Spokesman denounces HRW report

A Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman denounced Human Rights Watch for its critical coverage of Vietnam in its annual report on worldwide human rights. According to the report, human rights conditions deteriorated in Vietnam over the last year, with increasing harassment and imprisonment of dissidents, crackdowns on unauthorized religious organizations and strict controls over internet usage. The spokesman claimed that Vietnamese enjoy freedom of speech, religious belief and expression; that no one is imprisoned for their religious beliefs, only for violating the law; and are free to use the internet, except that "any information that aims to cause insecurity, public disorder, racial discrimination, terrorism, moral degeneration and legal violations are banned in Vietnam." It has become customary for the Vietnamese foreign ministry to denounce any report critical of its human rights practices, even when contained within a worldwide report such as this one. (People's Police, Vietnam News Briefs, Jan 17; for the text of the HRW report on Vietnam click here).