NEW YORK, March 9 Human Rights Watch is accusing Vietnam of launching one of the worst crackdowns on peaceful dissidents in two decades.The organization says the one-party communist state recently arrested two outspoken human rights lawyers and a Catholic priest as part of its crackdown on opposition, HRW Press reports.Vietnam has now taken its place on the world economic stage, but its human rights record lags far behind, says Sophie Richardson, the group ' s deputy Asia director. Vietnam recently joined the World Trade Organization and hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.At the same time, opposition parties, independent media and labor unions, as well as unsanctioned religious organizations, were strictly banned by the government.Despite the official rhetoric, the Vietnamese government can't really pretend to be working towards a just and democratic society when it continues to persecute those who articulate different political views, who support multi-party democracy, or simply advocate basic human rights, Richardson says. Copyright 2007 by UPI
