Dear Sir and Madam,

RE: HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF
VIETNAM GOVERNMENT ON VIETNAMESE PEOPLE LIVING ALONG THE
BORDER BETWEEN VIETNAM AND CHINA.
 
 

We, members of the Vietnamese Community in Australia and supporters of human
rights, wish to bring to your attention the latest gross human rights violation of
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV)’s government on the people of Vietnam.

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), an illegitimate holder of power in Vietnam,
had ordered its instrument, the Government of SRV-without any disputes, military
conflict or war between Vietnam and China, and without any warning,
consultation, referendum or seeking the approval of the Vietnamese people and the
Parliament - to sign two treaties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC): one on
land borders on the 30th December 1999 and one the division of territorial waters in
the Gulf of Tonkin on 25th December 2000.

The land border treaty gave away more than 789km2 of Vietnam’s northern
bordering territory to China, and the division of territorial waters treaty gave away
11,000km2 of Vietnam’s water territory to China. On the 27th December 2001, the
first border demarcations have been taken place at the border town of Dongxin (in
China) and Mong Cai (in Vietnam).

Many thousands of Vietnamese people, who have lived along the six northern
border provinces between Vietnam and China: Lai Chau, Lao Cay, Ha Giang, Cao
Bang, Lang Son and Hai Ninh were forced to leave their homes and ancestral lands
to move south in order to claim their Vietnamese citizenship. Those who chose to
stay are now subjected to the rules of the People’s Republic of China against their
will.

These border and territorial “readjustments” have caused untold sufferings and
violated some of the most fundamental rights of the Vietnamese people who were
living on the land and the waters that have been conceded to China: that is the
right to remain Vietnamese citizens and the right to live on their ancestral land.

Since:

   1.Article 4 of the Constitution of the SRV takes away the fundamental rights
     of the Vietnamese people to vote and to stand for elections freely and
     democratically and contravenes the 21(1) and 21(3) articles of the United
     Nation’s Declaration on Human Rights to which Vietnam is a signatory
     member;
   2.The Communist Party of Vietnam and the SRV government have never
     been freely and democratically elected by the Vietnamese people, they were
     neither representing nor expressing the wishes of the Vietnamese people in
     signing these treaties;
   3.The territories of Vietnam belong to the people of Vietnam and not any
     regime or government, and any treaty on territorial waters or land must be
     decided by the whole nation via a referendum or at least through a
     democratically elected Parliament. The SRV government and the CPV have
     done none of these things. They have thus committed a treasonable
     offence by the Vietnamese people for conceding the sovereignty of
     Vietnam’s land and waters to China;
   4.China, by accepting this unlawful and secret concession of land and
     territorial waters from the Communist Party of Vietnam without the
     knowledge and approval of the Vietnamese people, has, in effect, violated
     the sovereignty of Vietnam and thus has unlawfully occupied Vietnamese
     territory.
 
 

We are, therefore, urgently seeking the United Nations Council and the United
Nations Commissioner For Human Rights,

   1.To take note that the Vietnamese Community in Australia and the below
     signatories regard the land borders and territorial waters treaties between
     the SRV and China as invalid.
   2.To discuss this matter at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
   3.To initiate an immediate investigation on this latest violation on human
     rights of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s government on the people
     who live in the areas conceded to China, and
   4.To request an immediate official explanation from the SRV and the PRC
     governments to the UN Council on the details of these unlawful treaties.
 
 

Yours truly,