Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-15-Speech-4-151"
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"en.20030515.9.4-151"2
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"Mr President, the situation in Vietnam is not good. Mr Mann, Mr Casaca and others have spoken about it at length. The situation is extremely difficult: human rights are not respected and neither are religious rights. There remains much to be done along the road to reform in Vietnam. Nevertheless, for once there are two extremely positive facts which I welcome. First of all I should like to congratulate those Members, and in particular Mr Nassauer, Chairman of the Delegation for relations with the Member States of ASEAN, south-east Asia and the Republic of Korea, as well as Mr Corbett and all the other Members, including Mrs McKenna, who have played a part in the drafting of this text, because it is an extremely good text, a text which does not moralise, but which highlights a certain number of violations of fundamental rights, a series of very specific cases: the case of the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, of Thich Quang Do, the second in command of that church, of Father Li, of Mr Nguyen Dan Que, of Colonel Pham Que Duong and other very specific cases of dissidents who are victims because of their ideas and their convictions. Many thanks to all those Members.
Thanks are also due for that small gesture, that light which was lit a few weeks ago in Vietnam, when the Prime Minister, Mr Phan Van Khai, met with the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church, Thich Huyen Quang. This was a first. There had not been a meeting of this type since 1981. The Prime Minister addressed the Patriarch, not as ‘Comrade’, but as ‘Venerable’. Their meeting was broadcast on Vietnamese television. It was a first, and it was also an extremely positive sign.
I should also like to thank somebody who is not with us today, and that is Commissioner Patten, because it was his determined action, and that of the Commission delegate in Hanoi and of a certain number of European embassies, and also the United States Embassy, which made it possible for this small gesture, which is a step in the right direction, to take place. I believe that this is an extremely important element. However, we must obviously remain extremely vigilant, and hence the importance of this resolution. In particular we must verify whether the second in command of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do, is released on 1 June, as he should be under the terms of his sentence. Every day we need to verify whether specific reforms are being implemented in Vietnam. Nevertheless, this small light has been lit. It is an invitation to a dialogue, and I believe that we should respond to this invitation to a dialogue which has been extended by the Vietnamese authorities, by making another gesture of dialogue.
Lastly, I should like to thank all those who, day after day, provide us with information, the Vietnamese committees on human rights, and in particular Quê Me, the committee which, for thirty years, has been fighting, day after day, to provide us with information. I should like to thank its President, Mr Vo Von Ai, and its Vice-President, Mrs Penelope Faulkner. It is thanks to them that we have been, and still are, able to draw up such precise and demanding texts, and that we are able to continue our dialogue with our Vietnamese friends."@en1
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