CHARTER 2000 OF VIETNAM
Full Version
(Approved and proclaimed by the World Conference to Proclaim Charter
2000 on Nov. 25-26, 2000 in Paris, France)
The terms: “INDEPENDENCE - FREEDOM - HAPPINESS” that the Founder
of the Vietnamese communist party borrowed and placed under the name Democratic
Republic of Vietnam previously and Socialist Republic of Vietnam since 1976 are
unmaterialized for any part of them as indicated in the MANIFESTO of CHARTER
2000, which is proclaimed at the same time with this FULL VERSION.
Facing such a dark picture of the country and ignoring the
people’s survival, the clique of the communists who rule Vietnam today still
find ways to hold on to the totalitarian dictatorship in order that they can
continue exploiting and acquiring all the privileges and interests from their
positions, regardless of the people’s miseries. This is a crime - on top of
numerous crimes that the Communist Party of Vietnam and the groups centred
around this power, have committed in the past half century. CHARTER 2000 is
given birth to denounce the crimes against humanity and the serious violations
of human rights of the Hanoi regime before the world community. At the same
time, it initiates the struggle for economic and democratic rights of the
people inside Vietnam. Moreover, the Charter tries to depict basic principles
for building of a new Vietnam with genuine freedoms and democracy. The rising
tide of dissolution of the communist regimes since the end of the 1980s until
2000 all over the world indicated that getting rid of the Marxist-Leninist
doctrine and the totalitarian regime has been a response to the people’s
aspirations in the remaining communist countries, especially in the case of
Yugoslavia in early October 2000. The giving up of the Marxist-Leninist
doctrine which contains the disastrous class struggle theory is also a premise
for the new regime to successfully mobilize the people’s strength for
reconstruction and development. The people of Vietnam have to say good-bye to
the communist regime to regain prospect for materializing genuine “INDEPENDENCE
- FREEDOM - HAPPINESS” and to move the country to “PROSPERITY and
SELF-DETERMINATION”. On the reasoning ground, CHARTER 2000, i.e. CHARTER OF
RIGHTS - DEMOCRATIC BUILDING - AND SOCIAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, is considered
the most up-dated MANIFESTO OF THOSE VIETNAMESE STRUGGLING FOR DEMOCRACY OF OUR
AGE, which delivers a negation of the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and the model
of “Market economy under the socialist directions”.
TITLE I
CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS OF THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST REGIME
To compile further the world records of communist crimes of
which the most famous work is “The Black Book of Communism” by Stephane
Courtois (ed.) (1) which reports a total of 100 million people having
been killed by the Comintern. Of this sum, at least over 1 million people were
the victims of the Vietnamese communist system. Charter 2000, confirms that, up
to today, the crimes against humanity of the communist regime in Vietnam cost a
lot more lives than the 1 million figure.
In applying the Marxist “class struggle” theory to its most
disastrous degree, and with its violence policy, the communist regime in
Vietnam, over its fifty years in power, has intentionally caused a lot of crimes
against humanity, from the killing of thousands of members of the nationalist
parties and opposition forces under the Viet Minh (1945-1947), the massacres of
tens of thousands of Caodaists and Hoa Hao Buddhists during the Resistance War
(1945-1954), the Land Reform Campaign in the 1950s which caused deaths and
suffering for about a half million people, then the Vietnam War launched by
Hanoi at first which cost millions of human beings of the both sides. The Mau
Than Massacre (1968) which was noticed by media all over the world marked a a
crime against humanity with numerous collective grave yards discovered in which
thousands of innocent victims were recognized as being shot, buried alive,
beheaded, even the foreigners. The so-called re-education camps during the
1950’s, 1960’s and after April 1975 affected hundreds of thousands of those
working for the former regimes being detained and forced for hard labour or
exiled to the wildly mountainous New Economic Zones. About 500,000 people were
drowned under the high seas or in wild jungles among more than 2,000,000 who
fled the country to seek political asylum after 1975. The 1978 crack down
campaign against merchants and industrialists caused tens of thousands of
families’ loss of their monies and houses into the hand of the communists and
being driven out to the New Economic Zones which are hard for them to earn
their living and most have had to return to the cities as homeless people.
Especially, the forced exchanges of Vietnam’s notes several times after April
1975 with most of the families’ sums of money being held and only some small
amounts being exchanged have thrown millions of families into hardship; many of
them committed suicide.
At the present, many Vietnamese organizations are
collecting proofs and witnesses about the Vietnamese communist crimes to bring
the Communist Party of Vietnam and the major culprits to the appropriate
international bodies/courts, with reference to the typical cases of Nuremberg,
Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzagovina, Pinochet, Khmer-Rouge, and Red-China (Li Peng) and
the new cases citing the “U.S. Alien Tort Claim Act” to get indemnity awards.
Charter 2000 confirms that the “Justice” principle to be
observed is fundamental for resolving the “hatred” matter in Vietnam, and
“Justice” observance also offers a
lesson to the next generations to not follow the same wrong track again. The
“Justice” principle and policy, along with a national reconciliation policy which completely prohibits all revenges, is
publicly announced in Charter 2000.
The crimes against humanity of the Vietnamese communist
regime are just a part of the whole communist tragedy. Its violations of human
rights have more seriously affected the people of Vietnam than any other crimes
due to the serious systematic and interactive consequences that they have
caused.
With the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (U.D.H.R.) (December 10, 1948) and two relevant International Covenants
(the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) and with fifty other
Covenants/Conventions issued, the international community did repeatedly
confirm that the human rights and the other basic rights and freedoms are
universal, indivisible, interdependent and relevant to one another, and did
recognize that these are standards of human civilization today that nobody, no
group, and no country can deny to
implement with any reason or justification.
All the countries which signed on these documents have full
responsibilities to implement them. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam became a
signatory of these two Covenants on September 24, 1982. Since then, for nearly
20 years, the Hanoi government has intentionally and systematically violated
human rights standards set out by the world community.
With its 30 Articles, the U.D.H.R. gave rise to a major
principle: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”
(Article 1). The U.D.H.R. has been
violated by Vietnam as follows:
- The right of every person to take part in the government
of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, as stated in
Article 21, and re-stated in the Appendix of the U.D.H.R. proclaimed on
December 9, 1998 (in Article 8), and also reaffirmed by the Warsaw Democracy
Declaration (June 27, 2000), has not quite been exercised in Vietnam due to the
existence of Clause 4 of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Constitution which
constitutes that the Communist Party of Vietnam is the sole leader of the
society of Vietnam. This Clause is completely against Articles 3 and 4 of the
Appendix, and especially Directive 31/CP signed by Premier Vo Van Kiet and
issued on April 14, 1997 is also not in compliance with these Articles.
- The right of every person to equal protection of the law,
without any discrimination as stated in Articles 1,2,3,7 of the Universal
Declaration and in the Warsaw Declaration is not significantly implemented: Anyone can be arrested and his
home can be searched at any time without court order (Directive 31/CP cited,
for example). All the candidates for annual university admission have been
subject to scanning and classifying, into 14 categories, of which the
communists and their families get advantage. Justice and equality to all the
people under communist Vietnam have never been attainable because the
totalitarian regime uses “corruption” and “briberies” as a means of ruling and
administering the society and maintaining the loyalty of all its officials and cadres
to the Communist Party.
- The right of every person to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association, as stated in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration and
reiterated in Article 5 of the Appendix, and also in the Warsaw Declaration, is
quite denied by the Hanoi government: Nobody is allowed to form their own
political parties or join any non-communist organizations, even though they
want to demonstrate and struggle peacefully to materialize their good will.
- The right of every person to freedom of movement and
residence, to own property, to work and to free choice of employment as stated
in Article 13, 14, 17, 23 of the Universal Declaration, is all deprived by the
Communists through the policy of residence control and with the police
monitoring. Besides, the right to freedom of scientific research and creative
activities (Clause 3, Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights), the right to have benefits from the encouragement
and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific
and cultural fields (Clause 4, Article 15 of the cited Covenant) are not truly
applied to scientists, scholars, writers, artists. No one of these components
is entitled to freedom of scientific, literary or artistic production, freedom
of movement to any country for research, scientific knowledge exchange if he is
not selected by the Communist Party or its government.
- The right of every person to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion, guaranteed by Article 18, 19, 20 of the Universal
Declaration, reiterated by Article 6 of the Appendix and clearly restated in
the Warsaw Declaration, is quite violated through the dictatorial communist
mass media system; no private press, no private publishing houses are allowed
to operate (2). All the religious churches are subject to strict control
by the Government Religious Committee and by the Vietnam Fatherland Front. Any
traditional church not under this umbrella is barred from operation and is
subject to oppression aiming at nullifying it (3).
In the Appendix of the U.D.H.R., Article 2 of its Part B
clearly expressed the duty and responsibility of each country to protect and
implement the basic human rights. Moreover, the 2nd Article of the Appendix
proclaim that the people of any country do have the right of opposition in
peace once the human rights are violated by the government.
The U.D.H.R. is the foundation for which all the people of
Vietnam are entitled to rise up to claim their economic and democratic rights.
All the above mentioned
rights and other rights are solemnly reaffirmed in the Warsaw Declaration of
June 27, 2000.
TITLE II
THE DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE
TOTALITARIAN REGIME ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DOMAINS
The communist regime built by Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam
after 1954 and for the whole country after 1975 is not only a repetition of the
Ho Dynasty’s unaccountable and lawless rule in the 15th century as proclaimed
by Nguyen Trai in his “Binh Ngo Dai Cao” (Proclamation of Victory over the
Ngo) in 1428: “The common people were
burnt on the flames of barbarity, or
(equivalently), they were thrown into the graves of disasters”, but it
also brings about more destructive effects as a result of its practice of an
imported foreign doctrine, i.e. communism, which tramples the Viet fatherland
as well as its people.
The so-called “Socialist market economy” in communist China
and “Market economy under the socialist directions” in communist Vietnam are
hopeless efforts to sustain communism in these lands, but it simply delays the
death of the unwanted regimes, not revive it. The market economy of which
operations are based on the factors of mobility, free enterprise, the rights to
freedom, individuals’ initiatives, and the rule-of-law requires a suitable
political system, i.e. a genuine democracy. The “Market economy under the
socialist directions” as insisted in “the socialist directions” never met the
said conditions. This mechanism is just for serving the communist Party and its
clique of leaders, cadres and red-capitalists, with a system of state firms
being deeply involved in corruption, briberies, pocketing of public funds,
rigging off the whole society.
It is hard to keep the ill system of state firms as the leading
force of the economy to effectively promote economic development of the
country.
With the U.S. - Vietnam Trade Agreement signed on September
13, 2000 and Vietnam’s prospect to join WTO in the future, the “Market economy
under the socialist directions” need be removed for a genuine market economy to
be formed to respond to the world market’s fierce competition in the
globalization and information age.
Further to its serious social economic effects,
Marxist-Leninism caused even more disasters for the people’s cultural life as a
result of the forced application of the Marxist culture over the society.
Since the Marxist culture is considered a key factor to
protect the communist regime besides its violent force which includes police
and armed forces, Charter 2000 focuses on moving forward to end the Marxist
culture - as a pre-requisite to liberate the people from forced ideological
pursuit, slavery of thought, exploitation, to recover the dignity, humanity and
liberty for the people; from which, a new regime will be able to mobilize the
people’s strength to reconstruct and develop the new Vietnam.
Realizing the effects of the Marxist culture, Charter 2000
declares that we have to launch the following battles:
- Moving to end the hatred: The hatred ideology comes from the “class struggle” theory in the
Marxist doctrine; therefore, the only way to end the hatred in Vietnam is an
end of the practice of the said theory; i.e. a termination of the communist
regime. The reconciliation and harmony between different components of the
people will never be reached if the said theory remains in
place.
- Battling to end the Marxist culture: The so-called
Marxist culture is a development of the
totalitarianism over the society aiming to nullify the traditional values and
serve the communist propaganda, just for consolidation of power of the
Communist Party and performing the illusory international doctrine. The slogan
“To love socialism is to love one’s country” must be removed because it is
against Vietnam’s traditional culture and only serves a party - The Communist
Party.
- Moving to form a new education system: The Marxist education is for the purpose of training
cadres who only know how to obey and implement orders, how to serve their Party
more than the country. This policy has moved the Vietnamese educational system
on the verge of bankruptcy: Lack of economic efficiencies, obstacles to
development, buying and selling diplomas, use of corruption and briberies for
promotion... The educational system of North Vietnam after 1954 aimed to
respond to the demands quantitatively,
and its programs are largely associated with the teaching of Marxism and
communist propaganda. The consequences of this wrong educational policy can
easily be seen: Talented people becoming rare, science and technology backward,
inefficient administration and management, national spirit and patriotism
wrongly driven to serving a Party and a foreign doctrine. This Marxist
education has to be abolished, replaced by a new education with four eminent
highlights: UNIVERSAL - HUMANIST - PROGRESSIVE - REACHING OUT TO THE WORLD. The
new education aims at collecting all the civilized cream, developing skills,
intelligence, creativeness to catch up with the information age, i.e. the
revolution in the semi-conductor and
information industry, the knowledge economics, and the
globalizalized competition economy; in the same time, to maintain all the best
qualities of our nation. It is necessary to get rid of the ideological model of
Marxist culture and education, and the position of the state’s monopoly of education. The obscurantism under the
communist regime must be wiped out to pave the way for a “new Vietnam” with a
new education system to satisfy all the people’s basic needs of education,
advancement of all domains and development for all components of the society.
TITLE III:
A COMMON STRUGGLE FRONT TO
RESOLVE THE MATTER OF VIETNAM
The matter of Vietnam consists of two major parts: (1) to
pool the strength of Viet democratic forces to win over the communist regime;
and (2) to build a genuine democracy on the Viet land. The initiative of
CHARTER 2000 offered principles and courses of actions to resolve the matter at
(1) and (2), with special emphases on (1).
- The experiences from the tasks of dissolving Communism in
Eastern Europe and Russia — of which the initiative and model of Charter 77 of
Czechoslovakia - with a view to create “a loose, informal and open association
of people of various shades of opinion, faiths and professions...” without
question of communist or non-communist origin, working to the objective of
respecting “civic and human rights” in Czechoslovakia - led to the Czech
people’s winning over the communist regime —
have practical values to the Vietnamese in their battle against the
Communist Party of Vietnam.
The situation of Vietnam today is more favourable for Viet
democratic forces than that of
Czechoslovakia for the Czech in the 1970s as the world democratic and human
rights front has greatly emerged and the world democratic tide is
overwhelmingly prevailing. The trend of economic globalization and global
democratization is irreversible.
- In today’s domestic and international environment, the
initiative of Charter 2000 put forward by the Alliance of the People’s Forces
of Vietnam has brought about a new wind, and those who struggle for democracy
of Vietnam - since September 1999, have actively drafted and completed this
Charter. Charter 2000 recognizes the principle of “a common struggle front of
Viet democratic forces against the Communist Party regardless of their
origin”. The concerns for Vietnam’s
human rights and democracy and the way to resolve the matter - through the
drafting of Charter 2000 - have brought about massive supports from all
corners, even at international level, of which there was a letter to show
“moral support” from the Office of President Vaùclav Havel - one of the key
spokespersons of Charter 77 of Czechoslovakia, to the leader of the Alliance of
the People’s Forces of Vietnam, on the occasion of the Warsaw Democracy
Conference of June 26-27, 2000.
- Those democracy activists who fight for a democratic
Vietnam, once were in the communist ranks, but are now defying the Communist
Party - in their role of drafting and struggling for Charter 2000 to be
materialized - are the top important elements;
should they successfully attract those communist progressive elements
who currently are leaders or cadres, and the masses - who have proven their
decisive role in the up-risings in Indonesia, Yugoslavia recently - to join the
campaigns to claim for economic and democratic rights in the homeland. Besides those connecting directly with the
regime, there is the essential role of Viet anti-communist forces and non-communist
masses, in the homeland and overseas, including the overseas Vietnamese
communities, who are responsible for the tasks of international canvassings and
mobilizing the people - especially the believers of Hoa Hao Buddhism, Caodaism,
Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism - in the up-coming risings for our
citizens’ rights . Charter 2000 which works on the principle of “association without merging the
organisations concerned”, is the easy way for all Viet people’s, political and religious forces to join in. This will
lead to a “Citizens’ Forum” capable of stirring the rising movements to claim for the basic rights in Vietnam,
with the end results being a revolution
- like the Velvet Revolution of Czechoslovakia - once those communist
progressive elements agreeing with the principles of the Charter, join in and
use the Charter as a base to stir up an up-rising against the Communist Party
who is deliberately to hold on to power forever.
- Following its proclamation, Charter 2000 becomes a common
front for Viet democratic forces and non-communist masses to struggle against
the Communist Party. Its contents include the human rights and democratic
principles which have been established over humankind history, from the
Declarations originated from the Civil and Human Rights Revolutions, to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and relevant International Covenants, and most
recently: The Warsaw Democracy Declaration, signed by representatives of 107
nations on June 27, 2000. Based on Charter 2000, the democracy activists inside
Vietnam will have legitimate grounds for initiating the risings to demand
for the Viet people’s economic, civil
and human rights without much fear of suppression since the principles of
Charter 2000 are the ones that the international community has already endorsed
and Vietnam is a signatory.
- Through the “Citizens’ Forum” initiated right at the
Paris Conference of November 25 -26,
2000, the Charter will become a kind of
Viet democratic flag to attract and pool the people together for the common
battle. That is the most peaceful
course to the termination of the
totalitarian dictatorship without bloodshed that the founders of the Charter,
based on the experience of Czechoslovakia, have successfully launched the task and are struggling to materialize
it.
TITLE IV
STRUGGLING FOR THE
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND THE VIETNAM MODEL OF DEMOCRACY
Charter 2000 with the mission of laying the foundations for
the first democracy in Vietnam, as a first step, will initiate the process of demanding the most important rights
for a civil society to be formed, which will effectively lead to the
termination of the communist dictatorship, as described in
the Manifesto of Charter 2000
(Article #4 ). Meanwhile, all the basic
and universal Human and Civil rights incorporated in the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms and other similar documents of the modern democratic
nations are described in Title IV with the adjustments reflecting the
Vietnamese characteristics and a vision for a Self-determined and Prosperous
Vietnam.
A - PRINCIPLES THAT WILL
ENSURE A GENUINE DEMOCRACY FOR VIETNAM
- Human dignity must be respected. As a result of the class struggle theory,
this principle is always violated under the Vietnamese communist regime.
- Any future political
regime in Vietnam has to recognize, respect and enforce the inalienable human
rights.
- The government has the
obligation to make those rights and freedoms substantial. The government shall not only recognize
those rights, it shall also design a proper organizational structure to enforce
them.
B- CHARTER 2000 AND THE UNIVERSAL RIGHTS
Besides the rights
demanded in the first step as stated in the Manifesto (Article # 4), Charter
2000 recognizes the rights already promoted and enforced in all countries
having a real democratic system. In the
case of Vietnam those rights could be implemented only with a new National
Assembly and a new Constitution of the democratic Vietnam.
Fundamental Rights:
In addition to the
freedoms of association, expression, thought, conscience and religion,
residency, safety of the body described in the Manifesto ( Article #4 ) and
Title I of Charter 2000, the Charter recognizes the right of having a minimum
level of education provided free of charge by the State, the right to learn and
to practice a profession of one’s choice, the right to work, the freedom to
choose jobs, and the right to be insured against unemployment, the right of
ownership on production means and living means. The state shall not arbitrarily confiscate or nationalize
citizens’ property.
Democratic rights:
Besides the right to vote and to run for public offices
mentioned above, whereby the will of the people, integrity and multi-party are
the most important elements, Charter 2000 recognizes the right to petition the
government to make changes in the administration of public affairs without
being intimidated or arrested, the right of individuals and political parties
to be equal before the law and in the elections; the right to access public
services and to participate in the operation of the government, directly or
through elected officials: the right to be free from violations against one’s
property, honor, dignity, privacy, family life and correspondence, including
electronic mail; the right to collect, reproduce, and disseminate information
and opinions related to freedom of the press and publishing, and the
restrictions, if any.
Legal Rights:
The Courts shall be independent from the Executive
authority. Citizens shall be free from
unreasonable searches and seizures, especially because of political
reasons. Citizens shall be free from
arbitrary arrest and detention. All
arrests shall be supported with a cause, a warrant issued by a court, and the
persons arrested are entitled to the help of a Counsel (defense lawyer). Lawyers and Bar associations shall be
independent from the government and political parties, and shall be accountable
only to their clients and work only for the interests of their clients. Accused persons shall be free from unusual
or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and punishment, such as tortures,
beating, etc..
Equality rights:
The right to be equal before the law, to be equally
protected by the law and the right to be served equally, to be free from
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex, age, language, religion,
political belief, nationality, social status, wealth, or other
characteristics. This shall not prevent
the government from designing programs to help the disadvantaged citizens
because of their race, language, religion, sex, age, mental or physical
disability, etc.. . Minority groups shall be equal before the
law, entitled to preserve their cultures, languages, and religions.
C- THE VIETNAM MODEL OF
DEMOCRACY: STRATEGIC CONTENTS AND VISIONS
Besides the struggle for the universal rights to be
exercised in Vietnam, instituting a real democratic system based on the
principles mentioned in A, in addition to the basic framework for exercising
democracy determined by the following three-point formula: (1) The national
sovereignty belongs to the people - meaning free elections, (2) All political
groups are entitled to participate in the governance of the country – meaning that totalitarianism must be
eliminated and there must be a multi-party democratic system with all basic
freedoms to guarantee a genuine democracy as stated in Title I and Title IV of
this document, and mentioned in the Manifesto (Article #4), (3) There must be checks and balances
among the three powers, i.e. independence between the Legislative, Executive
and Judiciary; the Vietnam model of democracy, with a vision of Prosperity and
Self-determination for the nation, shall incorporate the following principles:
- An efficient market economy - with adequate motivation,
support, coordination and regulation of the government - in line with a high
degree of modernization and competitiveness, in order to cope with the
globalized market and the information revolution.
- An integration of the three elements— Freedom, Democracy
and Development. Development shall not
be construed in the meaning of simply an increase in production output and
industrialization. On the contrary,
development should mean improving and strengthening Freedom in all respects. Development is to liberalize people by
providing for all their basic necessities (food, clothing, housing,
transportation, health care, etc.).
Development also means respecting people’s Freedom in all respects. Development also means making people proud
of their contributions to the progress of mankind.
- The people of Vietnam must be willing to struggle for
their freedom and preserve the democracy to be instituted. If the people do not voluntarily fight for
their freedom, no democracy can be materialized.
- It is important to determine not to depend on foreign
powers: All foreign nations care for
their own interests first. Relying on
foreign countries to build up the power for one’s faction is the source of
civil war as proven by what happened in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975.
- The people must have the courage to rise up to create the
“People’s Tide” - under the leadership of Viet patriots, intellectuals, and
revolutionary activists who have keen strategic visions, organizational skills,
a national spirit and scientific knowledge - for their effective fight against foreign domination - military or
ideological— and act against those foreign powers exerting influences which
make the nation of Vietnam dependent on them, thanks to the Viet synthesized
strength. The people must work together
to build a modern and strong economy with its development path being described
in Title II (“the new education...” paragraph) and Title IV/C (an efficient
market economy) in order to support an effective national defense.
- Vietnam shall have a foreign policy independent from all
foreign powers, and shall not let those powers use our territory as
battlefields in their conflicts, if that happens to be. The particular geographic location of
Vietnam on the main transportation path from Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean has
caused international powers to try to control this strategic channel. This neutral foreign policy of Vietnam will
help preserve world peace and will help Vietnam live in good relationship with
all nations in the world, and enjoy the stability needed to develop its
economy. The top priority goal of
Vietnam after eliminating the totalitarian regime is to accelerate the
development of its economy by participating in the globalized market, strengthening
regional and world peace and promoting democracy. Vietnam will play the role of a
reconciliation factor for all international influences and also a
converging point of the East and the West in a new global concept of mankind.
TITLE V
IMPLEMENTATION OF CHARTER
2000
- Charter 2000 of
Viet democratic movements is an important initiative in the history of Viet
democratic forces’ struggle against the Communist Party of Vietnam to terminate
the “totalitarian regime”.
- The World Conference in
Paris on the 25th and 26th days of November 2000 will discuss the plan to
implement Charter 2000.
- The signatories of
Charter 2000 decided to appoint a Team of Spokespersons who had been involved
in the drafting of the Charter or provided advice to the Drafting
Committee. Those spokespersons are:
* United States: Prof. Hach Cao Nguyen
(general matters) and Prof. Cai Dinh Le (specialized subjects )
* Canada and Australia: Dr. Long Ba Nguyen
(general matters) and Attorney-at-law
Tho Chan Lam (specialized subjects)
* Western Europe: Prof. Thuc Quoc Vu (general
matters) and Dr. Thong Dinh Le (specialized subjects)
* Eastern Europe, Russia and the homeland -
Vietnam: Hoang Pham (general matters) and Thuong Van Duong (specialized
subjects)
The representative of the
Team of Spokespersons — Dr. Long Ba
Nguyen – together with a permanent body and an Advisory Board to be created at
the Paris Conference will be entrusted to decide all matters related to the
implementation of Charter 2000.
Decisions will be made (1) through proper consultations or (2) through
special meetings of the signatories and founders of the Charter whose names are
known as of November 26, 2000.
After the Paris
Conference, the participation into Charter 2000 is left open to individuals and
organizations—inside and outside Vietnam. (*)
- The Committee to
Coordinate the In-country and Overseas Activists and the CITIZENS’FORUM will be
created at the Paris Conference.
- The Sub-committee to
Review and Evaluate Charter 2000 after being
reported, did recommend important changes and adjustments and finally
approved the two draft documents of the Charter for translation. The two
documents are subject to approval
by the World Conference of Viet Democratic
Movements to Proclaim Charter 2000. The
Sub-committee includes:
Prof. HACH CAO NGUYEN, Prof. THUC QUOC VU, THE MOST VEN. THICH TAM-CHAU,
THE MOST VEN. THICH GIAC-LUONG, Former RVN Senator BUU TAN LE, Rev. LIEM THANH
NGUYEN, Dr. LY DINH NGUYEN, SCHOLAR TRUC DANG NGUYEN, Dr. TAP HOC NGUYEN, Prof.
THANH CAO NGUYEN (President, Executive Council, The World Vietnamese Buddhist
Order), Democracy Activist HOANG PHAM
(President, Committee to Coordinate the Vietnamese Refugees’ Activities in
Eastern Europe ), THUONG VAN DUONG (former Secretary for Bach Xuan Tran - a
former Politburo member), Dr. TRI NV, Dr. TRAN VAN NGUYEN, Writer SY QUOC DOAN,
Prof. DUONG CAO PHAM, Dr. NGO THIEN
LE(VCWS, USA), Writer CHU TAN (VAC, N CA), Comrade NGO PHAN (Vietnam National
Party, THAI DOAN (Great Viet
Party), TON DAI VO (Alliance for the
Restoration of Vietnam), Former General
BA TONG LY, Comrade NINH PHUONG LUC (The Overseas Vietnamese Force of RVN
Military Personel & the Thien Chi Group) , Comrade TIEN VAN DANG, Hon. UT
VAN PHAM (Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, RVN).
The seven groups of scholars assigned to finalize the seven
parts of the Draft Charter were headed by: Group I: Prof Cai Dinh Le. Group II:
Dr. Thong Dinh Le. Group III: Prof. Hach Cao Nguyen, Group IV: Attorney-at-law
Tho Chan Lam and Thuan Van Tran, Group
V: Mr. Kim Doan Le and Prof. Thanh Cao Nguyen, Group VI: Dr. Long Ba Nguyen,
Group VII: Democracy Activist Hoang
Pham and Dr. Ngo Thien Le (**). The
translation team includes: Prof Thuc Quoc Vu, Dr. Thong Dinh Le (French), Prof.
Hach Cao Nguyen, Dr. Ngo Thien Le, Prof. Cai Dinh Le, Dr. Long Ba Nguyen and
Ronald V. Colucci (English). Mr. Kim
Doan Le has ended his participation after his Group’s assignment on a subject
of the Charter was completed.
The Viet Democratic Movements joining in Charter 2000 are
committed to do their best to launch the campaign demanding for the economic
and democractic rights for all Vietnamese in the homeland as proclaimed in the
Charter's Manifesto and its Full Version
Paris, November 26, 2000
For the Signatories of Charter 2000
The Spokespersons:
Prof. Hach Cao Nguyen and Prof Cai Dinh Le (United States)
Dr. Long Ba Nguyen and Attorney-at-Law Tho Chan Lam (Canada and
Australia)
Prof. Thuc Quoc Vu and Dr. Thong Dinh Le (Western Europe)
Democracy Activist Hoang Pham and Mr.
Thuong Van Duong (Eastern Europe, Russia and Vietnam)
Representing the
Spokespersons: Dr. LONG BA NGUYEN
References:
(1) Stephane Courtois (ed.): Le Livre Noir du
Communisme, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1997.
(2) The law to
regulate press and media (1999) and a
memorandum to direct the reorganization of the press network all over the
country signed by Deputy Premier Pham Gia Khiem which went into effect on July
1, 2000, announced by Deputy Minister of Information and Culture on June 30,
2000.
(3) Directive
#26/1999/ND/CP signed on April 19, 1999 which regulates all activities of Viet
religions.
(*) The issue of a Homepage for this purpose and other issues
relating to the organizational structure, finance etc. may be brought up and
addressed at the Conference.
(**) Besides the Groups who took charge of drafting the
Charter, there were Consultants for each Group. The Consultants included: (1)
many famous scholars who are members of the Alliance of the People’s Forces of
Vietnam (Prof. Thuc Quoc Vu, Dr. Ly Dinh Nguyen, former RVN Senator Buu Tan Le
- a Hoa Hao Buddhist Elder), (2) independent Consultants who are specialists of
certain research fields, such as
Attowney-at-Law Thao Chi Le, Writer Quyen Cao Nguyen (Political Strategic
Research), and (3) Vietnamese Consultants/Scholars from such famous universities as the Univ. of California (Irvine), Rice Univ., Stanford, Harvard
etc.