Defend The Defenders | Mar 12, 2015
Viet Nam has made remarkable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and realizing a range of economic, social and cultural rights. Considerable efforts are under way to enlarge access to education and culture, including in remote regions. The new 2014 Constitution includes rights of significant importance in the field of culture, and I hope that provisions on possible limitations to such rights will be interpreted in accordance with international standards.
The Government and civil society appear to be engaged in a process that is redefining the contours of the space available for a diversity of voices on a number of issues.
In the field of history teaching, in particular, I encourage the Government to open spaces to foster critical thinking, analytic learning and debate, and to focus on the teaching of history understood as an academic discipline. Concerted efforts should be made to ensure that the various histories of minority groups are included. I was pleased, however, to note achievements in the area of minority languages education.
Space for the enjoyment of artistic freedoms has grown in Viet Nam over the last decades. However, freedom of artistic expression is still limited by multiple regulations and I express my concern about the system of prior and post censorship that is effectively still in place. My report formulates many recommendations to help the Government ensure that national laws comply with international human rights standards. Programmes supporting artists and enhancing access to the arts are welcome, but steps should be adopted to ensure these are not used as a tool for controlling the content of artistic expression. I also recommend putting an end to the surveillance and harassment of artists and academics.
There is an increased focus on Viet Nam’s rich cultural heritage as a resource for development and poverty reduction. Some communities, however, have seen their ways of life and culture completely disrupted by development programmes. More generally, land grabbing for commercial usage and its impact on people’s livelihoods and cultural life are major issues needing attention.
Like all countries eager to develop their tourism industry, Viet Nam is confronted with important challenges in ensuring that no serious harm is done to the environment and cultural heritage. In my report, I stress that measures are needed to ensure that the people whose cultural heritage is used to promote tourism are empowered to manage such activities to their best advantage.
More generally, a major challenge for the Government is to depart from its top-down approach in the field of culture, too frequently used to steer individual and collective behaviours in directions considered compatible with government policies and objectives. I am concerned about the negative impact of this approach on the right of everyone to participate in cultural life as they choose, conduct their own cultural practices, and freely develop their cultural heritage.
I wish to warmly thank the Government of Viet Nam for their invitation and cooperation, and I encourage them to continue inviting special procedures and to allow people, in particular civil society actors, to meet mandate holders freely.
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March 12, 2015
Ms. Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights’ excerpt and Vietnam’s statement at HR Council on Mar 11, 2015
by QuyenConNguoi • [Human Rights]
Defend The Defenders | Mar 12, 2015
The Government and civil society appear to be engaged in a process that is redefining the contours of the space available for a diversity of voices on a number of issues.
In the field of history teaching, in particular, I encourage the Government to open spaces to foster critical thinking, analytic learning and debate, and to focus on the teaching of history understood as an academic discipline. Concerted efforts should be made to ensure that the various histories of minority groups are included. I was pleased, however, to note achievements in the area of minority languages education.
Space for the enjoyment of artistic freedoms has grown in Viet Nam over the last decades. However, freedom of artistic expression is still limited by multiple regulations and I express my concern about the system of prior and post censorship that is effectively still in place. My report formulates many recommendations to help the Government ensure that national laws comply with international human rights standards. Programmes supporting artists and enhancing access to the arts are welcome, but steps should be adopted to ensure these are not used as a tool for controlling the content of artistic expression. I also recommend putting an end to the surveillance and harassment of artists and academics.
There is an increased focus on Viet Nam’s rich cultural heritage as a resource for development and poverty reduction. Some communities, however, have seen their ways of life and culture completely disrupted by development programmes. More generally, land grabbing for commercial usage and its impact on people’s livelihoods and cultural life are major issues needing attention.
Like all countries eager to develop their tourism industry, Viet Nam is confronted with important challenges in ensuring that no serious harm is done to the environment and cultural heritage. In my report, I stress that measures are needed to ensure that the people whose cultural heritage is used to promote tourism are empowered to manage such activities to their best advantage.
More generally, a major challenge for the Government is to depart from its top-down approach in the field of culture, too frequently used to steer individual and collective behaviours in directions considered compatible with government policies and objectives. I am concerned about the negative impact of this approach on the right of everyone to participate in cultural life as they choose, conduct their own cultural practices, and freely develop their cultural heritage.
I wish to warmly thank the Government of Viet Nam for their invitation and cooperation, and I encourage them to continue inviting special procedures and to allow people, in particular civil society actors, to meet mandate holders freely.