WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to raise human rights when she visits Vietnam next week, saying that the issue should be at the heart of the nations’ growing relationship.

In a letter to Clinton sent Thursday, 19 members of the House of Representatives wrote that Vietnam “holds in its cells hundreds of prisoners whose only crime is to peacefully advocate for social justice.”

Clinton’s visit “represents a crucial opportunity not only to raise pressing concerns for imprisoned activists but to integrate human rights issues into the core of US-Vietnam bilateral policy,” they wrote.

Continue reading US lawmakers ask Secretary of State Clinton to raise human rights issues in Vietnam →

By Martha Ann Overland / Ho Chi Minh City

For much of the past year, residents of a village in Vietnam’s southern Ca Mau province heard a child screaming in terror in a nearby house, but no one alerted the authorities. As 14-year-old Nguyen Hoang Anh was being branded with hot irons, had solvents poured in his wounds and had his teeth pulled out with pliers, those who heard him ignored his cries. Neighbors feared the couple that employed the boy on their shrimp farm might retaliate against them if they notified officials. Others, knowing police rarely interfere in domestic issues, did not know whom to call.

Continue reading Child-Abuse Case Reveals Vietnam’s Lax Social Services →