Vietnamese
Activists Tour US, Europe for Human Rights
Tra Mi - VOA
January 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — A group of Vietnamese bloggers and human rights activists is
touring the United States, Europe and Australia to advocate for pressure on
Hanoi to improve its rights record.
The
delegation has been invited by the United Nations Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and NGOs. It consists of representatives from
groups such as VOICE, Vietnamese Bloggers Network, Dan Lam Bao, Hoa Hao Buddhist
Church, and relatives of current political prisoners.
At a hearing of a U.S. congressional commission this week, blogger Nguyen Anh
Tuan told VOA's Vietnamese service that the group has been very busy.
"Our campaign started with visits to foreign embassies in Vietnam lately, and on
this U.S. trip, we'll meet with U.S. State Department, U.S. lawmakers,
international rights groups before we fly to the EU on the same mission to ask
the international to press for Vietnam's rights improvement," he said. "Our trip
is made before Hanoi's Universal Periodic Review at the U.N. Human Rights
Council on 2/5 in Geneva, which is also one of our stops during the campaign."
Also at
the hearing Thursday was the mother of jailed Vietnamese labor rights activist
Do Thi Minh Hanh, Tran Thi Ngoc Minh.
Appearing earlier on "VOA Express", she said Vietnamese authorities should spend
more time learning from activists.
"Prisoners of conscience in Vietnam are patriotic Vietnamese who stand up
against injustice and violent power. Instead of listening to them, the
authorities use oppression, beating, abuse, discrimination and other means to
put them in prison."
Her daughter is a 28-year-old labor rights activist who was imprisoned for seven
years in 2010 for distributing leaflets in support of workers demanding better
pay and conditions.
Delegation members say they are aiming to provide the U.S. and the U.N. full and
accurate information on the current human rights situation in Vietnam. The
Vietnamese government has not commented on the activists' trip.
This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Vietnamese service.