Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I second it because I welcome any opportunity to make a contribution to the case for human rights in Vietnam. I do not second it without reservation—I support a motion more strongly worded—but I do welcome the opportunity provided by the honourable member for Mitchell to put on record our support for improved human rights in Vietnam. It is on that basis that I second the motion.

There are 83 million people living in Vietnam—83 million people who do not have the basic rights that the rest of us have and who deserve better. As the honourable member for Mitchell referred to, on 8 April this year, 118 Vietnamese citizens signed the 2006 democracy manifesto. Now over 1,000 Vietnamese citizens have signed that manifesto. These brave individuals deserve to be recognised in this House. It is easy for us to raise human rights from the privilege of this House; it is courageous for them to do so. I have had the privilege of attending a number of functions—as, I think, has the honourable member for Fowler—where there have been live radio crosses to some of those individuals who have signed the manifesto, and it has been an honour and a privilege to be present to hear them directly.

This movement is redolent of charter 77 of the solidarity of movements that eventually brought democracy to their countries. On Wednesday this week members and senators will have the opportunity to support an open letter expressing support for the manifesto for democracy and calling on the Vietnamese government to allow for calls for democracy without persecution. A similar letter was recently circulated through the United States Congress and 50 congressmen and senators signed that open letter. I encourage all members and senators to come at 11 o’clock to the ceremony, where we are invited on a bipartisan basis to sign that open letter.

The recent APEC summit was an opportunity to highlight the case for human rights in Vietnam. The Prime Minister indicated to the Vietnamese community in Australia that he would raise the issue of human rights during his visit. I am not sure if he did, but I accept that he indicated that he would. It is a case which needs to be highlighted. Transparency International has rated the Vietnamese government as 102nd out of the 146 nations and rated it amongst the four worst in Asia in relation to corruption. As the honourable member for Mitchell referred to, Reporters Without Borders has rated Vietnam as one of the worst nations in the world for transparency and freedom of speech.

Some signatories to Bloc 8406 have been imprisoned, placed under house arrest or had their movement monitored, as others have. For example, there is the case of Nguyen Vu Binh, who is serving a seven-year sentence after submitting written evidence to the United States Congress about breaches of human rights. This is somebody serving seven years in prison for reporting to the Congress of the United States—that is, of course, outrageous. The United States House Committee on International Relations wrote in its most recent report:

The government continued to pressure, harass, and imprison persons for the peaceful expression of dissenting religious and political views.

In recent years, Vietnam has embraced economic reform, but economic reform without political reform is not enough. On every test, Vietnam fails—lack of freedom of speech, lack of freedom of religion, lack of freedom of association, lack of freedom of assembly and lack of freedom of political expression. The United States House of Representatives committee which I referred to identified 17 separate areas of concern in relation to human rights in Vietnam.

This motion calls on the Australian government to continue its efforts to promote human rights in Vietnam, and of course we should. But we should also increase our efforts. We as a parliament must take every opportunity to express to those brave individuals who have signed the manifesto and to the other 83 million Vietnamese citizens—and, of course, to the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese residents in Australia—that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the cause of democracy in Vietnam and that we will not rest until we see democracy come to Vietnam, as we have seen it come and assisted it to come to nations such as South Africa and those in eastern Europe. (Time expired)

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