News

Australian Ambassador Hugh Borrowman visits Buddhist Patriarch Thich Quang Do

PARIS, 30 November 2012 (IBIB) – H.E. Hugh Borrowman, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam paid a visit on Thursday 29 November to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam’s Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do, 84, at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where the UBCV leader and …

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Elderly women pray at a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Hanoi, Aug. 20, 2010 (Photo AFP)

Radio Free Asia – New Law Limits Religious Freedom

A rights group says new rules in Vietnam give the state more power to curb religious freedom. Radio Free Asia (RFA), 2012-11-29 Elderly women pray at a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Hanoi, Aug. 20, 2010 (Photo AFP) A new decree on religion in Vietnam gives the one-party communist state greater …

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Government Decree 92 tightens controls on religions in Vietnam

PARIS, 29 November 2012 (IBIB) –The International Buddhist Information Bureau is deeply disturbed by a new government decree that increases state control of religions and further undermines religious freedom in Vietnam. Decree 92 (full reference 92/2012/ND-CP) on “Directives and measures for implementing the Ordinance on beliefs and religion”, issued by …

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Vietnam Committee joins civil society in rejecting flawed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

PARIS, 19 November 2012 (VCHR) – The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights is one of 55 civil society organizations endorsing a statement to reject the flawed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) adopted on 18 November by 10 ASEAN nations at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (see full …

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Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Nguyen Tien Trung, Le Cong Dinh

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention pronounced detention of Vietnamese pro-democracy activists a violation of international law

PARIS, 8 November 2012 (VCHR) – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention informed the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights by fax today that it considers the detention of four pro-democracy activists, Le Cong Dinh, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Nguyen Tien Trung and Le Thang Long to be a …

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Imprisonment of musicians a new low for freedom of expression

PARIS-BANGKOK, 2 November 2012 (FIDH & VCHR) – The trial and harsh sentencing of two musicians on charges of “anti-State propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code is the latest example of Vietnam’s escalating assault on freedom of expression and its blatant violation of international human rights law, said …

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Radio Free Asia : Jailed for Sensitive Songs

    Vietnam sentences two musicians to up to six years for “anti-state propaganda.” Police and security staff stand outside the Ho Chi Minh City courthouse, Sept, 24, 2012 (AFP) A court in Vietnam sent two prominent musicians to prison Tuesday for writing politically sensitive songs, drawing criticism from rights …

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Radio Free Asia : US Diplomat Visits Restive Pagoda

    The visit to the Giac Minh Pagoda in central Vietnam’s Danang is an apparent move to highlight religious freedom. A suspected plainclothes policeman twists the arm of Thich Thanh Quang outside the Giac Minh Pagoda, Aug. 17, 2012 – Photo courtesy of IBIB A U.S. diplomat has made …

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Protest singers Viet Khang and Tran Vu Anh Binh condemned to harsh prison sentences at an unfair trial in Vietnam

  Viet Khang   PARIS, 30 October 2012 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights strongly condemns the harsh sentences imposed on two Vietnamese singers and songwriters at an unfair trial at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court today. Vo Minh Tri, known as Viet Khang and …

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US Consulate official visits UBCV monk Thich Thanh Quang in Danang

PARIS, 30 October 2012 (IBIB) – Venerable Thich Thanh Quang, head of the Quang Nam-Danang Provincial Committee of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) received a visit from Ms. Kathleen Peoples, Political Outreach Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City at the Giac Minh Pagoda …

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