E/CN.4/1995/31/Add.4
page 2
Introduction
1.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was invited to visit Viet Nam in
a letter dated 8 April 1993 addressed by the Vietnamese Deputy Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Mr. Le Mai, to the Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group.
The visit was to take place in April 1994, but it had to be postponed as a
result of some points of disagreement about the arrangements for the visit.
After a solution was found in the negotiations held by the Vietnamese
authorities and the Working Group, the visit finally took place
from 24 to 31 October 1994.
2.
The Working Group, represented by its Chairman/Rapporteur, Mr. L. Joinet,
and two of its members, Mr. L. Kama and Mr. K. Sibal, stayed in the capital,
Hanoi, and its region from 24 to 26 October, in Da Nang on 27 October and in
Ho Chi Minh City from 29 to 31 October. In Hanoi, the delegation was received
by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Loc, the Deputy Minister of the
Interior, Mr. Le Minh Huong, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Le Mai, the President of the Supreme Court, Mr. Pham Hang, and the
Vice-President of the People’s Supreme Prosecution Department. In Da Nang and
Ho Chi Minh City, the Working Group held a joint meeting with representatives
of the District Prosecutor’s Office and the district police, as well as with
judges of the district court.
3.
The Working Group also visited three detention centres, described as
re-education and rehabilitation labour camps, namely, camp A.5 in Thanh Hoa
province; camp A.20 in Xuan Phuoc, in Phu Yen province; and camp Z.30 in
Ham Tan, Binh Thuan province. The members of the Working Group were received
by the directors of these three camps and were able to talk with prisoners,
either privately (in some cases) or in the presence of one or more
representatives of the authorities.
4.
In their official talks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as during
the visit to camp A.5 in Thanh Hoa, the members of the Working Group were
accompanied by the Director of the Department of International Organizations
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The members of the Working Group wish to
thank him, the representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs who accompanied them during the visits to Da Nang,
Ho Chi Minh City and the detention camps and the representatives of the
provincial police forces concerned, who facilitated their travel.
I.
CONTEXT OF THE VISIT
5.
From the point of view of the Vietnamese authorities and that of the
Working Group itself, the visit took place in a context which must be viewed
in the light of the comments made in the following paragraphs.
6.
The Commission on Human Rights will have noted that this was a "first",
both for the Working Group, which had not yet made an on-site visit, and for
the Vietnamese authorities, which were, in an unprecedented move, extending an
invitation to a United Nations body with a human rights mandate.