Today 15 non-governmental organizations * call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Nguyễn Bắc Truyển, a human rights defender in Vietnam. In a joint letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 8, 2017 the organisations express their deep concern about his arrest and his incommunicado, arbitrary, detention since the end of July 2017. The joint letter wrote: Mr. Nguyễn Bắc Truyển was last seen on July 30, 2017 while he was waiting for his wife near his workplace at the Redemptorist Church in Ho Chi Minh City. Later that day, the website of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced that he had been arrested... Read more »
On April 5, 2017, the German Association of Judges (GAJ) has awarded the Human Rights Price 2017 to the Vietnamese lawyer Nguyen Van Dai. Dai is currently held incommunicado in Vietnam and his wife was banned on traveling to Germany to receive the price. During the celebration in Weimar city, Mr. Vu Quoc Dung, Executive Director of veto! Human Rights Defenders’ Network, received the price statue and certificate on behalf of human rights defender Nguyen Van Dai. An empty chair with his image on the stage pointed out his absence at the ceremony. In her laudation at the ceremony Mrs. Marie-Luise Dött, Member of the German Bundestag, who takes the... Read more »
Nguyen Van Dai faces up to 20 years imprisonment – Joint action with MP Marie-Luise Dött and missio Aachen (Bad Nauheim, March 1, 2017) – In a joint online-petition started today VETO! Human Rights Defenders’ Network, German MP Marie-Luise Dött (CDU) and the International Catholic Missionary Work Missio Aachen call for the release of the imprisoned Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha. They are detained since December 16, 2015, without being granted access to their attorneys. “VETO! welcomes the joint campaign for the release of the two Vietnamese human rights defenders wrongly imprisoned. Many people will assist them because of their non-violent defense... Read more »
On December 22, 2016 the Parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Vietnamese Blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh. [1] VETO! welcomes this initiative and believes that it will help protecting the alienable rights of the imprisoned blogger. VETO! also greatly appreciates the adoption of Mrs. Nhu Quynh into the Program “Parliamentarians protect Parliamentarians” of the German Bundestag. [2] In the frame of this program parliamentarians of the German Bundestag stand up and support vulnerable parliamentarians in danger, politicians and human rights defenders in other countries. VETO! would take the opportunity to thank MP Frank Schwabe, Spokesman for Human... Read more »
Man-made marine disaster in Vietnam Can the World Community do more than look? Thục-Quyên (Save Vietnam´s Nature) In early April 2016, tones of dead fish began washing up along the coast of Ha Tinh province and neighboring Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces: miles and miles of fishes, countless clams, some occasional whales, seabirds, etc. followed by the death of diver Le Van Ngay after suffering chest pains and breathing difficulties [i], unusual health conditions of his colleagues (tired, chest pain and dizzy after every swim, skin tone changed), illness of hundreds of people from eating seafood, etc. A month later, over 100 tones of dead fishes had... Read more »
NGUYEN Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a human rights defender known as Blogger Mother Mushroom, was arrested on October 10, 2016 in Nha Trang City, Vietnam, under the charge of “spreading propaganda against the State”. Subsequently the police searched her home and confiscated her computer, I-pad, mobile phone, hard disks, USB sticks, photo camera, film camera, sound recorder and several documents. According to the authority she is being held in the Detention Camp of the Public Security of Khánh Hòa Province. She is held incommunicado, i.e. has no access to a lawyer and family visits. A Catholic she is not allowed to receive a Bible. If convicted, she can face up to... Read more »
PRESS RELEASE 73 Members of Parliament on four continents call for the release of Vietnamese lawyer Nguyễn Văn Đài HANOI, 25 October 2016— Yesterday Members of parliament from around the world sent an open letter (*) to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, calling on the government in Hanoi to immediately and unconditionally release Vietnamese lawyer Nguyễn Văn Đài and his assistant Lê Thu Hà. “We are pleased to note that Vietnam is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary detention, guarantees the right to a fair trial, and stipulates that detainees be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity. In... Read more »
VETO! Human Rights Defenders‘ Network: On March 18, 2016, MP Martin Patzelt, member of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of German parliament (Bundestag), issued the below press release announcing his trip to Vietnam to observe the trial of Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh (Blogger Anhbasam) and Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy. MP Patzelt has repeatedly met Ms. Le Thi Minh Ha, Vinh´s wife, who advocated for the release of her husband at the German Bundestag. Besides Mr. Patzelt, Ms. Ha also received support from other Members of Parliament (MP): MP Michael Brand and MP Frank Heinrich (CDU/CSU), MP Sabine Batzing-Lichtenthäler (SPD), MP Tom Koenigs and MP Omid Nouripour... Read more »
On November 13, 2014, the Vietnamese labor rights activist Do Thi Minh Hanh visited the German Bundestag. She met MP Michael Brand, Chairman of Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag, who has adopted her during the imprisonment, and MP Frank Heinrich, Member of Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag, who has visited her in Thanh Xuan Prison in Hanoi on April 24, 2014. She was sorry for not being able to meet MP Sabine Baetzing-Lichtenthäler who has also sponsored her case. MP Baetzing-Lichtenthäler was appointed Minister of Social Affairs in the Rheinland-Pfalz State some days before her visit. Pic: MP... Read more »
Since September 2014 thousands of citizens in Hong Kong protested against the so called “proposed electoral reform” decided by the Chinese National People’s Congress which doesn’t allow civil nomination of candidates to the post of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. The protesters blocked the east-west arterial routes. The group Occupy Central With Love and Peace (OCLP) called for a civil disobedience campaign. In the following is the “Manual of Desobedience” of OCLP. (source: http://oclp.hk/?route=occupy/eng_detail&eng_id=28) Civil disobedience (1) Philosophy Civil disobedience refers to acts of opposing injustice through refusing to comply with a law, decree or order. The participants will not resort to violence. Rather, they will proactively accept the... Read more »
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