![\"Asian](\"http:\/\/queme.net\/images\/asian_correspondent.jpg\")
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| <\/td>\n | \n![\"Vo](\"http:\/\/www.queme.net\/photos\/2010-1028a.jpg\") <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/td>\n | \n | Vo Van Ai, centre, is pictured here with Anwar Ibrahim, right, and Penelope Faulkner. Pic: AP<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n In September, a press event on human rights in Vietnam was to take place at the Foreign Correspondent\u2019s Club of Thailand (FCCT), when the FCCT got a letter from the Thai ministry of affairs which pressured it to cancel the event, asking that it not allow \u201corganizations and\/or persons to use Thailand as a place to conduct activities detrimental to other countries\u201d.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter the event was indeed actually canceled after the speakers and activists have been denied entry to Thailand. This dubious act by the Thai government drew public criticism. <\/p>\n Why am I telling you this, you might ask? Well, maybe they have learned some lessons and actually try to…. Ah, what the hell – this is Thailand we\u2019re talking about! And guess what? They\u2019ve done it again!<\/strong><\/p>\n \nThe president of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, Vo Van Ai, was refused a visa by the Thai Embassy in Paris, the second time<\/strong> that he has been prevented from travelling to Bangkok in recent weeks. (…)<\/p>\n An empty chair marked the place where Vo Van Ai was to have delivered a lecture titled \u201cUniversality and Particularity in Human Rights: A Vietnamese Buddhist Viewpoint\u201d at the \u201cFirst International Conference on Human Rights in Asia.\u201d The event drew scholars and activists from across southeast Asia and beyond and was held by the Southeast Asia Human Rights Network (SEAHRN) and Bangkok\u2019s Mahidon University.<\/p>\n Speaking today, Dr. Srirapha Petcharamasree read letter from Vo Van Ai to SEAHRN, in which he said that \u201cthe attitude of the Thai government is particularly shocking given that Thailand holds the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council.\u201d<\/strong> Dr. Srirapha is Thailand\u2019s representative at the AICHR, but stressed that she was speaking in a personal capacity. She called on the Thai Government \u201cto be faithful to the commitment made to the UN when it made its candidacy to the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n |