Press Release

37 Prominent Members of the U.S. Congress urge Vietnam to release Buddhist dissidents Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do

Whilst Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phan Van Khai made an unprecedented step this week towards dialogue with the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) by holding talks with UBCV Patriarch and prominent dissident Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang in Hanoi, the regime has made no promises to release the UBCV …

Read More »

Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai holds talks with Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang in Hanoi on the situation of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam

For the first time in unified Vietnam, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has met the leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang in Hanoi to talk about the situation of the UBCV. The meeting took place today at 5.30 pm and lasted …

Read More »

Buddhist leader Thich Huyen Quang faces hardships in Hanoi after issuing a Statement calling for the re-establishment of the banned UBCV

The International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) is concerned for the safety of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) who is currently in Hanoi for medical treatment. The IBIB is informed that tension has escalated between the Vietnamese authorities and the …

Read More »

The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights call for the immediate release of human rights defender Nguyen Dan Que

Mr Sidiki Kaba, President of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Mr Vo Van Ai, FIDH Vice-President and Chairman of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, wrote to the Vietnamese leadership today expressing grave concern on arrest of dissident and human rights defender Dr Nguyen Dan Que …

Read More »

Diplomats from the European Union and the United States visit Buddhist Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang in Hanoi

For the first time in over two decades, since the Vietnamese government effectively banned the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and supplanted it with the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church in November 1981, diplomats from the European Union and the United States have met with UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang …

Read More »

Quang Ngai Police ban Buddhist leader Thich Huyen Quang from traveling to Ho Chi Minh City to undergo urgent surgery

In a letter sent by fax to the Vietnamese leadership today, Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights and Vice-President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) called for the urgent release of Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang of the banned Unified Buddhist Church …

Read More »

The European Commission calls for the release of Buddhist leaders Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do and calls on European diplomatic envoys to visit the detained Buddhist dissidents in Vietnam

The European Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten has expressed EC concern on Vietnam’s continued detention of Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and his Deputy, Venerable Thich Quang Do, and called for the Buddhist leaders’ release. In written replies to questions tabled …

Read More »

In his 20th year of internal exile, detained Buddhist Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang urges Buddhists to resist persecution and engage in the nonviolent movement for democracy, religious freedom and human rights (Message to Vietnamese Buddhists for the Lunar New Year)

The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has sent a Message to Vietnamese Buddhists on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Goat, 1st February 2003. Sent clandestinely from the small hut near Quang Phuoc Pagoda, Nghia Hanh village …

Read More »

Prominent Member of the European Parliament is arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for staging a peaceful demonstration for religious freedom in Vietnam

PARIS, 6 June 2001 (VCHR) – The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights is deeply concerned for the safety of Olivier Dupuis, Member of the European Parliament and Secretary of the Italy-based Transnational Radical Party and his assistant, Martin Schultes, arrested at 19h.30h (Vietnam time) in front of the Thanh Minh …

Read More »

Prominent European M.P. Olivier Dupuis stages sit-in inside Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in solidarity with detained Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do

PARIS, 6 June 2001 (VCHR) – Mr Olivier Dupuis, Member of the European Parliament and Secretary-general of the Transnational Radical Party is staging a sit-in today inside the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery at 90 Tran Huy Lieu Street, Phu Nhuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, to protest Vietnam’s arbitrary detention …

Read More »