To: Member states of ECOSOC
Re: Support for the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned group of civil society
organizations from around the world, are writing to express our strong support
for the special consultative status with the United Nations granted to the
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) and
its right to exercise freedom of expression of its nonviolent view regarding
the situation in Vietnam. We urge you, as a member of the UN Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC), to vote against the draft resolution to revoke KKF’s
special consultative status at the July 23 meeting of ECOSOC, and to support
the ability of civil society organizations to freely participate in the work of
the United Nations.
As you know, under ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, the
Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations is mandated to grant consultative
status to those organizations whose aims and purposes are in “conformity with
the spirit, purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” and
which “undertake to support the work of the United Nations and to promote
knowledge of its principles and activities.” We consider that the KKF fully
meets these criteria.
Based in the United States and operating
internationally, KKF is a reputable and prominent NGO whose mission is to seek
“freedom, justice and the right to self determination for Khmer Krom people.”
KKF, which is an independent organization not affiliated with any political parties
or groups, carries out its work through peaceful and lawful means wholly
consistent with international law to promote and protect the human rights of
the indigenous Khmer Krom in Vietnam.
KKF has been actively and effectively engaged in
various UN mechanisms over the years, participating and submitting reports at
the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Universal Periodic Review
(UPR), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Expert Mechanism on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), EU Human Rights Commission, and governments, in
addition to organizing various international events and conferences on human
rights and indigenous issues.
Following a consensus decision by the Committee on
Non-Governmental Organizations to grant special consultative status to KKF in
May 2012, the government of Vietnam registered a protest against KKF’s application,
claiming that KKF is “unqualified for a consultative status with ECOSOC” and
that it has carried out “politically motivated acts (…) undermining the
national unity of the State of Viet Nam.” In reality, the government of
Vietnam’s attempt to get KKF’s consultative status revoked is a politically
motivated attack against an independent, nonviolent civil society organization
that advocates upholding and implementing universal human rights standards.
Regrettably, this is far from the only attempt by the
government of Vietnam to silence those critical of it, including by
increasingly denying dissenters their rights to free expression, association,
and assembly. Bloggers, writers, human rights defenders, land rights activists,
anti-corruption campaigners, and religious and democracy advocates face escalating harassment,
intimidation, arrest, torture, ill-treatment and imprisonment. Since 2004,
Vietnam has severely restricted internet freedom by firewalling critical
websites, and it is now threatening to even more severely restrict internet
freedom.
The
government of Vietnam has recently indicated its intentions to run for a seat
on the UN Human Rights Council. As a first step to show its commitment to human
rights principles, the government of Vietnam should end its brutal crackdown on
dissent and end its criminalization of peaceful activists, including by
dropping its efforts to get KKF’s ECOSOC status revoked. Unless it does so, it
will not be able to fulfill the membership criteria of upholding the highest
human rights standards and cooperating with the council. In particular, its
attack on the KKF puts it totally at odds with the oft-stated commitment of the
council to cooperate with NGOs and civil society in exercising and defending
human rights.
Supporting
the legitimate status of the KKF as an accredited NGO will not only benefit the
work of the UN in accordance with its founding and fundamental principles, but
it will also provide tangible evidence that your country supports the important
work of civil society and human rights defenders in the Asia region and beyond.
We reiterate our support for KKF and its work on human rights in Vietnam, and
urge your state to oppose the draft resolution that would revoke KKF’s special
consultative status with ECOSOC.
With
highest regards,
1.
African
Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS)
2.
African
Democracy Forum (ADF)
3.
Asian
Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
4.
Asian
Legal Resource Centre
5.
Christian
Solidarity Worldwide
6.
East and
Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP)
7.
Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
8.
Human
Rights Watch
9.
International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
10.
International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT),
in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders
11.
International
Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
12.
Southeast
Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
13.
West
African Human Rights Defenders Network (WAHRDN)
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