VZCZCXRO9006
OO RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0272/01 0840710
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 250710Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9376
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH PRIORITY 5710
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0280
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 0070

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000272 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF VM
 
SUBJECT: A REVIEW OF SWITZERLAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Vietnam and Switzerland held the seventh round of 
their bilateral human rights dialogue March 13-18 in Vietnam. 
Reviewing the formal discussions, the Swiss Embassy official 
responsible for the talks said that Vietnam takes the UN Universal 
Periodic Review process seriously and signaled that it is moving 
toward acceding to the Convention Against Torture; at the same time, 
the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has indefinitely 
derailed Vietnam's entry into the International Criminal Court. 
Vietnam's prison reform program continues to make progress, and the 
Swiss delegation was able to visit a pretrial detention facility in 
Ninh Binh Province.  In both their formal dialogue and in a meeting 
with the Communist Party, the Swiss raised continuing concerns over 
catch-all provisions in Vietnam's national security criminal code 
(Article 88).  Prior to the start of the official talks, the 
delegation discussed assistance cooperation with several ministries 
and met with lawyers, a panel of NGOs, and one prominent dissident. 
Overall, the Swiss seem generally pleased with the direction their 
dialogues are taking, noting that the Vietnamese side appears much 
more at ease now than in years past.  The challenge is to continue 
to be constructive, while remaining substantive.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Visit to Ninh Binh 
------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On March 23, Deputy PolCouns met with Swiss First 
Secretary Tanja Zangger to discuss the seventh annual Swiss-Vietnam 
human rights dialogue, which took place March 13-18 in Vietnam.  The 
Swiss delegation, headed by Switzerland's Special Envoy for Human 
Rights Rudolf Knoblauch, began with a March 13-15 visit to Ninh Binh 
Province.  (According to Zangger, it has become customary for formal 
discussions to be complemented by site visits.)  In Ninh Binh, the 
group met with local authorities, visited a church and a Buddhist 
Pagoda, and inspected a Swiss-funded project to combat domestic 
violence. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The main focus of the Ninh Binh trip, however, was to 
discuss Vietnam's ongoing program of prison reform, which Zangger 
described as an area of marked progress that Vietnam is eager to 
showcase.  The delegation, which included two experts in prison 
management, visited the Ministry of Public Security's new school for 
prison staff, as well as a pretrial detention facility.  According 
to Zangger, it has become obvious in the two years that the Swiss 
have been involved with the GVN that physical abuse is rare in 
Vietnam's prison system; as is frequently the case, abuse of 
detainees, when it occurs, takes place in pretrial detention.  For 
this reason, she said that the visit to the pretrial detention 
center was significant, as is the fact that the training facility 
includes courses on the ethical treatment of pretrial detainees. 
 
Discussions with Lawyers and a Prominent Dissident 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Returning to Hanoi March 15, the delegation met with a 
panel of legal experts, including long-time U.S. Embassy contacts 
Professor Hoang Ngoc Giao from the Institute on Policy, Law, and 
Development and the Chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers Association Pham 
Quoc Anh.  Later in the afternoon, the delegation met with prominent 
dissident Pham Hong Son, who remains in "administrative detention." 
Sensitive to possible Vietnamese concerns, the Swiss Ambassador 
notified the MFA well in advance, Zannger said.  According to 
Zangger, the Vietnamese were "not pleased," but did nothing to 
prevent or obstruct the meeting.  After the formal talks concluded, 
the delegation also convened a roundtable on March 18 with local 
NGOs active in women's rights, ethnic minority affairs, and the 
fight against corruption. 
 
A Focus on Assistance Prior to the Dialogue 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Official discussions in Hanoi began March 16, with 
meetings with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs 
(MOLISA) office in charge of gender equality; MPS officials 
responsible for prisons and human rights matters; the Committee on 
ethnic Minorities; the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) 
department responsible for implementing portions of Vietnam's law on 
domestic violence; and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).  According to 
Zangger, these discussions -- coming the day before the formal 
dialogue -- focused mainly on technical assistance and cooperation. 
 
The Formal Dialogue 
------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Although the visit lasted five days, the formal talks 
themselves comprised only a half day of talks March 17.  The MFA's 
Director General for International Organizations Le Hoai Trung led 
Vietnam's delegation, which included representatives from the Office 
of Government, the MPS, MOLISA, MOJ, the Supreme Court, the 
 
HANOI 00000272  002 OF 002 
 
 
Procuracy, the Committee on Religious Affairs, and the Committee on 
Minority Affairs.  Zangger said that the discussions were organized 
around four "clusters": 1) International human rights issues, 2) 
Criminal law and procedure, and prison administration, 3) Gender 
issues and women's rights, and 4) Minority rights and religious 
freedom.  Following the formal dialogue, the Swiss met with Nguyen 
Ding Luc, who heads the Communist Party's Department of Law and 
Judicial Reform. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Discussion during the first cluster centered on Vietnam's 
Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will take place in Geneva, 
and on the Rome Statute or the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
According to Zannger, the Swiss delegation came away with the 
impression that Vietnam takes the review process seriously and will 
take on board the Review's recommendations, provided the wording is 
"appropriate."  On the ICC, DG Trung confirmed that the indictment 
of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir would significantly delay any 
decision to accede to the Rome Statute, possibly for several years. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Moving to the second cluster, Zangger said that the Swiss 
had submitted a list of "individuals of concern" prior to the 
dialogue, together with an official request for information; the 
dialogue itself, however, did not focus on individual cases.  She 
said that after receiving information, the Swiss would confer with 
G4 Partners Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and submit a joint 
list of "prisoners of concern" prior to the next amnesty.  Zangger 
said that Vietnam indicated that it would reduce the number of 
criminal offenses subject to the death penalty from 29 to 21. 
Vietnam also said that it was moving forward with its inter-agency 
review of the Convention Against Torture and saw "no big problems" 
in revising its penal code to bring it into conformity.  The Swiss 
raised Vietnam's catch-all national security provision, Article 88, 
arguing that the Article's wording was overly vague, provided for 
disproportionate sentences, and did not usefully distinguish between 
violent and non-violent acts.  The delegation also raised Article 88 
in their meeting with the CPV.  The Vietnamese displayed less 
defensiveness than in the past on Article 88, but gave little 
ground. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) On women's rights, Zangger said that this was an area 
where the GVN was making good progress on policy, but questions 
remained on implementation.  She said that the Swiss were quite 
active in this area.  On religious freedom, Zangger reported that 
Vietnam was considering acceding to the Convention for the 
Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  Vietnam briefed the Swiss 
side on talks with the Vatican and surmised that it might be 
possible to normalize relations before the Chinese. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Zangger said that both sides appear pleased with how the 
talks have developed.  The Vietnamese side, she continued, was much 
more at ease now than in years past, even when confronted with 
sensitive issues such as Article 88.  (Zangger has also worked on 
Switzerland's bilateral human rights dialogue with the Chinese, whom 
she said were typically much more defensive.)  For its part, the 
Vietnamese side views its several human rights dialogues as a way to 
discuss issues in a more discreet, bilateral setting -- and to 
deflect criticism that might otherwise be voiced in a public, 
multilateral forum.  The challenge for both sides, Zangger stressed, 
is to continue to be constructive while remaining substantive.  The 
Swiss experience is something to consider as we move toward our own 
dialogue in the late spring or early summer.