On September 24, 2016, Mr. Phạm Bình Minh, Deputy Prime Minister of Viet Nam, addressed the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-first session at the United Nations Headquarter in New York City. The full speech can be watched at this page: https://gadebate.un.org/en/71/viet-nam The content of the speech is very good if people do not know about the real situation of […]
On 8-9 September 2016, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), together with Oxford University Associate Professor Fiona McConnell and Tibet Justice Centre, ran a workshop entitled “Performing as a Diplomat at the UN and the EU”, in which participants from 21 different unrepresented nations, guided by a team of trainers and facilitators, discussed the role of the EU as […]
On September 12, Hudson Institute and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights hosted a conference on religious freedom in South East Asia and U.S. policy in the next administration. Speakers included Elliott Abrams, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights; Kristina Arriaga, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner; Nina Shea, Director of Hudson’s Center for Religious […]
On 20 August 2016, the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) hosted its yearly gathering in Annecy, Savoy. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the organization’s membership of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), the attendees looked at past achievements and future challenges. The atmospheric ceremony gathered an international audience of around 50 people, and saw speeches from various […]
Life in prison is hard. I fell into despair. I was in this situation because I was trying to be a good citizen, to help people according to the law…But I was arrested and put in prison. I felt like I was in a dark tunnel with no way out Pham Thi Loc, one of several former prisoners of conscience […]
Two minority rights organisations have asked the Ministry of Interior to ensure its officials issue national identity cards to Khmer Krom, who they say are facing discrimination from provincial officials. Indigenous Khmer from southern Vietnam, the Krom have long had issues getting identity cards given that authorities either identify them as Vietnamese or they lack permanent addresses in Cambodia. The […]
Soeung Hai, a dissident former monk wanted for arrest by the government, said on Tuesday that he had been living in Sweden since February after the U.N.’s refugee agency helped him secure political asylum there. Yet the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh said it was not aware Mr. Hai was in Sweden, and a spokeswoman for the U.N.’s High Commissioner […]
The merits of drug, attempted murder and forgery charges brought against two Khmer Krom monks arrested last August were weighed in Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday afternoon. Dav Tep and Chea Vanda were arrested and defrocked on August 1 after police searched their lodgings in a Por Sen Chey district pagoda and claimed to discover women’s underwear, weapons, condoms and […]
In Preah Trea pang province, there is a famous ancient Khmer-Krom site, Srah Ku (or Ku Srah Srey). It is located in Ta Ku village, Sombour (Nguyet Hoa) commune, Kampong Thom (Chau Thanh) district, Preah Treapang (Tra Vinh) province, approximately 7km from the Kampong (Tra Vinh) city. The site consist a small-sized lake, surrounded by large century-old “teal” trees. Due […]
By: Thomas J. Reese, Mary Ann Glendon Religion in Vietnam today looks markedly different than it did 40 years ago. This is the message we repeatedly heard during a recent trip to Vietnam. Vietnamese faithful conveyed, on the one hand, how religious freedom has expanded in the last four decades. On the other, they believe many government officials still misunderstand religion […]
