§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Government of Vietnam on persecution of Christians. [37938]
§ Mr. BradshawPromotion of human rights, including freedom of thought, conscience and religion, is at the heart of our foreign policy. Whenever the opportunity arises we condemn instances where individuals are persecuted because of their faith or belief, in Vietnam and elsewhere, and whatever the religion of the individual or group concerned.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised human rights issues in general when he met the Vietnamese Foreign Minister, Mr. Nien, in London in September 2001. When my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister visited Vietnam in December 2001, he raised the treatment of the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh. The EU Human Rights Working Group in Hanoi, in which our Embassy plays a leading role, has also raised the treatment of religious believers on several occasions during its regular dialogue with the Vietnamese authorities.