VZCZCXRO9816
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHHI #2019/01 3340716
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300716Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6804
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4004
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0233
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0084
RUEHAT/AMCONSUL AMSTERDAM 0002
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0508
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 0062
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 0059
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002019 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
Department for EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM BM CONS VM
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER ENGAGES DONOR AMBASSADORS ON HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
 
REFS: A) HANOI 1993; B) HANOI 2005; C) HCMC 1065 
 
HANOI 00002019  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a November 28 meeting, ambassadors from key 
donor countries engaged Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Pham 
Gia Khiem in an exchange on human rights issues.  Discussion at the 
event, hosted by DPM Khiem, focused largely on the recent appellate 
hearing of two human rights lawyers (Ref A) and other recent 
arrests.  Khiem called for continued "dialogue" on human rights 
issues, welcomed cooperation in addressing governance and corruption 
issues, pledged further progress on religious freedom and encouraged 
more diplomatic travel to the provinces.  He also shared information 
on the ASEAN Charter and the recent trip to Vietnam by UN Burma 
Envoy Gambari (Ref B).  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On November 28 Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Pham 
Gia Khiem hosted a lunch for ambassadors from donor countries billed 
as a "pre-Consultative Group" exchange (ahead of the annual 
Consultative Group meeting to be held December 6-7 in Hanoi).  The 
event, by design, provided a forum for a dialogue with the GVN on 
human rights, governance, rule of law and related issues. 
 
¶3. (SBU) After brief opening remarks by DPM/FM Khiem in which he 
simply said he wanted to hear views and questions, UK Ambassador 
Robert Gordon led off.  He thanked DPM/FM Khiem for continuing the 
tradition, started last summer in Ha Long Bay, of an informal lunch 
with the Consultative Group Ambassadors to discuss "sensitive 
issues" like human rights.  Ambassador Gordon said the recent 
appellate hearing of human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi 
Cong Nhan (Ref A) was a real improvement over their lower court 
trial.  The defense lawyers were able to make many important points, 
an indication that, in some ways, Vietnam is opening up. 
 
Ambassadors Express Concern about Human Rights 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ambassador Gordon went on to say, however, that his 
government was still unhappy about the arrest of persons for 
peacefully expressing their political views and called for the 
release of the lawyers.  He asked the GVN to review its policy 
restricting the  peaceful expression of political views with an eye 
towards allowing free expression.  He ended by acknowledging the 
GVN's cooperation during the recent visit by the U.S. Commission on 
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and said that, although his 
was a mixed review with some good and some bad points, there did 
seem to be some progress being made. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Swedish Ambassador Rolf Bergman then mentioned that he was 
hearing from many people in Sweden concerned about the recent 
arrests of political activists; in fact his Minister for Development 
had called him that morning for a report on the recent arrests and 
on the appellate trial of the two lawyers Dai and Nhan.  Ambassador 
Bergman also had positive things to say about the ability of defense 
lawyers to state their case during the appellate hearing, but 
requested that the lawyers be freed immediately, adding that all 
political activists should be freed. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ambassador Michalak supported these points, underscoring 
the USG stand on freedom of expression, saying that there was also 
great interest in the United States about the fate of Dai and Nhan. 
He noted there is legislation pending in Congress on human rights in 
Vietnam.  He also acknowledged that the defense lawyers for Dai and 
Nhan were allowed to express their views freely, and echoed their 
criticism of Article 88, a vague provision which prohibits speaking 
out against the State, pointing out that many in the GVN were also 
calling for an elimination or updating of that article.  Ambassador 
Michalak noted that we were asking for consular access to the 
Americans in detention and again called for their immediate release. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Michalak then turned to Vietnamese statements 
promising reform in the areas of general concepts aspects of good 
governance, transparency and anti-corruption.  He expressed U.S. 
interest in aiding the GVN in addressing these issues, noting that 
they have important economic implications and would help make 
Vietnam a more open society. 
 
DPM/FM Khiem's Response on Human Rights 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) DPM/FM Khiem responded saying that anti-corruption efforts 
and human rights were issues that would likely be with us for some 
 
HANOI 00002019  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
time.  The most important thing, he continued, was to continue 
having a dialogue on these issues.  Khiem spent some time 
documenting some of the positive things that the GVN had done in 
Human rights and religious freedom, noting that over the past six 
months, the GVN had held human rights dialogues at the vice minister 
level with the United States, the European Union, Norway, Australia 
and Sweden. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Last year was a very good year for visits of diplomatic 
staff to meet with church groups, religious leaders and other 
community leaders in many provinces, including one province that had 
over a hundred visits, Khiem said.  He noted that the amnesty 
programs had released 8,000 prisoners in the September amnesty and 
700 prisoners during the Tet amnesty; of these, there were 13 
foreigners and many released in both amnesties had been incarcerated 
for having committed national security crimes against the GVN. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Khiem added that the GVN would continue to build upon the 
progress made in the area of religious freedom; to date hundreds of 
religious groups had been licensed, 14,000 pagodas built, 500 
evangelical churches, 600 non-evangelical churches, and 1,000 Cao 
Dai places of worship.  He also noted that Vietnam would host an 
international Buddhist meeting in 2008 that would be attended by 
5,000 believers.  The GVN's relations with the Vatican were 
improving, including a visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with 
the Pope in January.  Khiem said he wanted to continue the dialogue 
and to hear how the GVN could improve on these accomplishments. 
 
Further Progress Needed 
----------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Ambassador Michalak reminded Khiem that there were still 
hundreds of house churches waiting for GVN approval, mostly in the 
Northwest provinces, and urged that the GVN look at speeding up the 
process for these approvals.  Dutch Ambassador Andre Haspels held 
there was a need for progress in political reform to match the 
progress in economic reform.  He noted that the Law on Associations 
had gone through multiple drafts and still had not been passed.  The 
law was intended to promote NGO's and the formation of a civil 
society and was sorely needed. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Canadian Ambassador Gabriel Lessard noted the arrests of 
activists before and after APEC as well as recently and called for 
the release of such detainees.  He noted that Canada makes a 
distinction between political rights and religious rights and 
acknowledged some progress on religious rights in Vietnam.  He said 
that Article 88 was "creating stars" since without it many of the 
activists that were getting headlines for being arrested would be 
obscure lawyers.  He urged the GVN to make its legal system 
compatible with Vietnam's obligations under international 
conventions and treaties to which it was a signatory. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Swiss Ambassador Jean-Hubert Lebet said they had a good 
human rights dialogue with the GVN, tough but frank and open and 
conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect.  He thanked the GVN 
for their help in arranging a recent trip by the so-called G-4 
(Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada and Norway) to the Central 
Highlands and urged that the GVN continue to let people visit all 
provinces to see the reality on the ground.  There has been progress 
in religious freedom, but the situation varies greatly from province 
to province.  Rule of Law and Judicial reform are crucial to the 
further development of Vietnam, he said.  The current system does 
not work and legal reform needs to be moved up in priority. 
 
ASEAN Charter/UN Envoy on Burma 
------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) The Dutch Ambassador congratulated the DPM on signing the 
ASEAN charter and noted that there were two articles in it concerned 
with human rights.  Khiem said that the Charter was a landmark and 
went through some of the mechanics, e.g., "three pillars," a 
committee to oversee each pillar and a human rights committee.  The 
Charter is to be ratified within one year, with Terms of Reference 
for the human rights committee to be worked out simultaneously with 
the ratification process so that the whole mechanism would be ready 
to go at the end of 2008. 
 
¶15. (SBU) When asked about the recent visit to Vietnam of UN Special 
Envoy on Burma Ibrahim Gambari (Ref B), the DPM said the GVN 
received a briefing on the state of UN-Burma cooperation and that 
Gambari sought the views of the GVN.  The GVN had already 
recommended to Burma that they take concrete steps to implement the 
 
HANOI 00002019  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
seven point roadmap to democracy; that they release all protesters 
and that they conduct a dialogue among all parties including ASSK. 
Khiem said the GVN told Burma that it should cooperate with Gambari, 
ASEAN and others to come to a resolution of current issues. 
 
Importance of Diplomatic Access to the Provinces 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶15. (SBU) DPM/FM Khiem reiterated his welcome to diplomats to "see 
for themselves" by traveling to the provinces.  He said the GVN 
wished to make such trips more open and productive.  Khiem's guests 
took him up on his offer to hear of any problems in this regard. 
The UK Ambassador responded that, in Dien Bien Phu, his Political 
Counselor had been denied permission for some visits.  Ambassador 
Michalak added that we had protested a very unusual case of 
harassment of our consular officers by the GVN and told the DPM he 
could get the details of the unpleasant and potentially dangerous 
incident from his staff (Ref C). 
 
¶17. (SBU) Norwegian Ambassador Kjell Magne Storlokkens said he and 
his colleagues from the UK and Switzerland were denied permission to 
go to the Delta to investigate Khmer issues.  He noted that, if 
embassies are not allowed to gather information for themselves, they 
would have to rely on "other sources" such as NGOs that had their 
own agendas.  The DPM looked a little nonplussed by the number of 
responses to his supposedly innocent question and said that these 
were probably "technical issues." 
 
¶18. (SBU) The lunch ended with expressions of mutual appreciation 
for the open exchange and pledges to keep up the dialogue.  The full 
Consultative Group meeting will be held December 6-7 in Hanoi. 
 
MICHALAK