Statement of Vietnamese Organizations and Individuals
for ASEAN’s People Testimony
on the Occasion of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference
Jakarta, Indonesia, May 2-4, 2011

We, Vietnamese organizations and individuals both inside Vietnam and overseas,
respectfully request the governments and peoples of ASEAN to promote freedom,
democracy, justice, peace, and prosperity in all ASEAN countries and in all countries
throughout the world.

In particular, we ask that you insist that the people of all ASEAN countries be
permitted to exercise their internationally recognized human rights, including:

--- The right to speak, write, and publish freely and without censorship or
recrimination, including on the internet and in other modern communications media,
and including expression that is critical of governments;

--- The right to associate with other people of their own choosing and to
assemble peacefully for whatever purposes they choose;

--- The right to practice their religions, including not only freedom of worship
but also the fulfillment of other religious obligations including social and
humanitarian activities and the right to organize religious institutions that are
independent of the government and not subject to its direction or control;

--- The right to be free from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment;

--- The right to leave countries, including their own;

--- The right to form independent labor unions, free from any interference from
the government or government-controlled mass organizations, so as to defend the
rights and interests of workers;

--- The right of citizens of ASEAN countries to freely form civil society
organizations, serve as watchdogs to ensure transparency in government and a system
of checks and balances, and participate in the promotion of people-to-people
integration according to the ASEAN Charter;

--- The right to be free from human trafficking and other severe forms of
exploitation, especially when such trafficking and exploitation takes place with the

complicity of government officials and institutions, such as in government-
connected forced-labor or labor-export programs; and

--- The right to change their government through free and fair elections in
which candidates and political parties may stand for office with no requirement for
approval by the government, the military, or the ruling party, and without other
unreasonable restrictions.

In order to promote and protect these rights, we ask that ASEAN governments
review their constitutions and laws and that they immediately repeal any provisions
that allow the punishment of free expression or the exercise of other human rights
when such activities are deemed to “injure the national unity” or to be otherwise
contrary to the interests of the state or the ruling party, as well as laws that allow
imprisonment, house arrest, required “working sessions” at police stations, or other
forms of detention except after fair and public trials by impartial and independent
judicial systems. We also ask ASEAN governments to free immediately any
prisoners who are detained pursuant to such laws as well as all other prisoners of
conscience.

Finally, we ask the peoples and governments of ASEAN, and particularly
ASEAN civil society organizations, to recognize that civil society in countries with
authoritarian governments does not consist of “Government Organized Non-
Governmental Organizations” that are closely connected to such authoritarian
governments and/or to the ruling political parties that dominate them. Rather, we ask
that you recognize and honor the real civil society in such countries, including human
rights defenders, independent journalists, independent labor organizations,
independent religious institutions, prisoners of conscience, and other genuinely
independent voices, including those within the country and others who are forced to
live in exile.