submitted this year the General Assembly (A/68/296), history teaching should promote critical thought, analytic learning and debate, enabling a comparative and multi-perspective approach rather than moulding children into a unidimensional perspective. This entails in particular the use of a wide array of teaching materials, including textbooks from a range of publishers. I encourage relevant actors in Viet Nam to look at my report...

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Hanoi, 29 November 2013.

Members of the press, ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to share with you my preliminary observations at the end of my 12-day official visit as the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights.

Let me begin by warmly thanking the Government of Viet Nam for inviting me and for their extensive work in facilitating a comprehensive and interesting programme of work.

I wish to stress how important this invitation is. Ensuring the enjoyment of cultural rights by all is a complex issue and not an easy task to accomplish. This was demonstrated by various topics I have addressed during my visit: the right to enjoy the arts and to freedom of artistic expression and creativity, the right of people to manifest their cultural identity and to access and enjoy their own cultural heritage as well as that of others, history teaching in schools, and the impact of tourism on the enjoyment of cultural rights.

During my stay in Viet Nam, I visited Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Sa Pa, as well as a few villages in the Da Nang, Quang Nam and Lao Cai Provinces. I had the opportunity to hold meetings with numerous Government officials at the national and local levels, responsible in the areas of culture and tourism, education, information and communication, ethnic minorities, as well as various officials of People’s committees, the Central Commission for Propaganda and Education of the Party’s Central Committee, representatives of the National Assembly and Unions. I also met with artists, academics, directors and staff working in research institutes or cultural institutions, representatives of civil society, members of ethnic communities, people involved in the tourism industry and UN agencies. I would like to thank them all for their time, warm hospitality, and, above all, the wealth of information they shared with me.

I wish to clarify that I am an independent expert who reports to the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, to which Viet Nam was elected this month. Although appointed by the Human Rights Council, I am not employed by the United Nations and the position I hold is honorary.

My independent status is crucial and enables me to fulfil my functions impartially.

Today, I will confine myself to a few preliminary remarks and considerations. I will develop my assessment in a written report, in which I will also formulate recommendations. I will present this report at the 25th session of the Human Rights Council in March 2014 in Geneva.

Ladies and gentlemen,

At present, Viet Nam finds itself at an important juncture. Enormous progress has been achieved in the area of economic development, the reduction of poverty including in remote and rural areas, and the efforts towards the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals have been impressive. I can testify that in the rural villages I visited, roads had been or were being built, schools established, and housing facilitated or repaired.

I believe that such programmes would have been even more efficient had the participation of local communities and the use of their knowledge, including their traditional knowledge, been ensured. Rigidity in programming and implementation and top-down approaches negatively impact effectiveness. For example, in villages regularly flooded by water, traditional houses are more appropriate than those promoted under governmental schemes. I appreciate that traditional architecture has been promoted in building communal houses in the Central Highlands. However, I encourage the Government, when extending support for housing, to offer people real choices regarding the architecture, whether traditional or modern, they want for their own individual houses. More generally, I encourage the Government to ensure greater flexibility in policies and meaningful consultations with concerned communities when developing programmes. A practice needs to be developed whereby people have the space to contribute to the design of programmes that significantly impact their way of life.

I believe that the Government, as well as multiple actors in the Vietnamese society, have taken note of possible detrimental impacts of development programmes on the people’s cultural rights, in particular the rights of ethnic minorities. The Government should significantly increase its efforts to map and to mitigate such negative effects so that the country can fully benefit from the strength of the varied cultures of its peoples to promote sustainable development.

This is particularly relevant with respect to tourism. By using culture as a resource for development, Viet Nam attracts a steadily rising number of international visitors as well as internal tourists. Multiple programmes have been developed to help people of ethnic communities to sell their crafts and access the markets, as well as to showcase their traditional cultures through various festivals and performances. This has allowed communities to participate in the economic development of their region, and has also enabled the Government to promote a more multi-cultural image of the country.

Many challenges remain, however. As you know, I visited Sa Pa and its surrounding villages. And there, I could note that, although tourism has provided a supplementary source of livelihood to local people, unfortunately they are not the primary beneficiaries of the revenue generated. Measures are needed to ensure that the people whose cultural heritage is being used to promote tourism are empowered to manage these activities to their best advantage.

In addition, I am particularly, concerned by situations where people are asked to perform rather than live their own cultures, either to retain artificially specific aspects of their culture to satisfy the tourists’ demands, or, conversely, to modify certain aspects of their culture to satisfy those demands such as modifications of food or accommodation patterns, or the foreshortening of customs or having tickets for participation. I am talking for example of the Khmer’s traditional sport of Bay Nui bull race, in some provinces of Southern Vietnam.

Another example relates to the Cong drum, which is played by many communities in the central highlands and is included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. The Cong is considered as a sacred and precious musical instrument, to be used only on very specific occasions. However, today it is also being played on demand for tourists in some places, thus clearly losing its original cultural significance. I strongly believe that in all such cases, the concerned communities must be consulted on whether, how, when and where to perform and share aspects of their cultural heritage.

Of course, it is not possible, or desirable, to prevent the evolution of cultural practices that inevitably occurs when groups interact with each other. This can also be quite positive. However, it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that tourism does not lead to the mere folklorization of its peoples’ cultures, meaning reducing people to certain manifestations of their culture and not acknowledging their humanity.

It is therefore particularly important to enable communities to freely develop their cultures, including outside of touristic areas. The Government should not only support cultural performances and crafts for tourists, but also develop programmes in cooperation with the concerned communities including for continuing cultural practices should this be their wish.

I am also concerned by cases of local or minority communities whose ways of life and culture have been completely disrupted by development programmes. For instance, I was informed that the people of the Con Dau Parish near Da Nang underwent, and are still undergoing, forced evictions from the land they had traditionally tilled to make way for the development of a mega private housing scheme. I hope the Government will intervene in a timely manner to resolve this particular case. More generally, I encourage the Government to ensure that the collective ownership of land is recognized for communities wishing to retain and develop their traditional ways of life, most often based on agriculture, forest husbandry or fishing.

Another issue I have discussed at length with governmental officials relates to the definition of what constitutes bad practices or customs as well as “superstition”. My understanding is that such terms need to be clarified as practices contradicting human rights or undermining human dignity. I also encourage the authorities to identify such practices through discussions with the concerned communities.

I would like to welcome positive initiatives put in place by the Government. These include the work of the Institute of Linguistic to document and preserve ethnic languages and develop scripts, as well as the pilot research project conducted with UNICEF to promote bilingual education for the Hmong, J’rai and Khmer, three of the largest minority groups, at the pre-school and primary school levels. As research demonstrates, students benefiting from such programmes have done very well. I strongly encourage the Government to support the bilingual education project and extend this to other groups, regions and grades. At the same time, some of my interlocutors expressed concern regarding the script that is being used for some groups. Here, again, a positive way forward to address such concerns is to include in the decision-making process researchers and academics belonging to these communities.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One of the key issues for Viet Nam today is the space available for debate and the expression of a plurality of voices. One striking example of this, which is of concern to me, relates to history teaching, as only one history textbook is in use in schools. As stated in my thematic report on the writing and teaching of history submitted this year the General Assembly (A/68/296), history teaching should promote critical thought, analytic learning and debate, enabling a comparative and multi-perspective approach rather than moulding children into a unidimensional perspective. This entails in particular the use of a wide array of teaching materials, including textbooks from a range of publishers. I encourage relevant actors in Viet Nam to look at my report.

I am encouraged that the Government and civil society are currently trying to re-define the contours of the space available for a diversity of voices to be articulated. I strongly encourage the Government to widen that space, in accordance with its own constitution and international standards. The political and governmental structure in Viet Nam, together with various Unions, which act mainly as vehicles for transmitting the government’s decisions, currently leaves little space for civil society to express itself, in particular when it comes to academics, artists and others who may be critical of the Government’s policies.

It is time for Viet Nam to ensure greater freedom of artistic expression as well as academic freedoms, and to allow a multi voice narrative to find its place. The absence of private publishing houses greatly reduces the scope for independent voices to be heard. The constitution provides for fundamental rights but it is often very difficult to enjoy these due to multiple regulations and the lack of clearly defined specifications of what is acceptable or not acceptable. It is unfortunate that judicial processes have not helped to clarify the parameters of specific laws.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Artists may entertain people, but they also contribute to social debates, sometimes bringing counter-discourses. While I am happy to note that a number of interlocutors stated they had noticed an increased space for self-expression, I am deeply concerned that a number of artists have been under surveillance, harassed, or detained. In my discussions with the authorities for example, I have raised the case of some artists who have been convicted under article 88 of the Criminal Code for “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam”. I would like to emphasize that artistic expressions are an integral part of cultural life and are at the heart of vibrant cultures and the functioning of democratic societies. Therefore, I sincerely hope that the Government will review its policy to ensure greater freedom of artistic expression and creativity, in accordance with international standards.

I am extremely grateful to the Government of Viet Nam for inviting me to visit, enabling me to deepen my understanding of these very sensitive but important issues. The Government’s invitation confirms how seriously it is taking issues relating to the enjoyment of cultural rights. I know how difficult this is, in particular when the challenge is for the Government to ensure that the “unity” it promotes is based on the diverse opinions, expressions and cultures of the people.

Farida Shaheed

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What are human rights?

Human rights are those rights that are necessary in order for us to live as human beings. Human rights give us dignity and equality. Human rights ensure that we all have adequate access to basic needs such as food and shelter. Human rights protect us from violence and abuse and work against ignorance and hatred. Human rights are inherent in all human beings and they should never be denied. Human rights are universal. They transcend borders, cultures, political ideologies, and religious beliefs. No matter where you live in the world, who your parents are, or what kind of government you have, human rights are your rights. Human rights allow us to fully develop our human abilities. They protect our right to participate in society, to work and provide for ourselves, to practice our culture and speak our language, to live in peace, and to be free from harm. Most importantly, human rights are about respecting one another. They are about fulfilling our responsibility to ensure that no one’s human rights are violated. For example, it is your right to be free from discrimination and it is your duty to not discriminate against others. When any person is denied human rights we are all affected. Recognizing that human rights are only as strong as our willingness to treat one another as equals is the first step in achieving "freedom, justice and peace in the world".

Universal and inalienable

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, for example, noted that it is the duty of States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems. All States have ratified at least one, and 80% of States have ratified four or more, of the core human rights treaties, reflecting consent of States which creates legal obligations for them and giving concrete expression to universality. Some fundamental human rights norms enjoy universal protection by customary international law across all boundaries and civilizations. Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.

Interdependent and indivisible

All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education , or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.

Equal and non-discriminatory

Non-discrimination is a cross-cutting principle in international human rights law. The principle is present in all the major human rights treaties and provides the central theme of some of international human rights conventions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The principle applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of a list of non-exhaustive categories such as sex, race, color and so on. The principle of non-discrimination is complemented by the principle of equality, as stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Both Rights and Obligations

Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfill means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitled our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.

Why is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights important?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a symbol of freedom, equality, and justice in the world. It was the first international agreement aimed solely at protecting and promoting human rights. Nations with diverse political, religious and cultural backgrounds joined together to make a statement against injustice and inequality. They created a standard of achievement that all nations thereafter would be morally obligated to respect. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a ground-breaking document that paved the way for the future of international justice and human rights. Many international human rights agreements have emerged since 1948. Thousands of non-governmental human rights organizations have been established in the past 50 years. These organizations have often used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a way to measure their governments’ human rights performance. It is an instrument used to prompt democratic reform and to demand adherence to international human rights laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also important to you. It is the foundation of your freedom, your rights, and your responsibilities. Student and teacher demonstrations, non-governmental organizations, community groups and individuals have struggled to ensure that our rights as human beings are protected. We all have an obligation to do the same. Just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be used to measure a government’s performance, it can also be used to measure our own performance in respecting and promoting human rights. How do you measure up? Do you treat others equally? Do you respect diversity? Are you working against human rights violations? These are important questions you must ask yourself. If the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to continue to be a strong influence in our lives, we must act on it!

Is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights upheld universally?

Every human being should be able to read a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and say, "Yes, my human rights are respected". Similarly, everyone should be able to say, "Yes, I respect the rights of others". Unfortunately, fifty years after the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this is still not the case. In order for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to meet its full purpose, every person must fulfill his/her responsibility to respect human rights. At an international level, many countries have taken steps to ensure that human rights are a priority in their states. By signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a country commits itself to protecting the rights of its citizens and respecting the rights of all human beings. Even countries that have not signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are morally obligated to abide by its principles. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become so entrenched in international law that to disregard the importance of human rights is considered unacceptable by international standards. Many individuals and many governments, however, still fail to uphold human rights. Despite diplomatic pressure, multilateral agreements, and national laws, human rights continue to be violated, and not just in wars or by corrupt governments in far away places. Human rights violations are occurring in homes, in schools, and in communities across Canada. In order for these violations to end and human rights to be protected, it is up to us to take action. Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the first United Nations Human Rights Commission, once said that human rights begin "in small places, close to home". What is your role in protecting human rights in your school? How can you help others in your community? What more can Canada do about human rights violations here and abroad? These are difficult questions but they must be addressed. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights can become a universally respected document if we work together.

What is the International Bill of Human Rights?

There are three key documents that make up the International Bill of Human Rights: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966). Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a statement of principles, the two covenants are legally binding agreements. This means that if countries have signed and ratified the covenants, they agree to uphold the rights and freedoms defined by the covenants in their own states. Although the covenants reflect principles similar to those of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they also include additional rights. The focus of each covenant is different. They were both written at the height of the Cold War when communist and liberal-democratic countries disagreed about which rights were more important to their citizens. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights emphasizes the rights of the worker to "just and favorable conditions" and to an "adequate standard of living". The right to food, shelter, health care, and education are included as major components. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights addresses those rights we usually associate with democracy, such as freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and the right to vote. The first article of both covenants is the right to self-determination. This right was not included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right to self-determination gives nations the freedom to establish their own governments, to create their own laws, and to practice their own culture without interference. This right forms the foundation for all other rights in each covenant. In the same way, the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights", is the foundation of all other rights in the declaration. Together, these three documents form the basis of human rights as we have come to know them today.

Credit: Icelandic Human Rights Centre

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