Additional information in English – Open letter to (potential) signers
Ladies and gentlemen,
for I received a lot of mails in the last days, expressing solidarity and gratitude, and some Vietnamese bloggers mentioned the petition, I first of all want to express my deep joyousness about the fact, that together we really can move something – for the good of the arrested dissidents in Vietnam. I have to admit, that I am not able to read and understand Vietnamese language, so if anybody wants to stay in contact, it would be necessary to use English or German for conversation.
I was asked about my motivation. I started this petition as a private person, not represanting any Political Party or NGO. As a Catholic blogger I am emotionally involved into the different cases of politically motivated trials against Catholic bloggers in Vietnam. Although I do not know anyone personally, I feel free enough to call them „collegues“. I hope they will take this as a token of my esteem. I am, by the way, not an expert on Vietnam. So, I had to learn that there are much more cases ongoing. That once more shows to me the deep need for the petition.
I was asked about the legal status of the petition. This petition calls for action within the parlamentary process of legislation in Germany in order to empower the German Government, especially the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to intervene for the good of any dissident, holding Vietnam to account for the protection of Human Rights, i. e. the freedom of religion, of opinion, and of the press.
I was asked about posibilities to act additionally. In the moment, there a two posibilities to sign the same petition, one here and one there. You may sign one of them or both. In the end the votes are not counted twice. There is no exact number to be reached in order to get the petition accepted; the goal is to reach 1000 signers.
Furthermore the number of signers does only indicate a certain need for the German Government to negotiate the petition; there is, as far as I know, no obligation to do so. On the other hand, the more signers express their attitude, the better. So: Every single vote counts to keep (first of all: to get) the topic into media and, as a result, into public awareness.
It also may be, that beside of the legislation members of German Government get to know the cases and act under their general competence to promote Human Rights in the World. That does mean, there is no need for a special mandate concerning Vietnam, but for the awareness, that in Vietnam Human Rights are harmed systematically – and that seems to be the case. So: Please spread the massage broadly!
Thank you all! God bless you!
Yours sincerely,
Josef Bordat
