FM Spokeswoman rejects Human Right' report on ethic minority
On April 24, 2002, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh answered question from many journalists:Please provide Vietnam's reaction to a report by the Human Rights Watch on 23 April 2002 accusing Vietnamese authorities of suppressing Central Highland ethnic minority people.
Answer:
The Human Rights Watch report is full of slanders, fabrications and distortions of the real situation in the Central Highlands. We strongly reject this report. Rhetoric on the so-called "suppression of ethnic minority people in Vietnam" completely goes counter to the reality. Many foreign guests, diplomats and journalists on their visits to the Central Highlands have witnessed with their own eyes the reality there.
Contrary to what was described in the report, over the past years, Central Highland provinces have recorded important accomplishments in economic, cultural and social development. The economic growth of Central Highland provinces stands at roughly 10%, the life of the majority people has ceaselessly been improved, the rate of hunger and poverty has significantly decreased. Before the liberation day, 90% of people in the Central Highlands were illiterate, a sharp contrast to the current 90% rate of literacy. More than two thirds of the population have access to the national electricity network. Transport networks connecting provinces, districts, communes and hamlets have continuously expanded.
Releasing a report full of blatant distortions, the Human Rights Watch can convince no one, but only tarnish itself.
