{"id":46626,"date":"2022-06-24T17:17:36","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T17:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=46626"},"modified":"2022-06-24T17:17:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T17:17:40","slug":"vietnam-sentencing-and-arbitrary-detention-of-environmental-rights-defender-nguy-thi-khanh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/vietnam-sentencing-and-arbitrary-detention-of-environmental-rights-defender-nguy-thi-khanh\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam: Sentencing and arbitrary detention of environmental rights defender Nguy Thi Khanh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


URGENT APPEAL – The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Vietnam.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VNM 002 \/ 0622 \/ OBS 054<\/strong>
Arbitrary detention \/
Judicial harassment\/
Vietnam<\/strong>
June 24, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Description of the situation<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nObservatory has been informed about the conviction, sentencing, and ongoing\narbitrary detention of Nguy Thi Khanh<\/strong>, a prominent environmental\nactivist, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018 and a symbol of the\ncampaign against Vietnam’s reliance on coal power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 17,\n2022, Nguy Thi Khanh was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for tax evasion under\nthe Article 200 of Vietnam\u2019s 2015 Criminal Code, after being prosecuted and\nconvicted for failing to pay a 10% tax on her Goldman Prize money, which is\nequivalent to an amount of VND 456 million (around 18,252 Euros).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Khanh was arrested on January 11, 2022 and detained for investigation at the Police Detention Centre No. 1 in Hanoi, where she remained detained pending trial. The acts of harassment against her began after she had repeatedly raised concerns on Vietnam\u2019s heavy reliance on coal. In October 2021, Nguy Thi Khanh along with several NGOs alerted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the necessity to revise Vietnam\u2019s Draft National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period. In October 2019, she had joined 12 Vietnamese NGOs, including Oxfam – Vietnam, in signing the \u201cH<\/a>an<\/a>oi Statement<\/a>\u201d (Tuy\u1ebfn b\u1ed1 H\u00e0 n\u1ed9i), which called on the government to stop funding coal-fired power stations and to conduct a democratic consultation with the Vietnamese people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of\npublication of this urgent appeal, Nguy Thi Khanh remains in the Police\nDetention Center No 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Khanh is\nthe fourth and most prominent environmental activist denouncing Vietnam’s\ncontinued heavy reliance on coal-fired power to be arrested this year on\ncharges of tax evasion. On January 24, 2022, Dang Dinh Bach,<\/strong> director of\nthe Law and Policy of Sustainability Development Research Center, was sentenced\nto five years in prison. On January 11, 2022, Mai Phan Loi<\/strong>, founder and\nleader of the Center for Media in Educating Community (MEC) and Bach H\u00f9ng\nDuong <\/strong>former director of the MEC were sentenced to  our years and two years and six months\nrespectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three environmental rights defenders were accused of corporate tax evasion, although non-profit organizations are exempt from corporate tax in Vietnam. Tax laws regarding NGOs receiving funds from international donors are particularly vague and restrictive. The organisations of the three defenders, along with the VCHR, believed that their arrests were prompted by their work\u00a0 to\u00a0 promote civil society engagement in monitoring the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)<\/a> which came into force in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about\nthe Vietnamese authorities\u2019 use of legal harassment, especially the use of\ntax-related charges against environmental activists, as a strategy to\ncriminlise them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nObservatory strongly condemns the judicial harassment and arbitrary detention\nof Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Bach Hung Duong, and Mai Phan Loi,as\nit seems to be only aimed at punishing them for their legitimate environmental\nand human rights activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nObservatory urges the Vietnamese authorities to put an end to all acts of\nharassment against the above-mentioned human rights defenders and immediately\nand unconditionally release them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actions requested: <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please write to the authorities of Vietnam, urging them to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and\npsychological well-being of Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang\nDinh Bach, Bach Hung Duong, Mai Phan Loi, and all other human rights\ndefenders in Vietnam;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Bach Hung Duong, and\nMai Phan Loi as their detention is arbitrary and merely aimed at\npunishing them for their human rights activities;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment – including at the judicial level – against Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Bach Hang Duong, and Mai Phan Loi and all other human rights defenders in Vietnam, and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate activities and exercise their rights without any hindrance and fear of reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addresses: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Mr.\nNguyen Xuan Phuc, President of Vietnam, Email: webmaster@president.gov.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Vietnam, Email: nguoiphatngonchinhphu@chinhphu.vn<\/a>\n\/ thongtinchinhphu@chinhphu.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Mr. Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Email: ttll.mfa@mofa.gov.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Minister of Home Affairs of Vietnam, Email: lanhdaobo@moha.gov.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Mr. Le Thanh Long, Minister of Justice of Vietnam, Email: cntt@moj.gov.vn<\/a> ; banbientap@moj.gov.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Mr. Tran Van Son, Minister, Office of the Government (OOG), Email: vpcp@chinhphu.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland,\nEmail: info@vnmission-ge.gov.vn<\/a>, geneva@mofa.gov.vn<\/a>
\n\u2022 Embassy of Vietnam in Brussels, Belgium, Email: vnemb.brussels@skynet.be<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***
\nParis-Geneva, June 23, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kindly inform us of any action\nundertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu<\/a>, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
\u00b7 E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
\u00b7 Tel. FIDH\u00a0: +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18
\u00b7 Tel. OMCT\u00a0: +41 (0) 22 809 49 39

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

URGENT APPEAL – The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Vietnam. VNM 002 \/ 0622 \/ OBS 054Arbitrary detention \/Judicial harassment\/ VietnamJune 24, 2022 Description of the situation: The Observatory has been informed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":46631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,113,98,64],"tags":[289,1516,1441,1440,1560,295,294],"class_list":["post-46626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-arbitrary-detention","tag-bach-hung-duong","tag-dang-dinh-bach","tag-mai-phan-loi","tag-nguy-thi-khanh","tag-observatory","tag-omct"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}