News

Buddhist dissident leader Thich Quang Do seeks to joins protests at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch relay in Saigon

PARIS, 29 April 2008 (IBIB) – The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, prominent dissident and second-ranking leader of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) left house arrest to attend a rally protesting the Beijing 2008 Olympics torch relay in Ho Chi Minh City today, but found the streets …

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Secret Communist Party Document orders repression against the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam

PARIS, 18 April 2008 (IBIB) – The International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) has obtained a copy of a secret Communist Party document that reveals a state-orchestrated policy of repression against the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), contrasting starkly with the government’s claims of “respecting religious freedom” in Vietnam. The …

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World Movement for Democracy holds Fifth Assembly in Ukraine

KYIV (UKRAINE), 10 April 2008 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – From 6-9 April 2008, 531 democracy activists, practitioners and scholars from 112 countries gathered in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the Fifth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD) under the theme “Making Democracy Work: From Principles to Performance”. Founded in 1999, the …

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As Hanoi prepares to host UN International Vesak Day in May 2008, Vietnam expels monks of Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam from pagodas in Lam Dong and Quang Tri and intimidates Buddhists

PARIS, 3rd April 2008 (IBIB) – The outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) informs the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) that Security Police, local authorities and sections of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) are accelerating measures to “terrorize and harass” UBCV followers by seizing control of UBCV pagodas …

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UNDP awards Hanoi a million-dollar grant to continue human rights abuses in Vietnam

PARIS, 28 March 2008 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi has just signed a $US 1.238-million project with the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry to help “implement human rights treaties in Vietnam”. The 4-year project, signed on 20 March 2008, is aimed at “raising Vietnamese officials’ awareness” …

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AFP : Vietnam Monk Calls For Pressure On China

  Agence France Presse   HANOI, 17 March 2008 (AFP) – A leading Vietnamese dissident Buddhist monk on Monday called on the international community to put pressure on China to end “repression” in Tibet, following a week of deadly unrest. “The Buddhists of Tibet are struggling to prevent the suppression …

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Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) : Call for international pressure on China

  Radio Telefís Éireann   A leading Vietnamese dissident Buddhist monk has called on the international community to put pressure on China to end ‘repression’ in Tibet, following a week of deadly unrest. Thich Quang Do of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam said the Buddhists of Tibet are …

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