Vietnam Populist Party (VNPP)
Freelance Journalist Trương Minh Đức was released on May 5, 2012
Press Release
-- For Immediate Release --
Freelance Journalist Trương Minh Đức was released on May 5, 2012
Journalist Trương Minh Đức with his wife at home, after his release
He joined his wife (Nguyen thi Kim Thanh) and family members at the gate of Xuan Loc Prison Camp (Z30A) at 9:30 am, 2 hours late due to his last arguing with the prison guard to regain his personal belongings including pictures of relatives and a poem book given by Nguyen Huu Cau, a long term prisoner of conscience.
Right after his release he gives long distance interviews to several media firms around the world. His first messages were the detail situation of living condition inside the overcrowded prison, the need of restoring freedom and democracy for Vietnam, and his vow to continue fighting against dictatorship, corruptions and social injustice. He also sent his heartfelt thanks to supporters around the world.
Australia–Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue
Human Rights Watch Recommendations
During the year 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, there were many violations of human rights in Vietnam including a steady stream of political trials and arrests. The Vietnamese government systematically suppresses freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Independent writers, bloggers, and rights activists who question government policies, expose official corruption, or call for democratic alternatives to one-party rule are routinely subject to police harassment and intrusive surveillance, detained incommunicado for long periods of time without access to legal counsel, and sentenced to increasingly long terms in prison for violating vague national security laws. Police frequently torture suspects to elicit confessions and, in several cases, have responded to public protests over evictions, confiscation of land, and police brutality with excessive use of force. Authorities forcibly dispersed anti-China protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in 2011 and protesters were intimidated, harassed, and in some cases detained for several days.
Myanmar: An end to European sanctions
Myanmar Briefing Note No. 26
24 April 2012
Myanmar: An end to European sanctions
As expected the EU Foreign Affairs Council agreed to suspend 'restrictive measures' against Myanmar, with the exception of the arms embargo, at their meeting on 23 April 2012. The detail will be set out in regulations to be published later this week. In order to suspend sanctions during the coming year, the first essential will be renew them formally, and then suspend them, since otherwise they would lapse completely on 30 April 2012.
Myanmar: Whatever next?
Myanmar Briefing Note No. 24 6 April 2012 Myanmar: Whatever next? Easter is upon us, and the Thingyan New Year festivities will follow. After the roller-coaster of the last two weeks, we all need a break. Election observer groups are putting the final touches to their reports, the detailed results of the by-elections have yet to be published and psephologists, amateur and professional, have yet to pronounce. The National League for Democracy is about to make a formal statement. The Election Commission has already admitted that they waxed the USDP box on the ballot paper, thus compelling voters to mark the NLD box instead.
Aung San Suu Kyi: Peaceful freedom fighter (CNN) -- The election of Aung San Suu Kyi to Myanmar's parliament caps a remarkable turn around for the pro-democracy campaigner, who was kept under house arrest for a total of 15 years by the country's military junta.Suu Kyi was born in 1945, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San -- a man almost universally respected in the country, including the top ranks of the omnipresent military. She was only two-years old when her father was assassinated as the country, then known as Burma, prepared to transfer from British colonial rule. Her mother, Khin Kyi, became an active figure in the newly independent nation, eventually winning ambassadorial posts in India and Nepal. Suu Kyi followed her mother to India and continued her education in New Delhi, which culminated in a degree in politics in 1964. She went on to Oxford University in England to study politics, economics and philosophy. It was here she met Michael Aris, whom she married in 1972 after stints working in the United States and Japan. The couple had two children, Alexander and Kim. Cyber warfare in the DoldrumsMyanmar Briefing Note No. 20 23 February 2012
The debate on recent changes in Myanmar continues to excite unprecedented interest outside Myanmar, not least among the up to 4 million strong Burmese expatriate community. A process of reconciliation has taken root as thousands of Burmese living overseas debate their future. With strong official encouragement, many are paying visits back to their home country, some for the first time in twenty years. Some have already taken the plunge and have decided to return. The experience and education which they have acquired abroad could be invaluable as the country sets out on the road to modernisation and democratisation.
Vietnamese Buddhist dissident nominated for 2012 Nobel Peace PrizeThe Venerable Thich Quảng Độ, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (Cubv), is among the leaders of the struggle for human rights and religious freedom in the communist country. Still lives under house arrest in the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. In recent months, he has challenged the government, inviting it to rid itself of "the Chinese vice".  Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - The venerable Thich Quảng Độ, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (Cubv), is among those nominated for the 2012Nobel Peace Prize, with cross-party support of U.S. and European parliamentarians. The Vietnam Committee for Human Rights confirmed the nomination, after February 1 last, the deadline for submission and the winner will be announced, as usual, in mid-October. Even today the 83 year-old monk and human rights activist is living under house arrest in the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City. In recent months, during anti-Beijing riots over disputes in the South China Sea, he sent a letter to the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, openly defying the regime. The only way to escape the clutches of China, he suggested in the letter, is "to begin a peaceful transition to democracy, so that our country can breathe through the nostrils of 90 million people that make up Vietnam."
World Report 2012: Vietnam [1] Events of 2011The Vietnamese government systematically suppresses freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Independent writers, bloggers, and rights activists who question government policies, expose official corruption, or call for democratic alternatives to one-party rule are routinely subject to police harassment and intrusive surveillance, detained incommunicado for long periods of time without access to legal counsel, and sentenced to increasingly long terms in prison for violating vague national security laws. The Vietnamese government systematically suppresses freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Independent writers, bloggers, and rights activists who question government policies, expose official corruption, or call for democratic alternatives to one-party rule are routinely subject to police harassment and intrusive surveillance, detained incommunicado for long periods of time without access to legal counsel, and sentenced to increasingly long terms in prison for violating vague national security laws.
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