18 February 2003
PEN LAUNCHES FREE-EXPRESSION CAMPAIGN
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) has kicked off a month-long campaign to draw attention to free expression violations in Vietnam, focusing on 10 writers currently in prison or under house arrest.
Running from 17 February to 17 March, the campaign has been launched in response to the Vietnamese government's recent moves to intensify suppression of pro-democracy advocates, religious organisations and free expression on the Internet.
At least five dissidents have been imprisoned for publishing documents on the Internet critical of government policy or supportive of democratic reform, WiPC says. In June 2002, authorities blocked up to 2,000 websites and instituted tighter restrictions on Vietnam's 4,000 internet cafés to prevent individuals from accessing "state secrets," "pornographic material" and "reactionary documents."
In August, the government warned internet café owners they would be fined for allowing individuals to view websites "harmful to national security," WiPC notes. Two months later, the country's state-owned internet service providers were ordered to block all websites containing "politically and morally unacceptable web content."
For more details about WiPC's Campaign see: www.pen.org">http://www.pen.org/freedom/Vietnam.html">www.pen.org
Visit these links:
- Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org">http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/12/vietnam1220.htm">www.hrw.org
- Report on Human Rights in Vietnam: http://hrw.org">http://hrw.org/wr2k2/asia11.html">http://hrw.org
- Reporters sans frontières: www.rsf.org">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=1429">www.rsf.org
- Digital Freedom Network: http://dfn.org
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