Hochiminh
City, Nov 24, 2011.
To the attention of:
- Her Excellency Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State
-
His Excellency Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
And to: - Honorable US Senator James Webb
- Honorable Congressman Christopher Smith
- Honorable Congresswoman Lorreta Sanchez
- Director of Boat People SOS, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang
I, the undersigned, am Pham
Ba Hai, pen name Trang Thien Long, born in 1968, of Vietnamese nationality, and
a Buddhist by religion.
Address: 11/4B, duong
Pham Van Sang, Xuan Thoi Thuong, Hoc Mon, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.
I was a boat person,
one among the 839,200 Vietnamese who survived the dangerous escape to reach the
shores of asylum countries. I was a boat
person among the 115,600 who were subjected to the screening process under the
Comprehension Plan of Action (CPA). I was
a boat person among the 14,000 who were forcibly repatriated under the Orderly
Return Program (ORP). I was also a boat person among the returnees who were accused
and convicted of conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.
 |
“In memory of the exodus of the boat people through out the world
1975-2005. The Vietnamese refugees are grateful to Switzerland and to the host
countries. We are happy to live in a space of peace, freedom and democracy.
Vietnam, land of our ancestors, will forever be in our hearts”. Geneva, Switzerland.
The Vietnamese
communities around the world have shown their deep gratitude to the countries
that offered resettlement to more than 800,000 Vietnamese refugees, with more
than half resettled in the United States. In recent years, these former
refugees have built monuments to express gratitude to the resettlement nations
and in commemoration of the large number of boatpeople who perished at sea. The
success of the Vietnamese refugee communities is evidence of their integration into
and contributions to the resettlement countries. This bears witness to the prospect
of a peaceful, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society in those countries.
Twenty five years ago, the
CPA was created to establish a mutual plan among first asylum countries,
resettlement countries and the Vietnamese government aimed at stopping the Vietnamese
exodus. It had two objectives, with tragic consequences: firstly, the refugee “screening”
process that seemed to be a lottery, and secondly, forcible repatriation. On
Dec 12, 1989 more than a hundred Hong Kong policemen raided Kai TakCamp to
capture 51 refugees including women, men and children during their sleep for
forcible repatriation to Vietnam.
The UNHCR and the European
Union had spent hundreds of millions of US dollars for the development of infrastructure
in different local communities purportedly to help returnees with reintegration.
The CPA was claimed to be successful based on the following numbers: US $360
per capita in reintegration assistance, US $60 per person for vocational
training, small loans, and no punishment for illegal escape. The designers of
the CPA ought to understand that such costly investments are of quite modest
value to the repatriated boatpeople. A core factor necessary for their initial
reintegration and also for their long-term sustainability is the conduct of the
Vietnamese government – they cannot become re-integrated into the unfriendly
environment of a one-party totalitarian regime. Having overcome
life-threatening dangers to become boatpeople, in their mind they sought a life
of peace in a free and just society where there is no discrimination and no
totalitarianism. They, the repatriated boatpeople, have to choose either to subjugate
themselves to the communist ideology and a despotic regime, to suffer
incarceration, or to leave their homeland for freedom.
At the end of 2005,
while I was a PhD candidate at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and
at the same time working for Mayur Uniquoters in India, I co-established Bach
Dang Giang Foundation (BDGF) with the aim of seeking a long-term solution for the
returnees through scholarships and vocational training for their children, as
well as advocating for democracy and human rights. BDGF had a website at www.bachdang.org. In September 2006 when I came back to Vietnam to
open the representative office of Mayur and pave the way for foreign direct
investment, and at the same time to advance BDGF’s mission, I along with other
members of the BDGF leadership were captured. Three of us were sentenced a combined
ten years of imprisonment and six years of house arrest. At the court of first
instance, the magistrate Nguyen Duc Sau stated that the minority must sacrifice
themselves for the majority! At the court of appeals held on Aug 08, 2008, the
magistrate Truong Vinh Thuy restated that even BDGF objectives for relief also
had problem with Vietnam laws. Expressing the last words before the jury’s deliberation,
I affirmed that “The crime of BDGF is our contribution of our own efforts and
finance to humanitarian activities and social justice. Our crime is to point out
the inferiority and the backwardness of Vietnam compared to the neighboring
countries, and the little respect given to the human rights of Vietnamese as
part of the civilized world. Such a crime is a crime of passion for our homeland
and our race”.
 |
|
“In homage to France, land of asylum, country of human
rights. In memory of the Vietnamese boat people since 1975”.Bussy Saint
Georges, France.
|
Although the Vietnamese
government has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they brazenly
capture and imprison those who peacefully campaign for basic human rights,
disregarding the criticisms of international human rights organizations and of the
western world. In such situation and with a prejudice against those who had a
relation with the old regime or with the Vietnamese people overseas, the repatriated
boatpeople become vulnerable to harassment, suppression and captivity.
As the road to freedom
ended, as the prospect for a life in peace and freedom vanished, many repatriated
boatpeople had no choice but to fight for their own human rights. Many members
of BDGF were apprehended and sentenced, such as myself (5 years), Nguyen Ngoc
Quang (3 years), Vu Hoang Hai (2 years), for “propaganda against the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam” – Article 88. Others were sentenced for “taking advantage
of democratic freedoms in order to infringe the interests of the state”–
Article 258, such as Nguyen Van Ngoc (3.5 years since 2007) and Trinh QuocThao
(2 years since 2007). It is difficult to fully tally all the repatriated
boatpeople who have been imprisoned or persecuted. Some cases had chosen the
armed means to resist, so they were been convicted heavily.
Right after being detained,
from a dark cell covering an area smaller than four squared meters, I wrote a
petition appealing the Ministry of Public Security to treat repatriated boat
people humanely; I was afraid that the government would arrest other members of
BDGF. I explained the ideological difference that caused repatriated boatpeople
to not quietly abide by the guidelines and policies of the communist
government; for them, the government is the source of poverty, backwardness and
disregard for human rights.
The CPA closed with the
return of 109,000 boatpeople, among whom 14,000 were forced home in blood and tears
despite their extended hunger strikes, their collective suicide attempts, the women’s undressing to prevent the police
from taking them away, and so forth. Since 1975, one million Vietnamese asylum
seekers survived their flight from persecution and reached the first asylum
countries; half of that number might have perished at sea or in the jungle.
Furthermore, a number of refugees died pitifully in the refugee camps; five
hundred asylum seekers in Thailand bore the scars from injuries incurred during
forcible repatriation. Hanging over and deep inside all are the psychological impacts
of the dangerousness escape by sea or by land, the long-term incarceration in
“closed” camps, the suffering under an authoritarian regime before the escape
and after repatriation, and the insult added to their injuries caused by the
CPA.
The CPA constituted not
only a defiance of the right to asylum and the principle of non-refoulement,
but also a tacit acquiescence of the suppressive policies of the Vietnamese
government, which include the harassment and repression of dissidents and the violations
of humanrights.
At the beginning of
1996, the United States announced the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese
Returnees (ROVR). This was a humanitarian program that provided another
opportunity forVietnamese boat people to be considered for refugee
resettlement, with nine eligibility categories.
The boat people still in the camps were urged to voluntarily sign up for
repatriation before the closing date of June 30, 1996. Considering the ROVR
categories, the boatpeople were afraid that this would be a repeat of the CPA refugee
screening process; their personal experience with this process was still too
fresh. By the cut-off date of June 30, 1996, only 9,000 signed up for ROVR.
After much negotiation,
in January 1997 the US and Vietnam agreed on a procedure for ROVR. The program
humanely resettled over 18,000 returnees to the US. However the requirement
that the boat people must sign up for voluntary repatriation between Oct 1,
1995 and Jun 30, 1996 has created a humanitarian gap affecting many boatpeople
who deserved protection but did not sign up for repatriation within that time frame.
In 2005 the US expanded
ROVR to the Philippines, resettling some 1,500 former Vietnamese boat people
who were allowed to stay when the Philippine government ceased its forcible
repatriation policy.
 |
|
The monument of the boat people in Wesminster, CA, USA.
Redesign on the background of ocean (www.vietlist.us).
|
Dear Secretary Hillary
Clinton and High Commissioner Antonio Guterres,
At the present I am
still under house arrest for two more years (Sep 2011 – Sep 2013), which comes
with different forms of intimidation. I will continue to campaign for human
rights. Along with the petition that I sent to Vietnam’s Ministry of Public
Security from prison, I submit this one.
I respectfully request
that the Department of State re-examines the situation of returnees under the
CPA and offers them resettlement on humanitarian grounds, especially for those
who were forcibly repatriated under the Orderly Return Program. They face the
prospect of living in hardship and without dignity for the rest of their life
and their children’s life.
I respectfully request
the UNHCR to extend its protection to returnees who have again escaped from the
suppression in Vietnam because of their connection with BDGF or because of other
activities relating to democracy and human rights. Most of them are currently
in Thailand.
On my part, I am deeply
thankful to the organizations that defend and promote human rights as well as
the US Consulate General in HCM City, which has shown interest in my personal
safety. To pursue my campaign for the human rights of all Vietnamese, I have chosen
to remain in my motherland.
Yours faithfully,
Pham Ba Hai.
No comments:
Post a Comment