베트남의 인권과 정치발전에 관한 연구

Abstract

This paper examines the interrelation between human rights and political development in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Up to now, Vietnam has been considered as one of the poorest country in terms of human rights by the International community and overseas Vietnamese anti-government groups. Simultaneously it is also mentioned that Vietnam has succeeded in accomplishing socio-economic growth on the basis of political stability during the last decade. These contradictory evaluations of the political situation in contemporary Vietnam mainly stem not from the internal points of view but from the external ones about the interrelation between human rights and political development. Since the dawn of history, Vietnam under the sway of the Chinese eastern civilization had been located at the margin of western influences of human rights and democracy. The communal society had been given more priority than the individual owing to natural disasters and foreign invasions. The common people's interests and rights had been restricted by the traditional monarchism. However, the Vietnamese people in the ancient period had remained in the atmosphere of the Southeast Asian culture and therefore they had maintained egalitarian spirits in the process of collective labor and distribution and in the social relations. In the medieval times, the human rights and freedoms of the Vietnamese, especially the ruled people, had been limited because of social positions and hierarchical order of Confucianism. In the modern period, the French colonialism had transplanted the western ideas of political freedom, laws and even democracy. The indigenous people in the colony, however, had been only allowed to taste the modified or partial version of human rights and freedoms. As the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established, the rights of the Vietnamese people were recognized and guaranteed by law for the first time. But the DRV government and the communist party had chosen the socialist way of nation building and had to introduce the Marxist-Leninist edition of human rights and democratic centralism. In brief, Vietnam could have cultivated a transformed and mixed sense of human rights and freedoms, since it had to experience the foreign social thoughts of Confucianism, capitalism and socialism. Since the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam had adopted open door policy of Doi Moi in 1986, various types of human right movements had bursted into sight. Before everything else, the progressives inside Vietnam like retired general and cadres, intellectuals, Buddhist and Catholic priests have pursued to improve the condition of human rights while demanding the political and religious freedom. This wave has resulted in the radical reactions of the Authorities from the outset, however, it has become a equalizer for the communist leadership in the end. The anti-government groups outside Vietnam and the international community including the United Nations, the US Congress, the Amnesty International, the Human Right Watch have put political democratization, political pluralism and freedom of religion and press on the agenda. Nevertheless, this external and diplomatic pressure has been only for the limited effect. The Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government have also endeavored to improve the condition of human right for the purpose of political stabilization. It was the progressive faction of the Party that has led this dynamic movement and has brought effective and direct results. Amendments of the Constititution, legislations at the National Assembly, drawing up the political, socio- economic reports at the National Congress have been the symbolic improvement of human rights. By means of these activities, the Party and the Government has stuck to its will in order to admit the errors of its policies, to clear up the corruptions and injustice, and to guarantee the improvement of human rights. All these movements of human right have gone along way toward the political development and social stability in Vietnam.